Instagram has become one of the most-used platforms globally for brand promotion. In order to ensure your content ranks on the explore page, understanding the working of the Instagram Algorithm is important. Firstly, keep in mind that it keeps on changing, but there are still some important factors you cannot miss. As a business, you cannot expect your brand to thrive on Instagram if you are not willing to put in the right amount of effort. Today, we will not only talk about the working of the Instagram Algorithm but also the top ways of improving ranking for your images.
Likes, Comments, Reshares
Instagram aims at providing its users with the most preferred and relatable content. In order to improve your ranking, you have to get maximum engagement from your audience. In order to achieve this, you need to post good and creative content regularly. Along with posting good content, you need to interact with your audience too.
Whenever you post content, Instagram shows your post to 10% of your audience. If you get good engagement from this 10 %, the reach improves. The task is to create a loyal audience that interacts with your content. Here comes another important factor: content calendar. You need to be consistent with posting content. Inconsistency and loyalty never go hand in hand.
Improve Interaction With Your Audience
For improving engagement, you can organize various different contests people would love taking part in. Also, post content that can help you start off with a helpful conversation. People like being informed personally and a little conversation with your potential audience can help you in developing loyalty. Instagram also keeps a check on people you interact with on a regular basis ensuring these people see your posts. Talking to them via messages can help a lot. This will also increase user-generated content, thereby leading to better reach.
Relevant Content Matters
Instagram notices the content a user interacts the most with. According to the type of content, similar content appears on the explore page. The less relevant content goes all the way down. Also, if a user has already engaged with your past content, the new posts appear on the top of his feed.
According to your interests, the order of the posts on your feed is decided. Instagram takes a close look at the most interacted genres of a user and sort accordingly. In simple terms, a travel enthusiast will see more content related to travel than beauty.
Other than that, if a user interacted with accounts similar to yours, the chances of making it to the top increases. From the above discussion, we can see that Instagram prioritizes the interest of the users above everything else. This also helps you ensure, your target audience finds you easily.
Time Spent By A User
Another important thing that affects ranking is the total amount of times a user spends on Instagram in a day. If the time spent is very less than only the top accounts make it to their feed. On the other hand, if a person spends more amount of time scrolling through Instagram, he is more likely to come across your posts. Once he does and interacts with the post, the ranking improves.
Recent Posts Appears First in the Instagram Algorithm
You cannot expect your post to be on the top if you posted it a month ago. Yes, the recent posts appear on the top. This is the main reason why posting regularly plays an important role. Every time a user opens his Instagram feed, he is more interested in what happened minutes or hours ago rather than weeks or months ago.
Make it a point to post good content on a regular basis. Along with posting regularly, using Instagram insights you can identify the time in which your audience is the most active. In this manner, you can ensure people do not miss out on your content and avoid unnecessary competition.
Therefore, if you expect your audience to be loyal, you need to be regular with posting content.
Debunking the Instagram Algorithm
There is no doubt that improving our reach is in our own hands to a great extent. The more consistent content you post, the better engagement you get. Be regular and keep the above-mentioned points related to the Instagram algorithm in mind to form a strategy that actually works. Instagram can be a great place to promote your content as long as you understand its algorithm.
There is no doubt that social is one of the Key Marketing Trends for 2020 and Instagram is the frontrunner. If you are looking out for an Instagram tool that lets you schedule posts and keep your feed relevant, we strongly recommend Socialming. It’s free and a great place to get started for your brand on Instagram.
