Is the algorithm killing you? Watch this.

This is a conversation that I wanted to have for a long time, but I also wanted to make sure that I gave myself enough time before I actually talked about it with you. And it’s the fact that I have stopped creating content in the same way that I used to. And I also measure social media success completely differently than I used to. And it all comes down really to the algorithm. And the reality is the algorithm works the exact same way on every single platform, regardless of which one is your favorite. And, unfortunately and fortunately, it can either work for you or it can work against you.

But in a lot of cases, I’ve noticed this sort of trend that the algorithm is killing a lot of great content creators. It’s killing a lot of experts with really interesting things to say. It’s just killing good content in a lot of ways. And it’s also helping support good content in a lot of ways. So, how do you make sure that the algorithm is working for you and not against you? Now, like I said, this really does apply to kind of every social media platform, but we’ll use YouTube as an example because, obviously, I’ve been doing this for a while and I’m pretty well versed in it. And I test it all the time.

So, let’s just give a perfect example here. You create a piece of content. You put the piece of content on YouTube. As soon as you put up that piece of content it’s getting signals and it’s giving signals to the algorithm. You have to remember the algorithm is not based on humans, it’s really based on robots and machine learning. And it’s always trying to categorize you. That’s why when you make general random content, it’s really hard for the algorithm to figure out what you’re talking about, who it’s for. And, therefore, it doesn’t tend to get seen. That’s why a lot of people, myself included, have talked about keywords in the past and how important keywords are to getting discovered, and to getting categorized on YouTube.

But having said that, it’s not the be all end all. And what I really want you to understand is if you let the external dictate the internal, it will kill your content. And probably kill your soul in the meantime. And I don’t know if you can relate to this, but when you put out a piece of content that does well on YouTube, for example, but really anywhere those signals tell the algorithm that, “Oh, this got a lot of subscribers. This got a lot of likes. This got a lot of shares. This channel must be about that topic. So, therefore every time this channel makes a piece of content on that topic, we’re gonna use our traffic sources to push it to more people who would be interested in that topic.”

And I’ve seen a lot of creators on YouTube, get caught in the cycle, myself included to be honest, of using specific keywords and then getting pigeonholed into just using that keyword. And anytime you make a piece of content on anything else, it doesn’t perform “well.” And that’s the big problem because performance, and how our brains are wired around social media is that if it doesn’t get a ton of views, or shares, or comments, it sucks. But that’s just not true.

So, the way that I’ve changed, how I measure success is that I changed my expectations because not every piece of content is meant to go viral. That’s just the honest truth. And virality is not really the key to ultimate success, or long-term success. So, you kind of have to think about it in terms of tiny little audience at the bottom, and then a deeper audience in the middle. And then, this surface level audience at the top, kind of like the ocean. And that surface level audience at the top sure, it’s going to get you a lot of eyeballs. It’s going to get you a lot of views. But those people aren’t really bought into who you are and what you’re doing. They’re just there to watch that one thing.

And I’ve seen a lot of channels go viral with one piece of content, and then never be able to duplicate that same success because maybe the topic that they created the viral video on isn’t something they want to talk about again, but the audience that loved it, liked it, watched it, subscribed because of it that’s what they want to see more of. So, that’s the major flaw with every social media algorithm. So, understanding that determining your success on social media doesn’t just come down to those vanity metrics.

I determine it based off of new factors and new metrics. First and foremost, the formula for success really is relevancy plus intention plus you. And if you get on social media without knowing why you’re there, who you’re trying to attract, and ultimately the impact that you’re trying to have it’s very easy for the algorithm to just dictate who you are and what you should be talking about. Instead of you dictating to the algorithm. So you can’t let, like I said, the keywords, the external, the hashtags, the whatever everybody else is doing dictate who you are, and how you want to show up because ultimately you lose your message. You lose your why. You lose your creativity. And you lose everything that makes you unique. And makes you somebody that people want to follow. Because if you just blend in with everybody else, you get lost in the sea of sameness and it becomes a really boring game to play.

So, there’s going to be pieces of content that I put out that are very specific. And they’re for really one kind of person. And I’m not expecting to get that thousands, or millions of views on it. I may get a couple hundred on it, but those couple hundred are invested in that video. And that kind of content generally is the content that converts best for my business that leads to the most loyal subscribers.

And then, there’s other pieces of content that might go viral and get a bunch of eyeballs, and brand awareness and build my following. But unless it’s by virality based on who I want to be relevant to and ultimately the impact I’m trying to make it actually can do more harm than good. Because if I don’t want to talk about that topic again, well, the algorithm’s already given me weight for that topic and, therefore, every other piece of content I create, probably isn’t going to perform as well as that one did.

So, as long as you like what you’re creating, and you have a clear intention behind it, and you measure it off of things like retention not just views because just because you have a lot of use doesn’t mean people are actually watching the content. So, are people paying attention to your video? Are they watching the whole way through? What kind of comments are you getting? Are you getting deep paragraphs on your content? Or are you getting drive-by comments of, “Great video”?

I guess, the biggest difference, for me, is that my focus has very much changed on social media over the last year from… Well, actually I think further than that, but I’ve never really been in this to go viral, to go wide. I’ve really been focused on going deep with my audience, and more than ever in the last year. And that has been so liberating because I no longer create a piece of content and set such high expectations that it has to crush it. And it has to get all of these views for it to be deemed successful. If I can get one comment of somebody saying, “That just changed my whole day, that made so much sense to me. I just had an aha or a light bulb moment,” that’s why I want to be using social media. And that’s why I got into it in the first place.

So, I hope that this frees you up, and helps you understand that not every piece of content is created equally, and not every piece of content is meant to perform equally. And it’s okay to test and experiment, and talk about different things because you’re human, and you’re layered and you’re not meant to fit into a box. You’re not a robot. But the algorithm is based off of being a robot and a machine. So, you’re either going to feed it what it wants. Or you’re going to show up as you are and the algorithm will learn the type of human and the type of viewer you want to attract. And that’s going to be a slower growth process, but a much more rewarding growth process.

And, for me, I’m all about building a loyal lifelong community. I don’t really care about building a big one. So, I guess you have to determine for yourself what a social media success look like for you, because it’s not the same for everybody.

Are you with me?