Instagram’s new algorithm | make it work for you

As of Tuesday 29th March (rumour has it…), Instagram is to change the way it displays photos in your feed.  The app is adding an algorithm which ranks posts, and will show you what it “believes you care about the most”.  This is a huge difference to the chronological way that posts are currently viewed in your timeline.

According to Instagram. the average person misses 70% of their feed because there is just so much content.  The new order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post.  So, when you like a photo, or follow someone new, this data will be added to the algorithm for your account and you will see posts from people/brands that you have engaged with more frequently than someone who you followed but never “liked” any of their content.

Understandably, small business users are worried that their posts will be drowned out by bigger brands with more engagement from customers.

So how can you make this work for you?

#turnmeon
Encourage your followers to turn on notifications for your feed by clicking on the three dots in the top right hand corner of the screen and selecting “Turn on Post Notifications”.  Check out the #turnmeon and #notifications hashtags for inspiration and regram.

Get engaged
Post creative, engaging content that your followers are interested in.  By sharing content that gets a lot of likes, comments and shares, that content will be seen by more people.

Use hashtags
Hashtags are there to help people find content that is relevant to them, in an easy way.  So use them!  Click here to see what the current top 100 hashtags are.

Connect
Make sure you engage too!  Connect with people who share your interests and get your brand/profile name on other people’s timelines.

A winning formula
Do you have a post that got lots of likes?  One where you gained lots of followers?  That’s great!  Post more content like that; it obviously struck a chord with your followers, so keep going!

Don’t be disheartened by the change… use it to your advantage, become more engaged and make the new algorithm work for you.

Got feedback on the changes?  Why not comment below?

 

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