In June this year, Instagram released a new algorithm to create a more chronological and fresh looking feed. Instagram has had a lot of criticism for its algorithm being to selective and for withholding your posts from reaching your followers.
Where to start? Last week I posted my first English blog about becoming friends with the new Instagram algorithm and the reactions where really good.
I’m starting to build a community around the world of likeminded entrepreneurs. It’s about wanting to fully utilize Instagram to benefit our businesses and everyone is welcome.
In today’s blog we are talking about the new Instagram algorithm and how it works.
Ready?
Let’s go.
In June this year, Instagram released a new algorithm to create a more chronological and fresh looking feed. Instagram has had a lot of criticism for its algorithm being to selective and for withholding your posts from reaching your followers.
According to Instagram that is now a thing from the past. Instead of just seeing the most popular posts you will see more of what Instagram thinks you personally like and would want to see.
So how does that work?
What your followers get to see is not just based on who they follow, it’s also based on which posts they have liked in the past and present. It’s all based on how they interact with other people and vice versa.
Instagram’s machine learning is constantly evolving and getting better at knowing what your followers interests are based on their past behavior. This specific technology is being used more and more to create a more personal and unique feed for everyone.
According to Instagram, people now see 90% of posts from their friends and family since that is relevant to most people.
For example, I like posts from GaryVee a lot (and by a lot, I mean everything the man uploads), Instagram thinks he’s my friend or family and thus the algorithm will make sure that I never miss anything from him.
This is of course taking it a bit too literally, but I think I’ve made my point here.
The way your feed is personalized is largely based on what you have liked in the past and are still liking now.
The same goes for the explorer page. Like a photo from a puppy or a fit girl in bikini and well, you know what happens. Nothing but puppy love and bikini babes from then on.
Sounds familiar? Well, the reason is that just because someone follows you they don’t automatically get to see your content.
First of all, there are more and more people coming to the platform each day. More content creators, photographers, models, travelers etc, etc. It’s getting harder to stand out from the crowd and since Instagram’s choices in what to show your followers is growing each day it’s only logical that you alone are reaching les people than before.
This is something I’ve just started to realize. Your content is good, your using the right hashtags, your following the rules and yet your engagement is dropping. Are you doing something wrong, did you make mistakes?
No. No you didn’t.
It’s just getting more crowded with a bigger selection of accounts to follow and view.
It’s only logical.
If content is king, than engaging with your followers is queen. Or something like that. Don’t really like lame and cheesy quotes, but I’m trying to make a point here.
Remember, your followers are seeing that which they have previous liked and are still liking. If you’re not in that selection even though they would like your content, you will have to go out there and engage with them.
Once you engage, they will see you. Once that happens the chance of them going to your page and checking you out grows significantly. And once they start liking and commenting on your posts it’s game on.
The algorithm will pick it up as a relevant piece of content for that follower and the next time you post something in the same niche, that follower might just get to see your content.
According to Instagram, your feed is now chronologic. However there are different factors that will influence how high your posts will be up on your followers feeds.
That means that your followers will always be able to see your content, they just need to keep scrolling if your content is not all the way up in the feed.
Going back to what I said about the personalized feed. Instagram will show you the content of which the algorithm thinks you will find it interesting. This is based on previous behavior on similar content and probably machine vision analyzing the content of the post.
The Instagram algorithm has started to prioritize recent posts over posts with a high engagement rate. This is actually a lot more how it was before the algorithm prioritized post with a high engagement rate over anything else.
I think it’s a good thing.
It keeps things fresh, relevant and actual.
Remember what I said about the whole friends and family thing that Instagram has going on right now? Well, Instagram actually wants to know what your relationship is to your followers and vice versa.
It determines this on how often you react to someone else’s posts and vice versa. Also, being tagged in posts helps a lot as well.
Instagram will flag it and think that you fall into the friends & family category for that follower. That in turn means that the algorithm makes sure that your content will show up higher on that followers feed.
So start asking for tags people.
And that’s it.
In short, the chronological Instagram feed isn’t coming back, but this sure is a good step in the right direction.
Next to having killer content it’s going to be even more important to engage with your followers. You will have to stand out from the vast selection of accounts that Instagram can show to your followers.
Get creative with asking for tags and start getting on your followers radar.
So, did I mis anything? Do you feel like there are more important things that influence the new alogrithm? Please let me know and let’s talk.