Algo-what now?

7 min readAug 4, 2023

What the heck is a social media algorithm?

If you find social media and its algorithms a bit confusing, don’t worry!

I’ve got you covered with this guide to help you understand how social media works, especially for Dorset Council’s recruitment and marketing efforts.

Social media algorithms decide what posts you see on your feed. They look at things like what you like, comment on, and share to show you stuff you might find interesting!

For example, on Facebook, the algorithm pays attention to what your friends and favourite pages post. On Instagram, it shows you things you like the most, and on LinkedIn, it focuses on what starts good conversations!

Sounds simple enough?

That's because at a high level like this it is quite simple! You like horses? here's some more stuff about horses. But then it can get complex you like horses you might like other animals, countryside escapes, adventure holidays. Algorithms will continuously send you things they think you may like to see how long you look at them and if you like them.

If you like the post about a cow then its going to show you more cows as well as horses! Am i still making sense?

For anyone more interested ill stick the difference in platform down below as a little bonus!

How do we use them @WorkForDorset?

At Work For Dorset we use social media algorithms to reach amazing people like you for job opportunities! We use our marketing expertise to create and promote job adverts with the right audience to find the perfect match.

Here are a few things we do at Work for Dorset to create job adverts and recruit the best talent:

Social media algorithms can be tricky. We understand how to make these algorithms work in our favour, ensuring our job adverts reach the right people at the right time. When our content aligns with the algorithms, it has increased visibility and engagement. It's honestly as simple as that!

Tailored Content: We create content that matches each platform it sits on. Whether it’s a captivating video on YouTube, a fun and trendy TikTok clip, or a visually stunning Instagram post, our content is designed to captivate and resonate with diverse audiences and fit directly into the platform it is posted on organically.

Making Posts Interesting: Exciting and helpful job adverts that make people want to click and learn more. When job ads are engaging and relevant, social media algorithms say, “Hey, this is cool! Let’s show it to more people!”

Timing Matters: Ever wonder why some posts pop up more than others? It’s because you need to post when most people are active on social media. That way, more folks see anything we are putting out, increasing the chances of finding the perfect candidate and our brand visibility!

Hashtags: Hashtags are like secret codes that help people find specific topics on social media. Imagine you’re looking for jobs in Dorset. You can simply search for #DorsetJobs, and voila! All the cool job ads from us and others will appear. Its also about building #WorkForDorset as a brand people recognise so they will search/follow that hashtag as well.

Sometimes its also about staying ‘on trend’

This is all great but how can i help?

Understanding how social media works can help us reach more people with our awesome content and job opportunities.

When we create videos, images, interactive posts and use the right hashtags, and interact with our audience, the social media sites notice and show our posts to more people.

When you and other followers share, like, and comment on our posts, it tells the social media algorithms that our stuff is worth looking at. So, they help spread the word by showing it to even more people.

When people interact with our posts, the algorithms say, “Hey, this is great stuff!” and boost our posts in the feed, so more people see them. It’s a cool way to connect with others and get talented people interested in joining Dorset Council

So, keep engaging, sharing, and liking our posts!

Conclusion

Now you know the basics of social media algorithms and how they help us at Work For Dorset! It’s all about creating exciting and relevant content, using hashtags wisely, and being respectful of copyrights.

So, whether you’re looking for a new job or want to see exciting job opportunities in Dorset, social media algorithms play a big part in making sure you see the right stuff at the right time!

Hopefully this has provided an overview of social media and its many algorithms!

Knowing how each platform’s algorithm works helps us make our content and recruitment efforts more effective. Together we can harness the full potential of social media platforms to attract talent and showcase the unique opportunities we offer at Dorset Council.

Bonus: How does each Platform Work?

Facebook:

Facebook’s algorithm (EdgeRank) prioritizes content based on factors like affinity, weight, and time decay. The platform focuses on showing users content from friends, pages, and groups they frequently engage with. Video content has become increasingly important on Facebook, with the platform favouring videos that capture users’ attention and generate more views and interactions.

Hence Clickbait-y news articles and videos you see all the time:

Instagram:

Instagram’s algorithm aims to display content that users find most interesting and engaging. It considers factors such as user engagement (likes, comments, shares), relevance, and timeliness.

In recent years, Instagram has placed a stronger emphasis on video content, including Reels. This is where you will see a lot of positive or negative comments about how the reels have turned Insta into TikTok. Videos that receive high engagement and are shared by users’ followers have higher visibility.

*They have also just merged Threads which is the competitor to twitter into Insta*

Threads:

Threads algorithm is very similar to Instagram's with some of the behind the scenes of Twitter or X or whatever it will be called when this blog goes out. It delivers real-time relevance, showcasing recent posts that users are likely to find interesting. The platform prioritises threads with higher engagement rates, such as retweets, likes, and replies. Threads is all about creating you guessed it ‘threads’ so conversations and lots of back and forth about topics.

This all could change as Threads is still very new but i like the Wild west vibe is has going on at the moment with everyone discovering all its quirks and having no rules (in a good way).

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn’s algorithm focuses on content that encourages meaningful conversations within the platform. It prioritises content that is relevant to users’ industries, connections, and interests. Video content on LinkedIn, especially native video uploads, has gained popularity. Engaging and informative videos have the potential to reach a broader professional audience and increase visibility for our recruitment efforts with promoting specific roles with videos like the Service Designer one we produced recently.

Now there is a common misconception that LinkedIn content is only ‘professional’ but what often gets pushed to the top is personal stories and things people will find interesting and not always ‘serious, professional’ vibes.

I mean professional is subjective anyway right?

TikTok:

Now this is (in my opinion) the most interesting algorithm because it knows all your deepest secrets and desires!

TikTok’s algorithm is unique and highly focused on individual user preferences. The platform uses artificial intelligence to analyse users’ behaviour and interactions to create personalized “For You” pages. Content that resonates with a user’s interests, even from accounts they don’t follow, has the potential to go viral.

For WorkForDorset, creating entertaining and engaging short-form videos can reach a diverse and young audience on TikTok which is an area we don’t often get much engagement from as a council. Its also great for what we call ‘brand building’ where next time someone is looking for a job they might think of us if we are more recognisable as somewhere people want to work.

YouTube:

YouTube’s algorithm, known as the “Recommendation System,” wants to keep users engaged and watching videos for longer. It has various factors, such as video watch time, user interactions, and search history, to recommend videos tailored to each user’s preferences.

We optimise our YouTube content by creating informative and entertaining videos, using relevant keywords, eye-catching thumbnails, and encouraging viewers to watch more content on recommended videos.

Bonus Bonus: Me whilst writing this blog…