In the ever-evolving world of social media, Instagram algorithm remains one of the most talked-about yet misunderstood aspects of the platform. Whether you’re a casual user, a content creator, or a business owner, understanding how the algorithm works can be the key to maximizing your reach, engagement, and overall success.
This blog delves into the inner workings of Instagram, including the IG algorithms and how you can use them to craft a winning Instagram marketing plan.
What Is The Instagram Algorithm?
Instagram doesn’t have a single “algorithm” that controls what users see or don’t see on it. The platform has different types of information watched and created on it in order to trigger an Instagram algorithm change for each user.
“We want to make the most of your time, and we believe that using technology to personalize your experience is the best way to do that.”
– Quoted by Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram
When Instagram first debuted in 2010, it used a chronological news feed format, as you might remember. However, as Instagram’s popularity grew, it became clear that feed-scrolling users were missing as many as 70% of all posts. Because of this, the site implemented sorted feeds in 2016 to filter out irrelevant material and show users only the stuff they care about.
Every Instagram user is presented with a unique experience according to the:
- Instagram post algorithm
- Instagram story algorithm
- And even the Instagram Explorer and Reels algorithm.
Instagram places a premium on personal relationships because its users care most about what their friends are up to, such as in Stories. Instagram’s Explore section, on the other hand, is designed to display more offbeat material.
How Instagram Ranks Feeds
The Instagram algorithm for the Feed tab is a dynamic system that personalizes the way content is displayed for every user. Rather than showing posts in a simple chronological order, the algorithm carefully curates your feed based on three key factors:
1. Relationship With The Users
Instagram’s algorithm takes into account a user’s history of engagements with other accounts. It considers these interactions when determining which types of accounts and followers are most meaningful for you to connect with and interact with more effectively.
Tip: Instagram builds a relationship just after an Instagram user follows a new account and then shows their content in your feed.
2. Interest Of Users
An Instagram feed is a summary of your recent Instagram activities
Interaction on Instagram includes:
- The Instagram tag in posts,
- the posts you like and comment on your shares,
- and saved posts.
The Instagram algorithm wants to let people see the posts they like and enjoy.
Tip: One effective way to make Instagrammers interact with your content more often is to post consistently.
3. Relevancy Of The Post
The Instagram algorithm tends to predict the possibility of how you might interact with different posts. These predictions resulted from the time spent on a particular post and reacting to it, such as commenting on it, giving it a like, or saving it.
Instagram Stories Algorithm
You may have noticed that some users’ stories always appear at the top of your page. These are usually the ones you interact with the most. Now, let’s explore how the Instagram algorithm ranks stories on users’ feeds.
- Viewing History: This refers to how frequently a user watches an account’s Stories. The more often you view a specific account’s Stories, the more likely that account is to appear at the top of your Stories feed.
- Engagement History: This tracks how often a user interacts with an account’s Stories. This can include actions like sending reactions or responses to the Stories.
- Closeness: Finally Instagram algorithm detects your overall relationship with the account owner, considering how likely they are to be friends or family.
How Instagram Algorithm Ranks Explore Tab?
The Explore tab has a similar approach, such as Feeds, even though all of the content shown there is generated from accounts you don’t even follow.
- Interaction History: Instagram first considers the posts you have engaged with in the past. It prioritizes content from accounts that users have previously interacted with.
- User Activity: The Instagram algorithm detects the types of posts a user engages with (likes, comments, shares, saves) and it influences the recommendations they receive.
- Post Popularity: Content with high engagement metrics, such as likes and shares, is more likely to be featured on the Explore tab.
- Content-Type Preferences: The algorithm considers what type of content a user engages with the most, such as videos, Reels, or carousel posts.
How Instagram Ranks Reels
Reels work in a similar manner to Explore, but rather than focusing on exploring, Reels feature focuses on the entertainment aspect. It also emphasizes creators with smaller followers.
To rank Reels, the new Instagram algorithm update most likely looks at how likely you might want to watch a video to the end and like it. The platform also tracks how often people visit the audio section of a video in order to determine who might have been inspired to create a Reel of their own.
10 Ways To “Beat” The Instagram Algorithm
Here are 10 of the best ways to beat the Instagram algorithm:
1. Work With Influencers
One of the easiest and fastest ways to solve limited reach on any platform, no matter which, is to pay for the reach instead. Done right, this can give you a burst of momentum that would help you be able to have a better organic result in the future. Influencer marketing might sound scary when the biggest question comes to mind; how even to find the right influencer for the job? Glad you asked:
how to choose the right influencer
One of the most convenient ways to connect with influential people is to use a top-tier influencer marketplace. Ainfluencer is a free and end-to-end influencer marketing platform with a database of over 1M active creators across Instagram and TikTok.
Using this tool, you can easily discover top creators in your niche with the help of an AI-powered search tool and more than 20 advanced filters. By viewing creators’ profiles on Instagram. You can access their latest account insights, past collaborations, and engagement metrics to ensure they are active and can help your growth.
After finding creators, you can easily chat with them inside the app, invite them to campaigns, and track the results. The best part is that it’s completely free band you can only need to pay influencers.
2. Keep Up With Trends
Of course, being at the same pace as Instagram trends is an excellent way to get the Instagram algorithm to like you. When you remix those trends and make content, the ig algorithm takes your content and gives it to the users who are already engaging with that particular trend. Trends could bring as many as a thousand new users to see your content.
3. Run Instagram Explore Ads
Growing organic reach on Instagram and getting it featured on the Explore tab could take some time. Instagram advertisements, can be created in a variety of formats, including single-image and video advertising, carousel and collection ads, and Story ads. Instagram advertising only shows up when a user taps on a photo or video in the Explore section, not the Explore newsfeed itself.
4. Make The Most Of Instagram Insight And Analytics
Instagram insight gives business accounts the ability to have an overview of their accounts statistics to better know what type of content their audience interacts with more often and so gives them a chance to act accordingly.
Put your audience needs in priority if you want to see immediate growth. Nothing like analyzing the best-performing posts that can help your brand succeed with the Instagram algorithm.
5. Consider Instagram Stories Tips
Instagram’s Stories features are accessible and visible to more users, making them useful interactive tools for increasing engagement and connecting brands with their audiences.
Instagram Stories polls, question stickers, location tags, Story filters, and crucial effects are all great ways to increase the visibility of your Stories and gain new followers.
Brands can now get more interaction with their Instagram Stories using the new features, which will also benefit your feed posts.
6. Post Consistently
It doesn’t matter whether you are in the market to grow your followers, increase your reach or even boost engagement (which, crazy enough, all three are connected to each other); you have to post consistently to get results.
According to Hootsuite, businesses post 1.6 posts to their feed every day on average to stay constant. It might sound too much for you, and it is understandable but focus on showing up consistently on feeds as opposed to sharing many posts.
It shouldn’t be failed to mention that during Instagram’s creator week in June 2021, the CEO of Instagram revealed that posting 2 posts per week and 2 Stories per day is enough to build an Instagram following.
7. Schedule Your Posts At Optimal Times
If you pay attention, you will get the conclusion that audience engagement is a powerful and common factor in Instagram algorithms. So when you post content at the right time, it could make a huge difference in your reach.
According to Kicksta, the best time to post on Instagram in order to stand out and appear on users’ feeds, as an example, for the food influencers and brands, is the following times:
- The best times to post on Instagram: are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
- Best hours: Noon- Most people check their phones around lunchtime
- Most engaging day: Friday kicks off the weekend, and plans for reservations spike
- Worst days for engagement: Saturday & Sundays
However, it may change depending on your location and niche.
8. Drive Conversations With Engaging Captions And Comments
As one might guess, comments and likes are very important when it comes to ranking feeds. Therefore it is a good idea to encourage as many people as possible to engage with your posts.
One way to do so is to write good captions that drive engagement for your posts. Even asking your followers to share their thoughts or to like the post or video if they agree is an excellent way to engage them.
9. Incorporate Reels Into Your Instagram Marketing Strategy
As mentioned earlier in the blog, Reels get more engagement than normal Instagram videos. This indicates that if you want to increase your visibility across Instagram, you should start posting more Reels.
Be aware that the Instagram algorithm ranks Reels for their entertainment value. So try to make the video fun and light-hearted. Also, know that it considers whether people watch a Reel until the end. You should try to keep your videos short so that there’s an increased likelihood of people watching the entire thing.
10. Use A Hashtag Strategy
If you think Instagram hashtags are only used to categorize your content, you are missing a lot. Hashtags can help your posts appear in search results and on the Explore page. The Instagram algorithm uses these hashtags as a reference to show your posts to users who are likely to be interested in your content.
Using popular or trending hashtags can help your posts get featured on the explore page of various platforms, which is often visited by users looking for new and interesting content. So it’s important to choose hashtags that are not only relevant to your post but also commonly searched by users to maximize your reach.
Conclusion
To be successful in 2024, brands need to use every tool at their disposal to stimulate engagement and make audiences interested in their products and services. By taking advantage of Instagram‘s continual improvements and incorporating them into their influencer marketing plan, firms can extend their reach to a whole new crop of eager customers and boost brand affinity with their existing ones.
FAQs
1. What Are The 6 Main Factors Of The Instagram Algorithm?
Want to know how Instagram ranks different types of content on your fee, explore, or reel tab? Here are the main factors the algorithm considers:
- Engagement: Posts that receive more likes, comments, and shares are prioritized by the algorithm
- Relevance: The algorithm ranks content based on its relevance to your interests.
- Relationships: Content from accounts you frequently engage with is given more visibility.
- Timeliness: Newer posts are typically prioritized over older ones,
- Content Type: Different types of content, such as photos, videos, and carousels, are ranked based on your engagement history with them.
- Frequency of Use: Your usage habits affect what you see.
2. How Can I Reset My Algorithm On Instagram?
To reset your explore page and help the algorithm understand the content you prefer, use the ‘Interested’ option. Scroll through your explore tab and tap on the three-dot icon located below the posts you enjoy. then select ‘Interested.’ Likewise, you can choose ‘Not Interested’ for posts that you don’t like by following the same steps.
