What is an outlier post?

An outlier is a post that beat its own creator's typical performance, shown as a multiple like Nx their typical post, not a top 1% ranking.

Written By PostSnag

Last updated 29 days ago

PostSnag flags an outlier as a post that beat its own creator's typical performance, and it shows exactly how far it beat it as a multiple, right on the post, like "4x their typical post."

If you've seen PostSnag described elsewhere as surfacing a "top 1%" of posts, that phrase doesn't reflect how outliers actually work today. The real mechanic is simpler and more specific: a straightforward comparison against what that same creator usually gets, not a percentile measured against anyone else.

How PostSnag calculates an outlier

An outlier is relative to one creator's own history, never a fixed reaction count and never a comparison across different creators. That means a small Page that usually gets a few dozen reactions can post a real outlier at a few hundred reactions (say, 5x its typical post), while a large creator whose average post already clears a thousand reactions might only be posting 1.2x their own typical numbers with a similar raw total. The raw number matters less than the gap between this post and that creator's normal.

The label you'll actually see is the multiple itself, "Nx their typical post," attached directly to the post it describes.

Where you'll see the outlier flag

  • The Posts page filters. All, Top, and Outlier sit above your whole library. Choosing Outlier shows only the posts flagged this way, across every creator and every group you track at once. See What is the Posts page, and how do I use it?
  • The Profiles page. Flip to the outlier view to see which of your tracked creators currently have a post pulling away from their own norm, instead of scrolling your whole roster looking for it. See How do I find and manage captured profiles?
  • A profile's own Analytics tab. Each profile highlights its most viral post, the same idea, a post standing out against that one creator's history, applied to a single profile instead of your whole library.

Why outliers are worth finding

An outlier is the fastest signal you have for what to study on any given creator. Instead of reading months of a profile's history hoping something jumps out, the outlier flag puts the post worth reverse-engineering right in front of you: the hook, the format, the topic, or the timing, whatever made that one post pull away from everything else that creator has published. That's the point of tracking a creator in the first place, finding the posts worth learning from instead of reading everything they've ever posted.

Outlier vs. Discovery: two different things

An outlier describes one post against its own creator's history. Discovery describes a caption or hook pattern repeating across every creator you track. A post can be both, an outlier that also happens to use a pattern Discovery has named, but the two mechanics measure different things and neither one determines the other. See What is Discovery, and how do I use it?

Common questions

Does PostSnag still call this "top 1%"?

No. The current mechanic is a multiple against that creator's own typical post, shown as "Nx their typical post," not a percentile.

Is an outlier a fixed number of reactions?

No. It's relative to one creator's own typical results, so the same raw reaction count can be an outlier for one profile and completely ordinary for another.

Can a small profile have a bigger outlier than a huge creator?

Yes. Outlier status compares a post only against that same creator's own history, not against other creators, so a smaller profile can post a higher multiple than a much larger one.

Where's the best place to find a creator's outlier posts?

The Posts page Outlier filter for your whole library at once, or a single profile's Analytics tab if you only care about that one creator.

Is an outlier the same as a Discovery pattern?

No. An outlier is about one post beating its own creator's typical numbers. Discovery is about a caption or hook pattern repeating across the creators you track. They're separate mechanics.

  • What is Discovery, and how do I use it?
  • What is the Posts page, and how do I use it?
  • How do I find and manage captured profiles?
  • How do I read a profile's Analytics?

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