💻IG Ranking Secrets [Online Biz Digest #16]
💻IG Ranking Secrets [Online Biz Digest #16]
How the IG algorithm works, sketchy business models, Facebook Frames, LinkedIn grants, and more…
Tyler J. McCall • February 21, 2022
It seems that everywhere you turn online these days, EVERYONE is talking about the “creator economy.” It’s this year’s buzz phrase for businesses, tech, and brands of all shapes and sizes.
(I mean, this week alone, our entire “In Other News” section is almost all news about the creator economy…).
But WHAT is the creator economy, and WHY does it matter?
In short, the creator economy has diversified and democratized how we find and consume content.
It has allowed everyday folks like you and me to build audiences and businesses. It’s given consumers direct access to the creators of the content they love. And it’s made it possible for creators to monetize their content on their terms.
If you’re reading this email, we consider you a creator!
Many of you create content daily to drive traffic to your programs, products, or services.
While some of you are still trying to nail down what you sell, you’ve built an audience around yourself, your content, and your point of view.
When you read about the creator economy, trust that what you’re reading and learning is for YOU!
Now onto this week’s news, updates, and motivation…
Tyler @tylerjmccall
News + Happenings
Instagram Content Ranking Secrets Revealed
Image Source: Instagram
Psst! Scoot closer – we’ve got some Instagram secrets to tell you!
New intel just dropped on how Instagram ranks and delivers content in the Feed, Stories, Reels and Explore.
In a recent Twitter thread, the photo and video-sharing app shared what goes on behind the scenes to make their algorithm come to life.
This comes on the heels of their June 2021 blog post where they broke down the full IG algorithm.
Instagram also finally spilled the beans and shared that Reels have their own dedicated ranking algorithm separate from how the rest of content is ranked on the platform.
Here is what the latest insider update reveals:
Feed and Stories are ranked by…
Information about the post - Signals about how popular a post is and more mundane info about the content itself.
Information about the person who posted - Like how interesting the person might be to you and how many times you’ve interacted with that person in the past few weeks.
Your activity - What you might be interested in and how many posts you’ve liked.
Your interaction history - How interested you are generally in seeing posts from a particular person.
Reels are ranked by…
Your activity - Which Reels you’ve liked, commented on, and engaged with recently.
Your interaction history - It’s likely the video was made by someone you’ve never heard of, but if you have interacted with them, that gives Instagram a sense of how interested you might be in what they shared.
Information about the Reel - Info about the content within the video like the audio track, video understanding based on pixels and whole frames, as well as popularity.
Information about the person who posted - Instagram says that they “consider popularity to help find compelling content from a wide array of people and give everyone a chance to find their audience”.
Explore is ranked by…
A similar order as Feed and Stories.
But, your interaction history is given more attention than the post author.
You can check out a more detailed overview of how each ranking factor is determined in this breakdown from SocialMediaToday.com.
Why this matters for online business –
As always, we like to think about why Instagram (and their parent company Meta) REALLY do the things they do.
This sneak peek behind the algorithm curtain is probably, in part, to help creators better understand how to get the best results from the platform. We won’t discount that.
BUT, could it also be part of Instagram’s (and, of course, Meta’s) bigger 2022 goal to explain their algorithms and how they work due to pushback they received last year on how their platforms cause harm and civil unrest?
Whatever the reason, it’s helpful for online business owners to understand how their content is being ranked and distributed on Instagram and get better insight into what it takes to see results from the platform.
The Potentially Sketchy, and Growing, World of “Drop Servicing”
Not only is TikTok booming and bustling with new growth these days, it’s also made way for creators to share their business ideas and strategies with anyone in the world.
But they’re not all…good?
New reporting out from The Verge details how some creators are taking to the video-sharing app to talk about their drop servicing (“sometimes called service arbitrage or service reselling”) businesses.
How does drop servicing work?
Business owners market their services like copywriting, video editing, voice-over work, design, or social media strategy.
They land clients for said work and get paid their set price.
Then, they turn to sites like Fiverr or Upwork and hire someone to complete the work (typically for pennies on the dollar).
“In an ideal situation, everyone gets what they want: the worker makes a sale, the client gets their product, and the person in the middle makes a profit for facilitating the transaction. But it makes for a strange arrangement: Freelance gig workers don’t always know who they’re working for or the resale value of their work, and when problems arise, the person doing the work can get burned.”
The business model CAN work. But, it does have some ethical concerns.
While outsourcing work in your company is the norm and finding pros on job posting sites like Fiverr can make sense for online business owners, something about drop servicing just seems slightly off?
There are three major issues we see with the business model…
Exploitation – the business model tends to rely on someone (typically in another country) being paid an unfair wage for the work they complete. And since services are being resold, the service provider doesn’t know the true value of their work.
Difficult Working Situations – since many service resellers aren’t disclosing that they’re purchasing a service to resell they don’t always provide the service provider with all of the project details or be vague in their instructions. This leads to more back-and-forth with clients and lower quality work.
Service Providers Getting Screwed – because they may not fully know the client or project brief when they start, there may be excessive edits or the project may just get cancelled in its entirety, leaving the Fiverr-sourced pro on the hook for providing a refund for work they’ve already completed.
It makes more sense for business owners who want to go this route to build an agency-style business that partners with service providers and experts for ongoing projects paid at a fair wage.
Why this matters for online business –
One of our beliefs here at OnlineBusinessOwner.com is that anytime a business touts record profits, there is probably exploitation happening at some level.
Either a business owner is exploiting themselves by overworking and refusing to hire support (all in the name of high profits), they’re exploiting their team members by underpaying them for the work they do, or they’re exploiting their clients by not properly vetting them for programs or overpromising for services.
And while we’re not here to tell you how to run your business, we do think it’s important to discuss the ethical issues related to business models that rely heavily on the exploitation of labor to achieve high-profit margins.
We see this in online business not only in business models like drop servicing – as we’ve written about here – but also in how some businesses rely on underpaid overseas virtual assistants, unpaid interns, and the misclassification of employees as contractors.
Remember: it is possible to build a profitable and impactful online business without exploiting others or yourself!
Social Media News + Updates
In Other News
📓 LinkedIn is hosting a Black Entrepreneur Summit on Tuesday, February 22 with the theme: “The Rise of Black Entrepreneurship in the U.S.” and sessions covering community, resources, and allyship. RSVP HERE
⚡ Read more about “The New Creator Manifesto” – the current reality for creators, including the major issues they’re facing and the opportunities that exist. (Banknotes)
🧑🎨 Email provider Convertkit is conducting a 2022 “State of the Creator Economy” survey – add your perspective today!
🌞 The 2022 Creator Economy expo event was recently announced – it is scheduled for May 2-4 in sunny Phoenix, AZ.
THE ONLINE BUSINESS SHOW
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