Algorithms are interesting and important, and if you disagree, stop reading now.
They control what is being seen and who sees such content, so if you have any interest or part in understanding how to optimize content on IG, I encourage you to continue reading.
First and foremost, there is a huge negative connotation associated with the IG algorithm, so I want to clarify their intentions now. It was created because as IG got older, users and followings quickly increased, which ultimately caused 70% of IG content to go unseen. That's well over half of the content not even being seen in the first place. Seeing that this was a waste of user's valuable time and effort into content creation and scrolling, IG implemented the algorithm, and since, overall engagement reach has increased.
What impacts the algorithm?
There are several factors that impact the overall algorithm, but it's the best combination of everything that makes up what you actually see.
Interest
IG actually takes your interests into consideration; they predict what you will care about most and what you want to see most. They did this in an attempt to improve the user experience so that the percentage of content unseen was the content you probably didn't care too much about to begin with.
Timeliness
When you post something matters. If you post something at 2 a.m. when no one is scrolling through their feed, chances are, your post will get lost amongst those that were of interest to you and posted closer to the time you opened the app. So it helps to understand your best times to post, which you can easily do by going into your analytics tab. Check out this post for more information on figuring out your best time to post!
Relationship
IG also looks into what certain followers mean to you and how close you probably are. They do this, specifically, by considering who you are direct messaging, commenting on posts, tagging and who is doing the same to you. This means, if you're a business especially, to always reply to comments and messages because IG will take note of the "relationship" you have created.
Quick Tips
1. Frequency will change the way you view your feed. If you open IG often, your feed will look mostly chronological. If you don't it will be based more heavily on what IG thinks is more relevant and interesting to you.
2. Use ALL of the features: stories, IGTV, feed posts, IG live. This will help your content have as much organic visual opportunity as possible.
3. Focus more on the individual post and less on the feed as whole. Don't ignore the look of the profile feed, just focus less on it because each post will be evaluated individually by IG when deciding the algorithm for follower's feeds.
4. Phone-produced videos are consumed more than any other kind on IG, and 3 seconds of watching a video counts as a "view," so keep that in mind next time you're producing video content.
5. People actually follow hashtags, so use them!! I follow at least 6-8 hashtags, and relevant posts from each hashtag pop up in my feed from time to time, so it feels extremely organic. Users will treat it like content from one of their followings, and you could ultimately gain new relationships.
6. Quantity matters a bit; Consistent content shows IG that you are a quality account that cares about IG. The same goes for IG stories as well, BUT don't overdo it. Sometimes if people see a story with 50 little dashes at the top of the screen pertaining to a topic with no personal interest, they will immediately skip the person's story all together.
My mom is definitely guilty of this sometimes, but I think she's learning her magic story number 😊
Myths
The IG algorithm does NOT favor videos over photos inherently, but generally speaking, people enjoy watching videos more than they do looking at a stationary picture.
The other big myth that has been busted is that IG favors business or personal account's posts over the other. This is also not true. IG considers interest, timelines and relationship, not what type of account you are, so if you're seeing a lot of businesses, it probably just so happens that IG found you looking through similar content recently and engaging with such brands.
What does this mean for other Instagram features?
Stories
Use all of the stickers and buttons that come with using the IG stories feature. Most of these buttons are interactive, which will increase your likelihood of being seen again by a user that interacts. You can even make a deliberate call-to-action by inviting your viewers to hold the screen to read the content.
Additionally, it might be interesting to note that the first stories that pop up when you open the app are the ones that you ENGAGE with most (then IG considers the timeliness of such accounts). The viewers of your own story are in order by who you engage with the most according to Julian Gutman, product lead for Instagram Home.
IGTV
Theories on IGTV are slightly less developed simply because it's a newer feature, but digital marketers have been able to asses a heavy emphasis on who you follow and what your interests interests are, which seems sort of obvious, I know. The categories are broken up into"for you,""popular" and "following," so I'm sure you can understand where they are curated videos from for each one.
The newest feature to assisting the IGTV algorithm is that you can now share a one-minute preview to your feed. This can help not only promote the video itself but also increase engagement.