Every few months someone posts a “secret” about the Instagram or LinkedIn algorithm, and every few months it turns out to be half guesswork. The platforms do not publish exact formulas, and they change them often. What they do say publicly, and what we see in client accounts, points in the same direction.
What Feeds Are Trying to Do
An algorithm is a ranking system. It looks at a huge pool of posts and decides which ones to show each person, based on what that person is likely to enjoy and keep using the app for. So your job is not to trick it. Your job is to make something that people actually stop for, and to give the platform enough signals that it knows who would like it.
We will not claim any precise weighting for likes versus comments, because nobody outside these companies knows it. But a few behaviours are consistently rewarded.
The Signals That Tend to Matter
- Watch time and completion: people who stay on a video are a strong sign of interest
- Saves and shares: these show a post was useful enough to keep or send on
- Replies and conversation: real comments, and replies to them, usually count for more than a quick like
- Relevance to the viewer: past behaviour, topics and accounts they follow
Clicks matter too, but a post that gets clicks and quick exits can be judged poorly.
What to Do Differently on Each Platform
Instagram: Short reels with a strong first second perform best for reach. Carousels do well for saves, so use them for checklists and how-tos. Reply to comments quickly, since early conversation helps.
Facebook: Groups, community posts and video get more traction than plain link posts. Pages with low organic reach often need a small boost budget to test creative.
LinkedIn: Text posts and documents that start with a clear point and invite honest replies tend to travel. Keep outbound links in the comments if the post itself is meant to get reach.
YouTube: Titles and thumbnails earn the click, but retention decides whether the video keeps being shown. Cut intros short.
X and others: Platforms differ a lot, so test before copying a strategy.
Mistakes We See Often
Businesses post the same promotional image everywhere and wonder why nothing happens. They chase trends that do not fit their audience. They buy followers, which fills the account with people who never engage and drags down average response rates. And they judge a format after one post, rather than a month of data.
Another thing that gets overlooked is timing and format fit. A post that suits the feed but is cropped badly, has no captions, or buries the point after ten seconds will lose people early, and that early loss tells the platform not to push it further. Review your last ten posts and check where viewers drop off in the analytics. The pattern is usually obvious once you look.
How to Work With Algorithms Instead of Against Them
Use native analytics. Meta Business Suite, YouTube Studio and LinkedIn analytics tell you which posts held attention and which got saved. Do more of the first kind. Test one variable at a time, like the opening line or the length. And accept that organic reach will rise and fall for reasons you cannot see, so build an email list or a website audience you actually own.
Paid and organic work best together. If you want help building a plan across channels, our social media marketing team can set it up with you.
