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Ran two identical posts on my moving company's page, one with a photo and one with a video. The video got 10x the reach. | Algorithm Watch - Vivisector

eric_adams11•6mo ago

Ran two identical posts on my moving company's page, one with a photo and one with a video. The video got 10x the reach.

I posted the same basic message about our new packing service. The photo post got maybe 200 people to see it. The 30-second video of us boxing up a tricky lamp hit over 2,000. The algorithm clearly pushes video way harder, even if the info is the same. It's not about quality, it's about the format they want to push. Anyone else see their video posts get a stupid amount of extra reach for no good reason?

4 comments

4 Comments

wells.christopher6mo ago

Yeah it's crazy how much video gets pushed, right? We switched to mostly short clips showing our actual moving process and our reach went way up. The algorithm just loves moving pictures even if the content is basically the same as a text post. It feels like you have to play the game and give them the format they want.

miasanchez6mo ago

Totally get what you mean about the algorithm pushing video. I posted a simple clip of us loading a couch, just 15 seconds, and it got more views than a whole month of my photo posts. It's almost silly how big the difference is, right?

fionam116mo ago

Saw a marketing blog break this down last week. They said platforms want to keep people scrolling, and video does that better than a still image. It makes sense, like @wells.christopher said, you just have to use the format they reward. My own posts follow the same pattern, a quick clip of a tree job gets shown to way more people than a photo of the finished work. The content is the same, but the algorithm treats it totally different.

wade_kelly774mo ago

Our crew tried the same thing about six months back with our landscaping business. We posted a before photo of a overgrown backyard and then a 20 second video of the same yard after we cleaned it up. The photo got around 150 views but the video hit almost 3,000. I honestly think it is a bit of a trick though. People might be watching the video because it autoplays in their feed while they scroll past, not because they actually care more about the content. That reach number looks good on paper but I bet the actual engagement like comments and shares is way lower for the video. Sometimes a photo gives people a reason to stop and read your caption while a video just takes up space without really connecting.