Ep 44 - Why the Algorithm Isn’t Your Enemy – The Truth About How Social Media Works

Episode Show Notes

Social media can feel frustrating, especially when you’re putting in the effort but seeing little return. If you’ve ever wondered why your posts aren’t reaching the right people or why the algorithm seems to be working against you, this episode is for you. Many clinicians and health professionals struggle with engagement, but the good news is that it’s not about posting more, it’s about posting smarter.

Episode Summary

This week, we’re breaking down the four Instagram algorithms - feed, explore, reels, and stories - and how each one determines what gets seen. The key to making social media work for your business isn’t about beating the algorithm but understanding how it operates and what type of content keeps your audience engaged.

We’ll also discuss why engagement, watch time, and content structure are critical to growing your presence online. If you’ve ever felt like social media just isn’t working for you, this episode will help you reframe your approach and make small but impactful changes.

Key Takeaways

• Social media platforms prioritise engagement and time spent on content, not just frequency of posting.

• The algorithm isn’t working against you—it’s simply reacting to what people interact with.

• Reels and shareable content have the highest potential for reaching new audiences.

• Building a following takes time, but small strategic changes can lead to big improvements.

• Instead of chasing numbers, focus on creating content that truly connects with your audience.

If you found this episode useful, please leave a review and share it with a colleague who might benefit. And if you have a topic you’d like covered, send me a DM on Instagram—I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Join me next time for more insights into growing your business beyond the clinic. See you soon!

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Episode transcription:

Sarah Almond Bushell: [00:00:00] Welcome to Beyond the Clinic, the podcast for health professionals, ready to transform their expertise into innovative income streams that extend beyond the traditional clinic model. I'm Sarah Armand Butchell. I'm a registered dietitian and certified business coach and proud owner of two successful online businesses. 

I understand the leap from the security of a regular salary can feel intimidating because I've been there too. But it doesn't have to be scary and you do not have to do this alone. Here you'll learn tangible strategies to accelerate your business growth. So if you're dreaming of using your expertise to create impact and a life of freedom, then you're in the right place. 

Hello, today we are tackling a topic that I know many of you struggle with, social media. Specifically, that nagging feeling that social media just isn't working for you, no matter what you do. [00:01:00] If you've ever felt like you're posting into a black hole, like the algorithm is punishing you just because you're a business owner and not an influencer, then this episode is for you. 

We're going to break down how social media really works. Why some of our posts get loads of engagement while others disappear. And more importantly, how you can use this knowledge to work with the algorithm instead of fighting against it. So by the end of today's episode, you'll understand the four key Instagram algorithms and exactly what they look for. 

So you can start creating content that actually gets seen, gets engaged with, and ultimately helps you grow your business. So I'd like to start by asking you a question. Have you ever posted something on social media that you thought was really good? Like you spent ages crafting the perfect caption, choosing the right image, maybe even making an infographic or a [00:02:00] video and making sure it was educational, engaging, helpful, and then you hit publish. 

and nothing. Maybe you get one or two likes from your mum or your best friend or worse, another health professional or a student clearly there for their own interest, but they're not potential clients. Meanwhile, some random person posts a blurry photo of their breakfast and the caption MOOD and somehow That post gets 500 likes and a hundred comments and it goes viral overnight and you're left thinking what on earth have I missed or what am I doing wrong? 

Or maybe it's this that sounds familiar. You're constantly told by business gurus that social media is a must for growing your business. It's a necessity and you're leaving money on the table if you do not use it. And so you force yourself to show up, you create content, you post consistently, you try [00:03:00] and follow all the rules, but instead of feeling excited or motivated, you just feel drained. 

You are starting to dread it because no matter how much effort you put in, it just doesn't seem to work. You're not getting new followers, you're not getting any engagement, and worst of all, you're not getting any new clients. And you start to believe that the algorithm hates you, that it's punishing you because you're a business owner and you're not an influencer, that social media just doesn't work for professionals like you. 

If you've ever felt like that, I'm going to tell you a secret. I felt it myself, and my colleagues do too. And here's what usually happens next. You don't enjoy it, so social media becomes a chore. You start showing up less and less. You stop posting content with consistency because, well, well, what's the point? 

If no one's [00:04:00] seeing your posts anyway, why waste your time? And then because you're posting less, your engagement drops even more. And the more your engagement drops, the less motivated you feel to post at all. And before you know it, it's been a few days or a few weeks or a few months, and you've. disappeared from social media completely. And if I'm being honest, it's not just using social media for business that feels hard. You probably don't love it personally either. It often feels fake. People only posting the highlights, the perfect holidays, the glowing skin, the curated morning routines with their aesthetically pleasing green juices. 

It's all polished hair and flawless makeup and manicured nails and pristine homes that look like something out of a magazine rather than a place where real people actually live. And deep down, you know that that's not real life because no [00:05:00] one's posting their bad days, the moments that they feel exhausted from being awake all night with their child, or overwhelmed with all the housework. 

Or the general day to day monotony or chaos behind the scenes. It's all just a bit of a performance, carefully enhanced with filters and the right angles. And even though you know that, even though you can see it for what it is, it still makes you feel a little bit icky. So I want to start by saying something that might actually surprise you here. 

Social media. is not designed to help you grow your business. I know, shocking, right? Everyone uses social media for their businesses. Social media platforms exist to make themselves successful and profitable, not us as business owners. And how do they do that? Well, It's by making money through advertising. 

So [00:06:00] think a bit, like this. Social media platforms are essentially modern day newspapers. Instead of printing news stories and selling ad space on a physical page, they provide free content. our posts, our videos, our reels, and then sell ad space in between them. They don't even need to employ reporters or journalists or photographers like old school newspapers did because we, the platform users, do that for them, free of charge. 

And the longer people stay on the platform, scrolling through the posts, more of those ads They get to see, and the more ads they see, the more money the platform makes. So the number one goal. One of the social media algorithms is to keep people on the platform for as long as possible. And that's why you don't get many link placements on [00:07:00] Instagram and TikTok, and you have to send people to the link in your bio if you want them to go elsewhere. 

And that's why posts with external links on Facebook tend to get a much lower reach. Because the platforms don't want people clicking away to your website or wherever. They want them to stay right there. Scrolling, watching, engaging, viewing, and also acting upon those ads. And here's where this gets really quite interesting. 

A lot of people think that it's the algorithm that's against them, but in reality, the algorithm doesn't care about you. It doesn't care about anyone personally. It's not sitting there thinking, Oh, I don't like Sarah's content today. Let's hide it from the world. Because it's just a mathematical system, it's very advanced. 

It's very data driven that tracks one thing. It tracks what keeps people on the platform. And that's it. And actually up until just two weeks ago, [00:08:00] I'm recording this at the beginning of February, 2025, Instagram didn't even use AI. That's just been added into the algorithm. But essentially what you need to know is that the more time people spend watching your content. 

Engaging with it, staying on the platform because of what you share, the more the algorithm will push your posts out to others. But if people scroll past your post without stopping, or they only watch for a second before moving on, that sends a signal to the algorithm that your content isn't all that great, that people don't really like it, that they don't find it engaging enough. 

And when that happens, Your next post gets shown to even fewer people. So if you've ever felt like your posts are getting less and less reach over time, it's not because the algorithm is punishing you. It's because it's simply following the data. And sadly, it means that what you're [00:09:00] sharing just isn't resonating with people. 

So when people say the algorithm isn't showing my content to people, what they really mean is my content isn't really landing well, and therefore it isn't getting enough engagement for the algorithm to prioritise it. So how do we fix it? Fortunately it is totally doable. And it's one of the foundations of marketing. 

So if you've done that foundational work, you can absolutely make social media work for you. And what do I mean by foundational work? It's knowing who your ideal client is. It's knowing their demographics. It's knowing their psychographics. It's knowing their pain points, their problems, the things that keep them lying in bed, awake at night with worry. 

It's their frustrations, their anxieties. It's also their desires. What are their hopes? What are their dreams? What are their goals? And [00:10:00] it's also knowing all of that and how it impacts them on their day to day lives. So instead of trying to beat the algorithm, you just need to focus on creating content that your audience actually wants to engage with. 

So now you know that the algorithm isn't punishing you. It's simply reacting to what people engage with. How do you actually make it work? So you don't need to be an influencer. You don't need to post every single day. You don't need to do silly dances on reels with fingers pointing in the air to get that sort of traction. 

What you do need to do is you need to create content that keeps people engaged. And it all starts with understanding two key things. Number one, how the algorithm decides what to show to people. And I'll talk you through that in a moment. And number two, as I've just alluded to, how well you know your audience and your ideal customer. 

So let's talk [00:11:00] about the algorithm. I'm going to focus on Instagram here because from what I know from my clients and my colleagues, this is the most commonly used platform. And I also think that these days it's the one with the most potential for us in business. So Instagram has actually four different algorithms. 

Most people think it only has one, but in reality, it has four. Each working slightly differently. So the first one is the newsfeed algorithm. So this is what people see from accounts that they already follow. So this algorithm decides which posts from those accounts that you follow show up in your feed. 

It prioritises posts from accounts that you regularly. Engage with, it also will prioritise posts based on your browsing history on Instagram and also your interaction history. So the topics that you're browsing for and you're interacting with. [00:12:00] It's also peppered with ads. So you'll notice when you go to scroll through your feed, that every three or four posts, there's an ad and this. 

fluctuates as frequency fluctuates, depending on the time of year and when there's more competition for ad space. So if someone scrolls past your post without stopping, Instagram gets a signal that they're not interested. And that follower will actually see fewer of your future posts. And if several people do this. 

It will decide that that post is a duff one. And so it actually doesn't show it to more of your followers. So your goal here with this algorithm is to create content that makes people stop scrolling and hopefully engage. So how do you do that? Well, you need to know what topics do well, and that links back to that marketing foundational work that [00:13:00] I've just alluded to, and how well you know your ideal client. 

You need to make sure that what you post is relatable, meaning that it reflects their problems and their desires, and also how that plays out in their day to day lives, specifically. You need to show them that you understand how they're feeling. By talking about emotion, by talking about senses and tangible things that they do every single day so that they know that you understand them. 

The second algorithm is the explore algorithm and this is where strangers discover your content. So this is all about getting in front of new audiences. So The vast majority of the posts that pop up on the explore page are from new people, people who you don't follow. I say this the vast majority because 99 percent of the time, there's always going to be a few exceptions here, but the algorithm will [00:14:00] decide what you see here based on your previous activity and interests. 

So posts that get a lot of saves and shares and long watch times or Multiple watches are more likely to be placed on this page, but how you do that or how you go viral, as the kids say, is the million dollar question, because no one actually knows this, unless you happen to work for Meta, of course. So getting on the Explore page is the dream, and that is really the key to reaching new people and growing your audience. 

So our goal here is going to be about creating highly shareable, save worthy content that people want to watch over and over and share it with their friends. So the things that get shared are funny content. socially aligned content that share your personal views and deeper values and allows other people [00:15:00] to align with that too. 

So an example might be if you happen to be a plant based dietitian, or a vegan dietitian, and you talk about animal welfare. So that's what I mean by that. And then also knowledgeable content, but Not just any old knowledge, it's knowledgeable content that shares your opinion on an up to date health story that's in the news, so something unique, a different angle, an uncommon stance, something unexpected that offers something Possibly a little bit controversial or possibly a little bit polarising to the norm. 

So the third algorithm is the Reels algorithm. So this is video content. And actually video content is pushed out more than images on Instagram. Instagram wants to compete with TikTok, 

and so it has been, and actually it still is, [00:16:00] prioritising short form video. So just like the Explore page, there is a Reels Explore page, which is actually very similar in terms of the algorithm on the Explore page that we've just talked about. But of course it's all short form video. So it's presented in the style of a feed that you scroll through rather than a grid. 

And it encourages people to scroll just like TikTok does.  

So Instagram wants people to watch Reels, and so it's going to rank those that get more view time more highly than those that get fewer or shorter views. Reels that keep people watching all the way through, or even get people watching multiple times, actually get pushed out more into users Reels feed. 

And so if one of your Reels does well, Instagram's going to show another one. And so it has a snowball effect. So the majority of the reels that show up on the reels explore [00:17:00] page are going to be from new people, not people that you already follow. So getting on here is ideal if you want to get in front of new audiences. 

But what you should know is it takes an average. Of watching and engaging with four to six different reels of yours before someone decides to become a follower of yours. And this is why it's really important to have a higher ratio of reels to any other content type if you want to grow your social media audience. 

So your goal here is you want to use a great hook to capture attention with something really juicy, but in the first couple of seconds of your reel, and then keep your reel short, so cut out natural pauses. Cut out breaths so that you maintain a fast pace. I know, people don't even have time to breathe these days. 

But those ones that do best are those that are between 7 and 25 seconds. And ensure that your reels are [00:18:00] consistent in terms of being on topic and also with your branding. Because you want viewers to quickly identify that they're from you and that they know what you are all about. 

And then the fourth and final algorithm is the stories algorithm. So this is all about who sees your stories and how often. So stories are only shown to your followers, but actually not all of your followers. If someone frequently engages with your posts or watches your stories or DMs you, then your stories will be prioritised for them to take a look at. 

So the more back and forth interactions that you have with someone, the more likely they are to keep seeing your story content. And because your stories is one of the other places where you can share an external link, like a link to your lead magnet, we want to be connecting with people through our stories often.[00:19:00]  

So your goal here is to encourage direct engagement. So things like polls, things like the Q& A boxes, things like slider stickers Asking people to vote. Things like encouraging people to DM you and then replying to those DMs and responding to comments with replies and asking questions that keep the conversation flowing, essentially using the app. 

This is what keeps your Instagram stories visible to your followers. So when you understand each of these four algorithms, you can start tailoring your content to maximize its reach in each category. 

Okay. I just want to end this episode with a little bit of reassurance about growth on social media, because social media growth. Takes time, especially on those more established platforms like Instagram and Facebook. And much of that is because there [00:20:00] are just so many content creators, more people taking up space than there was five years ago, for example, because what worked then simply doesn't work now. 

So my audience growth in the Children's Nutritionist happened when it was much easier to get followers, but for the last two or three years, it's actually been really, really hard. And that's simply because there's more people using the platform. There's more competition with people producing similar content. 

And so it's going to take more time. So my message. for you here is don't compare yourself with someone who got started doing this a few years ago. If you take a look at my other Instagram account, my dietitians and business account, you'll see that the growth over there is much slower and that's completely normal. 

One of the things that really helped me when I felt disheartened because my growth was slow is to remember that each new follower There's actually a person who [00:21:00] has chosen to come to me for my tips and for my advice. In real life, if someone came up to you and asked for your help, you'd likely have a conversation with them. 

And it's just the same on social media. So even if you feel that you've only got a following of 300 people, imagine what it would be like walking into a room where 300 people are sat there waiting to hear what you've got to say. It's big, isn't it? So here's a super simple action step for you today. 

Right now, in fact, after you finish listening to this episode, I want you to put up a poll in your Instagram stories. Because polls are just one of the simplest ways to get engagement because they're so low effort for your audience and they really help boost your visibility in the stories algorithm. So if you're not sure what to ask, just try something like this. 

Which describes you best? Option one, I love learning about, and then [00:22:00] insert your topic. Option two, I struggle with, and then a pain point or a problem relating to your topic. So for example, if you're a dietitian helping people with their gut health, you could ask, How do you feel about your digestion lately? 

Option one, pretty good, no complaints. Option two, honestly, it's a struggle. Or maybe you work with busy professionals on meal planning. You could try, what's harder for you? Option one, planning meals in advance. Or option two, finding the time to cook. So the key here is to make the answers super easy to click. 

Just a yes, no, a this or that, just a simple choice. By doing this, You'll start a conversation, you'll encourage a bit of engagement, and you'll even get some insight into what your audience is struggling with. And extra brownie points for you if you choose to respond via DM to all of those people who voted to find out more details about their struggles. 

Because when you do that, [00:23:00] you can create content that truly resonates because it's speaking directly to them. So go on, try it today and just see how many people respond. So now, you know, the truth, the algorithm is not punishing you. It's simply reacting to how many people engage with your content with the sole purpose, Of keeping people on the platform so that it can make more money through selling its advertising space. 

We've talked about why the four different Instagram algorithms, feed, explore, reels, and stories exist and what each one prioritises. We've covered why engagement, why watch time and interactive content are really key and how small shifts in your approach might actually return big differences. But the most important thing to remember is that social media isn't about beating the algorithm. 

It's about understanding your audience. Because when you create [00:24:00] content. That resonates with them. You'll instinctively encourage interaction. You'll keep them engaged. You'll be connected. And then the algorithm just does the rest. Growth on social media does take time, but every single follower really is a real person who's genuinely interested. 

in what you've got to say. So instead of focusing on numbers, focus on building those genuine connections because that's what turns those followers into clients. And if you've been feeling stuck or overwhelmed or like social media just isn't working for you, I hope this episode has helped you see that it's not about working harder, it's just about working a bit smarter. 

And if you want more of that and you feel the time is right for you, My diary is open for discovery calls. I've got a few spots that have just become available in my Accelerate Mastermind program. We are currently taking new applications. 

You can find the link to apply in the show [00:25:00] notes. So let me know what you'd like to hear about next. You can DM me on Instagram and I love hearing from my colleagues and what's going on with you. Join me next time. Bye for now. 

That's it for another week. Thank you so much for joining me as we explore the abundance of strategies to help you recapture that feeling of possibility and excitement as you drive your business forwards and beyond the clinic room. If you found today's episode inspirational, then don't forget to like and subscribe to the show to stay in the loop for more valuable advice that I'm going to be sharing each week. 

If you want to be the first to hear about new episode releases, news and ways that I can support your business growth, then please don't forget to check out the links in the show notes. And you can also connect with me from there. Don't keep me a secret, I would be delighted if you left a review and shared this podcast with your [00:26:00] colleagues. 

Until next time, bye for now.