We all know that Instagram is one of the best platforms for advertising businesses. At present, this social media channel is one of the top five in the advertising world, behind Facebook and WeChat. Instagram has changed a lot over the years. There are lots of changes happened since its launch. Some of the changes are its main aesthetics, logo, and then the most important change happened. When the Instagram switched from chronological to the algorithmic mode for showing content, a lot of influencers and celebrities felt like they were losing their audience. Many people felt the drop in their reach, but eventually, everything became better.
What Is Instagram Algorithm?
The Instagram algorithm is a algorithm which prioritizes posts from your friends, family, and accounts that you care about. So the algorithm uses your interactions to piece together who is closest to you in order for Instagram to show you what you want.
How Does Instagram Algorithm Work?
The new Instagram algorithm commands the order of the posts that users see when they scroll through their feed. It prioritizes posts based on certain aspects. It pushes the most relevant ones towards the top and giving them the most visibility or reach, while other posts are placed further down in one’s feed. Every time a user opens the app, the algorithm instantly grooms through all available content, and decides
- Which posts are going to be at the top of the newsfeed and in what order;
- Which posts are going to be featured on the Explore tab;
- In which order Stories, Live videos, Reels and IGTV videos show up, in the feed, and their respective tabs, etc.
Instagram released some information sharing some of the different factors that the algorithm takes into account when prioritizing content in a user’s feed in the year 2018. There are some key factors that influence the Instagram algorithm for feed posts. They are:
Relationship with your followers
The algorithm assumes that people who’ve interacted with your account in the past will be interested in your new content. So when it decides whether to show a post to one of your followers, it evaluates your relationship:
- Do you follow each other?
- Did they search for you by name?
- Do you message each other, or leave comments?
- Do you tag each other in your posts?
- Do they save your posts?
If you have an audience who is loyally and frequently engages with your content, the algorithm will recognize that and helps you increase your organic reach.
Posts and followers you are Interested in
Instagram feed is not based on whom you follow solely; it is also based on the accounts and types of posts you’ve liked previously. The more the Instagram algorithm thinks you will “like” a certain type of post, the higher it will appear in your feed. Basically, whatever you see in your feed is a combination of all of your Instagram activity. The accounts you interact with the most, the people you are tagged in photos with, and of course, the type of posts that you like and comment on are some of the reasons for instagram algorithm to show the posts related to those activity. This is why constantly showing up on Instagram is so important. It sends positive signals to the Instagram algorithm and gives your followers more chances to interact with your content.
Timeliness
The Instagram algorithm considers that most recent posts are most important to people. Instagram’s algorithm cares about the time when you post, because it always wants to show you the latest and most interesting posts. One of the easiest ways to improve your Instagram reach is to post when your audience is online.
Frequency
How often do you open the Instagram app? Since Instagram tries to show you the best posts since your last visit, if you frequently scroll then your feed will look more chronological. If you check your Instagram account less often, your feed will be sorted into what Instagram thinks you’ll like, instead of chronologically.
Usage
You will see more posts as Instagram digs deeper into its catalog, if you spend a lot of time on Instagram. If you spend enough time on Instagram, you can even run out of new content to see. If this happens, the algorithm will show you suggested content from new accounts based on your previous interactions. If you only spend a few minutes in the app each day, then you will get only the day’s highlights from the algorithm.
Conclusion
If you want to make the most out of Instagram, it is not enough to rely only on publishing content regularly. Instead, it is very essential that you also focus on overall relationship building while engaging with users outside of your posts and on them. Social media algorithms will always be prone to change. If you’re willing to change with them, you’ll find different new ways to reach your intended audience.
-Naga Sai Deepak