How the Instagram Algorithm Works
Instagram is a powerhouse when it comes to social media marketing and it isn’t going away anytime soon. It is currently the highest-ranking platform for brand discovery and it’s favoured among the up and coming demographics for example Gen Z, over Facebook or Twitter. To allow your business to tap into the marketing potential Instagram has to offer, the first step is understanding the ever-changing Instagram algorithm.
The three main factors that determine what you see in your Instagram feed are - Interest, Timeliness and Relationships:
Interest
The algorithm is geared towards showing users the content they are most likely to engage with. When a person likes or interacts with a post or page, they will see more of that accounts content in their feed.
The content that is relevant to the user’s interests will also rank higher. To better understand user interests, the algorithm looks at what genres they have interacted with previously e.g. Travel, fashion, food.
Instagram uses their photo recognition technologies, to categorise the images from posts into genres. With this and looking at the hashtags used, it will curate a feed focusing on user interests first.
Targeted and specific posting is important for businesses, as the user is the key to what is shown in their feed. Brands need to know their audience, understanding what content they are interested in and emulate that within their own posts.
Timeliness
The algorithm will rank more recent posts higher in a user’s feed. So, it is important to know when your followers are active. You can see this data on your Instagram insights.
A common misconception is that Instagram hides posts. It does not. Every post from who you follow will show in your feed if you scroll long enough, if you time it correctly, your followers will see your post at the top when they log on.
It is a good idea to always test the timings of your posts and once you have run enough tests, review the data and see which have performed best. To help you get started, read this article from Hootsuite on the best times to post according to industry.
Relationship
Your ‘virtual’ closeness to a follower will determine where your business ranks in their feed. This is where Instagram community engagement comes in. Being active in DMs, tagging and leaving comments are all actions that indicate a close relationship between accounts.
Instagram also studies past interactions to try pin down your relationships, such as people you searched for and people you know in real life. They will prioritise the accounts of the people you care about in your feed. Implementing User-Generated Content into your social media strategy is a great way to utilise ‘word-of-mouth’ among friends and family on the platform.
And if you frequently search for a profile, Instagram will push their posts higher on your feed, so you no longer need to search for them.
Bearing these factors in mind when designing your social media marketing strategy should help your business profile steadily grow and get you in front of the right people. Lastly, three other elements of the Instagram algorithm to consider are:
Frequency of use – if users don’t check the app frequently, they will only see recent posts of interest that have generated high engagement.
Session time – if a user spends more time on the app, they will see more content and as with frequency if a user regularly spends little time on the app, they will only see the best performing posts.
Following count – how many people a user follows determines how much content they see, following 1000’s of accounts means they are unlikely to see every post.