Instagram is the best social media channel to use to promote business and the product that you want to sell. This is because it has a wide reach, in fact to a billion users, at an instant. If only you can use this platform in the way that you should, you will be able to make the most of it.
The experts say that in order to make Instagram work towards your business marketing, you will need to make sure that:
- The Instagram marketing strategy really resonates with your target audience and
- You must also know and understand how to capitalize on the Instagram algorithm and how it works.
The Instagram algorithm as it is, is ever-mysterious, really. When this feature in this photo-sharing platform came into existence in 2016, Instagram announced that it wanted to replace the chronological feed with it. The algorithm introduced however experienced a less than joyous response and reaction. Strangely, not much has changed ever since.
Now the question is why on earth Instagram made such change from a chronological feed to the algorithm did. Well, it had everything to do with the size.
- As Instagram continued to grow in popularity, it became almost impossible for the platform to keep up with a large number of photos and videos people posted on this platform and shared it among their friends.
- It was also seen that in fact, according to Instagram, most of the users missed about 70% of their feeds on an average when it was chronological.
This means that there is an immediate the need for creating an algorithm that will help the platform to re-organize the feeds of the users so that more content can be seen by all theoretically, especially those that are relevant and useful to them.
Resolving the problems
There are a few specific problems noticed in the platform such as in segmentation which experts think to have been resolved by the Instagram algorithm. Unfortunately, it also came with a couple of undesirable effects.
It is seen that a chronological feed needed a little to no guesswork. All you really need to be concerned about is the right time to know to post so that you do so when your audience is most active.
It was also seen that the algorithm-based feeds are typically influenced by a host of different factors such as:
- How much is the engagement level a post can usually get and
- How much time did people spend in viewing the posts in the feeds?
It is for this reason that Instagram is continuously updating the algorithm so as to improve the user experience. It is also done to prioritize a few specific types of content on Instagram.
Without the availability and use of specific tools and features, it will; be really difficult for you to know exactly how you can optimize your posts on this platform to reach out to the widest audience possible and get the maximum level of engagement and conversion.
With the Instagram algorithm, it is not impossible!
Factors influencing performance
When you know exactly how the Instagram algorithm works, you will know about all those factors that will influence the performance of your posts. Ideally, it is the Instagram algorithm that will determine exactly how many people will see your posts. Here are a few of these factors mentioned in terms of their importance.
1. Interest
This is actually the prediction made by the Instagram algorithm as to how much you will care about your post. The more it ‘thinks’ that you will like your post, higher will it appear in your feed. This evaluation is made on the basis of the past behavior of your similar content and posts. This potentially helps the machine to visualize and analyze the actual content of the post. According to Instagram for example, if you consider the Instagram Explore page, once you like a particular video of slime, the entire explore page will be filled with slime videos. On the other hand, if a user posts a video of slime in your feed, Instagram will think that you will like it as well.
2. Timeliness
This determines how long ago did you post a photo or video in your feed. According to it, the new Instagram algorithm will prioritize your recent posts. That means that you will see fewer posts from that of the previous weeks. The platform will now be concerned more about when you post rather than the content or the engagement of your post without allowing your feed to go back to chronological by any means. It means people will not see older posts on their feeds.
3. Relationship
It is paramount for a business to know when exactly their targeted audience is most active on the platform. This will help them to optimize their profiles and posts by ensuring that it appears at that particular time. The only way to know that the accounts appear on your feed is when you comment on photos of someone else or get tagged in their photos. This indicates Instagram that these users fall into your “friends and family” category. This will help you to build a relationship and as a result, you are more likely to see more content posted by them and vice-versa. This will help you to stay on top of the mind of the users which is great news for businesses.
4. Frequency
The algorithm will tell how often you check your Instagram app. If you are a regular visitor then your feed will look more chronological. This is because the algorithm will try to show you the best posts since you last visited.
5. Following
If you follow less on Instagram, the algorithm will sort your feed more according to its liking rather than chronologically. If you follow a lot of people, then you will have more options to choose from but will not see all the posts from every account.
Lastly, the usage factor will determine how much time you spend on the platform. If it is more you will see more posts and if it is less, you will just see the highlights from the algorithm.
About The Author:
Pete Campbell is a social media manager behalf of blastup and has immense knowledge about email marketing and Instagram promotion. He delights his clients by helping them buy real Instagram likes. He loves to travel, write and play baseball
