For years the algorithm has favored brands, businesses, and thought leaders with big follower counts. Over time, many content creators, myself included, got incredibly frustrated and discouraged because we were creating content that was really good – but nobody saw it.
I received thank-you messages from time to time for some of my best content, but I struggled to rack up views and followers/subscribers, and I saw very little growth in my YouTube channel or Facebook business page. I kept thinking what’s a girl gotta do to get some respect around here?
But if there is one thing that is a constant regarding social media, it is that what the algorithm favors will change over time. And this latest change might benefit those of us who have been disengaged.
Let me explain.
Gary Vaynerchuk was calling trends in social media even before I started my business in 2010. He is brash, snarky, and has a “colorful” way of describing things. He never pulls a punch and he calls it like he sees it. Some of the things he suggests seem undoable for the solo or smaller business, but recently, he has been talking about the shift in social media from friends to interests.
In the video below, Vaynerchuk says:
I believe we are now in the not social media but interest media. Meaning social was inherently like who is your social network? Who are your friends? We are now in an era where what you are interested in is coming to you from the algorithm. And so what you should be looking at is views. The only thing I really care about on every platform is views achieved because the creative is the variable to the views.
Now, people that are watching right now that have never posted, if they post a remarkably good piece of content, that piece of content now has the ability to get more views than something I post, and I’m one of the most followed people in the world. That is profound.
It is profound because you or me or whoever could post something relevant, interesting, or helpful to a prospective customer/client and they might actually get to see it!
Before, potential viewers more often than not would have needed to already know about you and might even have needed to be subscribed to have the algorithm show your content to them. Even then, not all subscribers were shown your content, according to many YouTube creators that I follow.
Could this change be the meritocracy we have been hoping for? Could social media become less like high school and could good content actually rise to the top? Here’s hoping.
But, as he often does, Vaynerchuk says we should be opening up multiple accounts and posting more content than I think is reasonable for someone who isn’t strictly in the content creation business, and who doesn’t have a big team to help them.
Still, I think this is a positive change and one that could benefit small business owners. I am going to start posting content again. Have I convinced you to jump back in?
