Algorithms, Influence, and the Illusion of Control

Priscilla McKinney

Hello and welcome to Ponderings from the Perch, the Little Bird Marketing Company podcast. I'm Priscilla McKinney, CEO and mama bird here at Little Bird Marketing. Today, I want to talk with you about something I see derailing way too many decent marketing strategies. It's the obsession with algorithms. All of what I'm going to share today applies to both company and personal feeds, and I'll talk about them interchangeably. So as you listen, just adjust accordingly.

Now, we're all trying to figure out how to get our content in front of more people. Visibility is the issue. And I want to remind people that unseen is unsold. It's super important. You can be the best, but if you're invisible, does it really matter? You know, I joke around with people often admitting that I'm certainly not the best marketer in the whole world, but I am a pretty visible one. It works.

It seems like every other day someone is selling a foolproof formula for beating the algorithm. They say post at this specific time or use these exact hashtags or format your content like this, do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around and it gets exhausting. But after years of watching people chase these formulas, most of the time I have to say it doesn't work.

And that's not to say that algorithms are the enemy, they're not, but they're also not your friend. They are more like the weather. And I think this is an important mindset shift. Like the weather, it shifts and it is sometimes unpredictable, sometimes predictable, and you can't make it do anything. The best you can do is dress appropriately.

Now I'm going to spend some time explaining how algorithms actually work, not because I want you to chase them, but because understanding the game does help you realize why you can't win it by solely playing the game. Okay, so let's backtrack for just one moment and talk a little bit about why we obsess with algorithms. People truly crave formulas because formulas give us the illusion of control. And we do want to believe that if we just follow the right steps, we can guarantee results.

Shopping lists exist because humans don't operate very well without clear plans and instructions. Have you experienced this? You look at your basket and you realize, wait a minute, this is not what I came here for. That happens a lot on social media channels. And when it comes to marketing, this sound logic that I should actually have a list and be going a certain direction, it often disappears when we face complex problems like algorithms. We hit a bump in the road, so to speak, and it derails our entire journey.

The result is that companies operate with no real system, and it leads to a lot of wasted time, impossible to measure results, miscommunications, and one of my things I hate the most, missed opportunities. Because algorithm chasing gives you the illusion of control, but it often leads to frustration because you're trying to control something that was not designed to be controlled.

So let's talk a little bit about how algorithms actually work. If you want to understand what you're dealing with, you need to know what these algorithms are actually designed to do. Social media algorithms exist to keep people on the platform as long as they can. That is the whole game, right? LinkedIn loves LinkedIn, Facebook loves Facebook, and on and on. They want you to stay there. Guess what? They are not nonprofit entities. They are advertising firms that earn their money when people stay and stay engaged.

Each platform optimizes for different engagement signals. For example, LinkedIn rewards dwell time, and it rewards meaningful conversation that keeps people right there on the platform, not the links that take them away. Instagram prioritizes saves and shares and direct messages, actions that show that deep resonance and deep connection, where X favors replies and retweets. Historically, they've been amplifying controversy because it drives more interaction.

But here's what matters most. These are machines designed to serve platform goals, not your goals. They are indifferent to your success. Can you hear me? They do not care. What they care about is their metrics, not yours. And companies create great resources on their websites, like guides that actually help people solve problems. But when they go in trying to promote it on LinkedIn, their posts underperform because they're trying to take the audience away from LinkedIn over to their website. And I have to say, I'm all for that strategy.

LinkedIn, Facebook, X, whatever it is, it is leased land. You are not controlling the journey of your most ideal client. You want to get them somewhere in your CRM, on your website, into a meeting with you, somewhere where you begin to more adequately control the relationship and the journey. So the posts that perform best on platforms are ones that share valuable insights directly in the post and don't ask people to leave the channel.

Now, it doesn't mean that those posts don't work at all. It means that you can't do only that. And it really means completely rethinking content distribution, right? So can we just all agree that we could stop giving content distribution to the intern or to the most junior person on the team? It is actually one of the most complex things to do. It needs to be done by an expert strategist.

And instead of just doubling down and tripling down and saying, I've got to use LinkedIn to drive traffic to my website, smart companies see LinkedIn as its own content ecosystem and know that it has to do a little bit of everything. You need to go out and make sure that you are also sharing complete valuable insights directly in posts with occasional mentions and occasional links that take people off of their site.

Now, engagement can quadruple because of this approach, because it works with the algorithm. But you have to remember, we're not here just to work for the algorithm. We're just trying to understand it so that we can come up with the right mix so that we can get our goals accomplished.

Now, algorithms are not static and this is important to understand because there's experts out there that tell you, this, do this, but algorithms change. In fact, algorithms are evolving constantly. Sometimes very slowly, like on LinkedIn, which tends to make changes at a pretty glacial pace. And sometimes overnight, like TikTok, where you can wake up and find your entire strategy needs an absolute rework.

What worked six months ago may not work now and what works now may not work six months from now, et cetera, et cetera. And so platforms are constantly trying to balance their user experience, their engagement with their bottom line. And this constant change is why many brands churn through social media managers. They hire someone who had success on a particular tactic, but then by the time they implement it there at the new company, the algorithm has moved on and it's trying to replicate a weather forecast from last July. Anybody remember what it was last July? No? Okay. Me neither.

So the pattern might repeat itself predictably for a time, but it will evolve. And so that is why things will fall flat if you just practice the lather rinse repeat method. And it's not the social media manager that is really in the wrong. It's the expectation that one particular tactic that worked at one time is going to continue to work.

And I see companies that build entire marketing strategies around a specific feature like LinkedIn polls or LinkedIn newsletters or carousel posts or just anything. Insert any particular tactic you want. They get a win and so then they want to do that over and over again. They want that dopamine hit, right? But by the time they implement it, LinkedIn has already dialed back how much they're promoting that particular tactic in the algorithm. And so that strategy is possibly dead on arrival.

And at industry conferences, speakers tout the incredible engagement they get with certain post types. So they just make it worse. And they document posts getting thousands of views and hundreds of comments, but that favorable treatment doesn't always last. Now it can be an important component of an overall winning strategy, but it should not be singled out as the win.

And I will tell you this, earlier this year, I had a post go viral, almost a million views. What am I going to do with a million views? That's not a part of my marketing strategy. Of course, it's telling you that I know what I'm doing and that I break through sometimes and have insane virality and that's interesting, but think about it. What am I going to do with a million views?

What's interesting and important to me is having my most ideal client buyer listen and appreciate what I say and what I do. And that loyal following is what gets me really the long-term brand lift and revenue generation that I need.

So here's what I believe. Every minute you spend obsessing over posting times is a minute stolen from creating something meaningful. Every hour you waste decoding the latest algorithm hack is an hour you could have spent having real conversations with real people who need to know what you offer. You already have everything you need to build genuine influence. You have expertise, have insights, you have the ability to help people solve problems. The algorithm did not give you those things and it cannot take them away. So you need to double down on what you're good at, your expertise, your ability to be overtly helpful.

The most successful people I know on social media channels do not have secret formulas. They may do a little bit of this, they may do a little bit of this, and they may have their favorites because we all have personalities, but they have something better. They have a clarity about their value and the patience to deliver it consistently, regardless of what any platform decides to do on any given Tuesday, right?

So when you stop chasing algorithms and start serving people, something remarkable happens. The people you're meant to reach start finding you, not because you gained the system, but because you became impossible to ignore. That's one of those wonderful lines I stole from Steve Martin. I just love it. Make it impossible for them to ignore you, right?

So let's fixate instead on what we can control. Instead of chasing tactics that work for someone at some other time, let's approach social media platforms with the shift instead of how do I beat the algorithm to how do I build influence regardless of what the algorithm decides to do. Of course, I'm not saying don't use platform features when they make sense. They can be effective in certain contexts. What's important is that you don't build an entire strategy around one single tactic.

I'm going to give you four points to take with you today and I hope that you reflect on them a little bit as you think about your personal or your corporate social media presence. First, make sure that you get really clear about who you help and how. Now I talked a little bit earlier about how visibility is the name of the game, but there's a little bit more to it than that. It's really visibility to your most ideal client that counts. Of course, this connects directly to our buyer persona work at Little Bird Marketing. I will put our resource in the show notes. I give it away for free. Please go use our guide. There's also a template into a workbook that you can do to help you hone in on who you best serve.

Now, every marketing effort should also be in servitude to that persona, to that avatar, to that ICP, whatever you want to call it. Now, algorithms are actually really good at a complex feature, which is that they can figure out what specific topics you consistently address. It can hone in on your expertise and that can be very helpful. So if you talk about something different every day, the system can't really figure out what you're an expert about. So you want to think about really starting your branding and rapport building around a home base. What do you really know? People and companies need to post varying content. I get that. But maybe think about what the through line is. When you talk about innovation, when you talk about workplace culture, when you talk about industry news, what is the through line that will help the algorithm understand what you are really about and where your expertise lies?

Now, I've seen companies narrow their focus to specifically address particular segments dealing with specific challenges and their engagement increases dramatically and they are providing clearer signs about who would find their content valuable. And that is very good. You've got to like open and close the funnel back and forth until you find your sweet spot. And niche, if you're wondering, beats noise every time, right? So it is a spectrum. I'm not saying there's an exact perfect point. You need to do a couple of things maybe that are whimsical, most things that are in your expertise, but you've got to be specific about who you serve and the problems you solve in order to make it easier for the algorithms to connect you with the right audience.

My second thought is around consistency of presence and strategic content planning. Okay, let that sink in. This doesn't mean jump on LinkedIn and do whatever you want to do. It includes posting regularly, something I know people struggle with, but you need to start small. And the reason why I think people fail oftentimes to post very consistently is because they try to take on too much at one time. Just start with one post a week. It's okay, I give you a permission slip. Do one a week. When you have found that that is just absolutely rote, like you do it in your sleep, great, get to two a week and move on. But quit trying to blow everything up and do everything on one week and then you get exhausted by it and then you don't get that consistency and you're unable then to really implement a strategy.

So I have a rule of 15 I like to share with people, very easy to remember. Think about 15 posts that you're going to put. For me, that happens to be about two weeks worth. So I can kind of keep in my mind what I'm doing for about two weeks at any given time. And for every 15 pieces of content that you post, there should be 10 of them that are interesting. Okay, like it just shows that you're an interesting person. You have something to say. And then four that show that you are interested in your ideal client buyer. You're interested in other people. You're being overtly helpful. That's 10. And then there's four. And then guess what? You get one golden one. You get to ask for the sale. You get to talk about your expertise. You get to give an example of people work with me when fill in the blank.

This ratio helps establish you or your business as primarily helpful and considerate while maintaining a strategic focus. But it also does not fail to ask for the business or make that valuable connection, right? Sometimes we just go out there and just void your mode and just give, give, give, give, give. No, we've got to make the connection. We got to tell people when it is that people are stuck and they come to us. This is our area of expertise. We can help people. If you have a team that needs to be engaged online and really delivering value for your company and for themselves and their careers, I want you to call me. I want you to say, Priscilla, I want you to take my team through a digital transformation and get them active and engaged on LinkedIn and building really high quality B2B relationships. Boom, that's what I know how to do. I shouldn't be shy about it.

But when you disappear for weeks and then you blast out 10 posts a day saying, hey, call me for social influence training, call me, call me, I'm doing LinkedIn, you know. No algorithm is going to reward that kind of behavior and no human is either. And it's like you're trying to build a relationship with someone who ghosts you for months and then bombards you with messages out of nowhere. Nobody likes that.

And I see executives go through these manic phases on LinkedIn, ignoring the platform for weeks and then scheduling so many posts in one week and then nothing again for a month. It drives me bonkers. And it really is a waste of time. They should not be surprised about their low engagement. So this is where a content strategy really becomes essential. You can't be consistent if you're just spending all of your time struggling to find out what to post. You can't put that much pressure on your day. You need to develop some content pillars. I would consider that to be three to five core topics that you consistently talk about and gather information, get a Google Doc or put it on your desktop. I don't know what you want to do, but give yourself little reminders and a place to put, that's interesting kind of things. And then when you need to post, you reach right from it. So there's no stress when you're going out and posting.

Think of maybe a visual of a content pyramid. The top is your cornerstone content, the in-depth substantial pieces that really showcase your expertise, maybe long form articles or research reports, white papers, videos, maybe podcasts you've been on, something that's really meaty. And from each cornerstone piece that you have, create multiple derivative pieces, shorter articles, little thoughts, bullet points, and break them up in a way that makes sense that people can digest, but it feeds back to your main content, your main expertise.

So this approach is so much more efficient and so much more effective because it reinforces that key message across multiple touch points. And it's far more resilient to algorithmic changes because it doesn't depend on any single format or platform.

My third point is about conversation and authentic engagement. So genuine human interaction is still the strongest signal across every platform. This is where what I refer to as my ABH principle applies. That's always be helping. Authentic dialogue just works better than automated responses or empty engagement or bait questions, right? What do you think of this? What have you ever done, right? You know them when you see them.

But when you actively participate in conversations, you respond thoughtfully to comments and you ask genuine questions, you create signals that no algorithm really can ignore. And more importantly, you're creating relationships that begin to transcend whatever algorithm change happens next.

Now, I've seen accounts with relatively small followings who respond very thoughtfully to comments on their post, and they actively comment on other people's content every day. That is one of those measurements that a lot of people overlook. So it's not just about come talk to me over here, it's about walking across the room and talking to other people. And it is so interesting because I see under the hood of so many LinkedIn accounts and their engagement rates dwarf accounts with huge followings because they have built real relationships.

And this is one of the most overlooked aspects of social media strategy. People get so focused on creating and distributing their own content, they forget that social media is supposed to be well, social. And the most successful accounts spend at least as much time engaging with other people's content as they do creating their own.

Brand messaging increases, wait for it, 561% more when it is shared by employees compared to just being shared by the company. Did you hear me, brands, brand managers? Employee advocacy matters. Your employees being genuine and having always be helping mentalities out on social media is where real people have real conversations and that is where algorithms recognize this kind of leadership. They recognize this kind of behavior and they reward it.

Okay, my last thought is that you need to vary your content and your format strategy. Now I hit on that at the beginning because to me it's like, please don't hang your hat on one thing, okay? Different formats trigger different algorithm responses, but more importantly, they serve different purposes for your audience. So a text post, a carousel, a video, a poll, they all create different types of value. And the personal and the corporate brands that thrive thoughtfully mix those formats based on the type of message they are sharing.

I've had executives mentioned to me recently that the post that's been working particularly well as of late is the LinkedIn perspective post where you share a thoughtful take on an industry trend or a challenge and they tend to get more engagement because they spark conversation. And conversation is what LinkedIn is looking for, and it is what all social media platforms are looking for in general. But the key is always coming back to remembering that you need to match the format of your message with the content of the message. So don't get tripped up on, this is the latest way to present it. Just make sure that you're true to your message and do a little bit of this, do a little bit of that. Certainly when there's a new trend, sure, hop on it, do it. But just remember that's not the end all be all now.

So smart companies and smart personal brands create content ecosystems within their own little world online and different formats reinforce that and amplify each other back and forth. They start just like really interacting. This is where a thought leadership article spawns multiple perspective posts and then a video gets transcribed and turned into a text post and a successful text post gets expanded into an article on and on. This kind of approach gives you different content variety while allowing you to reach different segments of your audience who prefer different formats. Some people love videos, others prefer text, others like visual formats, like carousels or infographics. By varying your format strategically, you can reach all of those wonderful people.

One thing I know is that building influence over time beats instant reach. The difference between reach and influence matters more than people realize. Reach is just how many people see your content once, but influence is being known and remembered for something useful and relevant. And I have seen plenty of viral posts from people who couldn't convert that momentary attention into meaningful business or career outcomes. Virality is fickle, trust is durable.

So think about who influences you, your career decisions, your buying decisions. And you realize that their value is their consistent ability to deliver something you need. You always feel like what they're about to say is relevant and it's going to be good. And when it comes to social influence, delivering that value consistently compounds in ways that algorithms just can't measure. So this is where thought leadership strategy becomes very critical.

Are you just trying to get in front of people or are you trying to build genuine authority in your space with the right people? Because those are two very different things. And I've worked with companies that chased reach for years. They wanted their content to be seen by as many people as possible. I called those vanity metrics. And then they discovered that their highest value clients don't come from that viral content. They come from smaller, more focused pieces that address specific industry challenges. It's like saying, I feel you, man. Right? And people feel that.

Viral content attracts a lot of attention, but not always from decision makers who can make those types of purchasing decisions we need. Whether it's them hiring us or buying a product from our company. And when these companies shift strategies to focus on building influence, we start seeing something different happen. That specific audience becomes more clear. And rather than focusing on maximizing the reach, they're generating fewer impressions, but far more quality leads and quality conversations. And in my opinion, that turns into revenue. Actually, really, in not my opinion only, my experience.

Okay. So it's an illusion of control. I would say, let it go strategically. That is the heart of today's discussion. So much social media anxiety comes from believing that we should be able to control the outcomes on these platforms. That is not true. Let go of hacks, let go of obsessing over peak posting times, let go of dependency on any single platform. All social media platforms are leased land. They are momentary vehicles that take you to a meeting with a potential client.

Let's just talk about your next steps. First, stop tracking vanity metrics. Start measuring meaningful ones. Engagement rates matter more than raw impressions. Comment quality matters more than comment quantity, conversions matter more than clicks. And ask yourself, what metrics really matter to me? What metrics really matter to my business?

Next, audit your content and identify what consistently performs well. You have to do this research. I don't care if it's desk research, meaning it's not technical, you're just looking and evaluating it, but you could also copy your posts into ChatGPT or Claude AI and ask it to audit it for you, right? Do a little bit of reflection on what has moved the needle in the past for your most ideal client.

So third, an easy thing to remember for social influence is the 80-20 rule. Spend 80% of your energy on proven formats and topics and spend 20% of them experimenting with new things, being personal or being whimsical. That also shows the algorithms that you're human, and so you're just being natural, right? And that 80-20 should keep you in a good balance so you're not going any one direction too far.

Listen, algorithms are going to keep changing. New platforms will emerge, tactics that don't work today will work tomorrow, and vice versa, but the fundamentals of building influence have not changed. You've got to get clarity about who you serve, be consistent with your presence and your tone of voice, be authentic in your conversation, and give us content that genuinely serves us if we are your most ideal client. Stop chasing those algorithms. Get sustainable influence in a world of constant change. From all the peeps here at Little Bird Marketing, have a great day and happy marketing.