Instagram Algorithm and How to Use it as an Effective Strategy

Social media has grown even more powerful after the lockdowns and physical distancing restrictions imposed by governments around the world due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Since the world cannot completely stop, people have to cope. A major part of this adjustment happened online.

Social media algorithms are usually what define who can and cannot actually see the content you publish online. These algorithms constantly change since marketing tactics become less effective as time pass by. Therefore, there is a need for constant evolution in your platform strategies such as on Instagram. Before, simply posting on a regular basis using the right hashtags works but now, it is not enough anymore to guarantee that your new content will always reach your intended audience.

Now, the new Instagram algorithm controls the order of posts that users will see while scrolling through their feed. Understanding this new algorithm will help businesses to level up their Instagram marketing.

In this new algorithm, the best posts will be prioritized based on certain criteria, and only the most relevant ones will remain on top and making them the most visible posts, while other content ends up being pushed towards the bottom.

Here are three major factors that can help upgrade your Instagram strategy:

1. Level of user’s engagement – Users who have high interaction and engagement with your past Instagram post will be the ones that are more likely to see your future posts. This helps build loyal audience by making constant repeat engagement on your posts.
2. Level of Interest shown by user – This factor refers to the similarity of posts and accounts where the user engaged when they scroll through Instagram. This means users who interact with contents similar to yours are more likely to see your posts.
3. Relevance of the post – A relevancy score is earned by your posts from the algorithm. This affects who it sees it in the feed.

Aside from these things, you should also take not of the following:

1. The more accounts a user follows, the more competition you have for the top spot in their feed.
2. Compared to personal accounts, business accounts on Instagram are not immediately at a disadvantage in terms of organic reach.
3. Users who don’t spend enough time on Instagram or don’t open the app frequently, lessens the chance of having your content seen especially if you don’t belong to the very top slots.
4. You can also make use of Instagram Stories that are also composed of accounts that a user engage with most. Here you can use location hashtags since stories shown to users can also be determined by it.
5. Consistent posting of stories can increase the chance of people consistently seeing your posts since the more they engage with your brand through Stories, the more likely they’ll be to see your updates every time you post.

6. Remember to prioritize relationships and not just reach because the loyalty and continual engagement from your audience is now more important than ever, especially since it can earn you one of the top spots in their feeds.