{"id":81542,"date":"2026-11-09T19:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T00:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hec.ca\/?p=81542"},"modified":"2026-11-12T18:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T23:22:13","slug":"for-you-page-the-inevitable-overlap-in-digital-marketing-and-social-media-platforms-and-its-algorithms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digital.hec.ca\/en\/blog\/for-you-page-the-inevitable-overlap-in-digital-marketing-and-social-media-platforms-and-its-algorithms\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFor you? Page\u201d :The inevitable overlap in Digital Marketing and Social Media Platforms and its Algorithms.\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, salt and pepper. There are many examples of two things that go inexplicably well together. So much so that it can be strange and in some cases even impossible to find one without the other.\u00a0Like many of these examples, Digital Marketing and Social Media Algorithms can well be added into the mix. Social media no longer operates under the idea of direct communication between a brand and their audience<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All posts, adverts and brand videos are subject to a system of automated recommendation or in simpler terms, an algorithm. To successfully navigate the current world of digital marketing, said marketers must understand how digital marketing works in social media algorithms and how it can differ depending on the platform in addition to knowing your audience. Those recommendations can dictate content distribution, audience segmentation and even the overall returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Technical Context and Industry Definition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To accurately evaluate the topic of marketing and social media, proper definitions must be in place first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. What is a social media algorithm:<\/strong> A social media algorithm is an automated system made of many mathematical rules, predictive models and machine learning codes that filters and distributes content to individual users based on the predicted relevance and interest (O’Brien, 2023).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. What’s Machine Learning (ML):<\/strong> This is a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) where statistical models analyze older user data to identify all the patterns and predict future user actions without explicit manual programming. (IBM, 2021)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. What\u2019s context Indexing:<\/strong> This is a process where platform recommendation systems analyse visual elements, all forms of audio, texts and metadata including hashtags and even captions using computer vision and Natural Processing language to be able to categorise the content accurately (gandhi, geetanjali. (2017). <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. What’s Algorithmic Stakeholder Governance<\/strong>: This framework describes how platform algorithms automatically balance the operational goals of everyone. This included the platform owners, whose goals are basically making money and retaining customers. The goals of creators and marketers is to have the most reach and conversions and lastly the goals of the end users which is relevance and satisfaction (M\u00f6hlmann, M., Gregory, R., & Henfridsson, O. (2025). <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. What\u2019s Dwell time:<\/strong> The is the amount of time a user can spend viewing a specific post video on their screen before scrolling past, serving as a primary signal of content engagement<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Connection between Marketing and the Algorithms and Recommendation Engines.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Digital marketing and social media algorithms are linked because modern marketing relies on these algorithms as its primary way for content distribution to its target audience. Rather than just displaying content in sporadic order hoping to reach everyone, modern platforms rely on machine learning models to maximise user retention and the platforms overall activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n