You spend a lot of time creating quality Instagram posts!
But when you look at the statistics and data relating to your Insta account, the results are disappointing…
Have you thought about creating content optimized for the Instagram algorithm?
Because if you want your content to be presented to a large audience, you will have to satisfy several requirements and factors dictated by the Instagram algorithm, the heart of the social network, which is a veritable machine room in constant evolution.
Understanding the Instagram algorithm version 2023 and its importance criteria remains a crucial element for the success of your marketing strategy on the famous social network, in the same way that digital marketing professionals and SEO consultants scrutinize Google search engine algorithm changes.
But before getting to the heart of the matter, let’s go back for a moment to the Instagram phenomenon, which has become a major player in the world of social media and whose success has never wavered since its launch on October 6, 2010 (the app was downloaded 25,000 times that day alone, and by December 2010, Instagram already had one million users).
Over the past few years, the image- and photography-focused social network has grown and evolved at a pace similar to that of Facebook — the company that bought it in 2012 for $1 billion.
quickly adopting new features like Stories and Reels, short videos that last 15 to 30 seconds, making it a valuable tool for all brands around the world, and especially e-commerce businesses, which have access to a visually-driven platform that has followers brimming with enthusiasm and, more importantly, has very high engagement rates.
Thus, Instagram has become an essential lever for the marketing campaigns of many small and large companies, like Tik Tok, the other social network platform specializing in short videos, which has been climbing steadily for two years.
Instagram offers businesses a large and diverse audience of over 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million daily users just for Instagram Stories, just waiting to engage with the brands that provide them with tailor-made, fun and quality content.
In the rest of this article, we’ll tell you the secrets of the Instagram algorithm, from its ranking criteria to the most recent changes. Then, we will reveal our optimization tips and everything you need to know to increase the visibility of your content on the platform.
Let’s start by understanding what is behind the Instagram algorithm.
What is Instagram’s algorithm?
The Instagram algorithm is a set of rules and signals that classifies the content broadcast all day long on the platform, whether in user feeds, Explore pages, Stories feeds, etc.
Instagram’s algorithm analyzes every piece of content posted on the network, taking into account information such as metadata, hashtags and various performance indicators, such as engagement and reach.
Based on this information, it distributes the content on the platform so that users can have easy and quick access to what they want to see first.
It’s important to remember that previously, the algorithm determined 100% of what users saw in their news feed — or feed — and there was no way to override it.
Instagram introduced two settings:
- Ability to get a flow in chronological order.
- Possibility to obtain a feed whose content is selected from recent publications from your favourite accounts.
The problem is that, even with these changes and the possibilities to influence the content shown in News Feeds, most users, and certainly the largest part of your audience, are probably using the default feed.
For this reason, it’s essential to understand the types of content the Instagram algorithm prioritizes and the categories it discards.
How does Instagram’s algorithm work in 2022?
In a blog post published in 2021 and entitled “Shedding more light on how Instagram works “, Adam Mosseri, the CEO of the social network Instagram, gives us some keys to the philosophy of Instagram and how its algorithm works: “We use a variety of algorithms, positioning factors and processes, each with its purpose.
We want to get the most out of our users’ time on the platform, and using technology to personalize the user experience is the best way to achieve this. »
Every time a user opens their Instagram app, the algorithm immediately crawls through all available content and uses its various classification factors to decide:
- The posts/posts that should appear at the very top of newsfeeds and the order in which these posts appear
- The publications that will appear in the Explore tab of Instagram (the “Explore” or “Explorer” section, in English, include all the photos, videos and posts that could interest you. This page also consists of the Reels and Buy social network)
- The order in which Reels, Stories, and Live videos appear in your News Feed
Instagram’s algorithm will consider the details of your relationships with your subscribers, the relevance of your content, and your publications’ timeliness.
However, the specific factors that determine your feed posts, Instagram Stories, Explore tab, and Reels, are slightly different, as discussed below.
Here’s what Instagram’s algorithm considers:
Your relationship with your subscribers
Did your followers search for your brand or company name to find your account? Do you follow each other? Do your followers leave comments on your posts, send direct messages or vice versa? Are your followers tagging you in their posts?
The relevance of your content
The Instagram algorithm manages to gauge the tastes and affinities of users and tries to deduce the content of the images or videos published on the platform to provide them with the desired content.
The age of your messages
Normally, newer posts appear in feeds before older posts.
Besides these basic signals, here is what Instagram’s algorithms evaluate to automatically select the perfect mix of content for each user and each format offered by the platform.
How does the Instagram algorithm determine the order of Stories and posts in your News Feed?
To select the posts/posts and stories you might like, the Instagram algorithm combs through the content of the accounts you follow and tries to deduce the likelihood that you will interact with a post based on key factors:
The following information about the publication:
When was it posted online? How many likes has she received? Is she tagged? If it’s a video, how long is it?
These different signals help Instagram’s algorithm determine the popularity and relevance of the post.
The following information about the person making the post:
Instagram’s algorithm analyzes the number of times you have interacted with a person, be it likes, comments, profile views, etc., before deciding how interesting it is regarding what you are looking for on the platform.
Your activity on the platform:
What types of posts do you interact with the most? The types of content you’ve engaged with give Instagram an idea of what other posts you might want to appear in your News Feed.
Instagram’s algorithm uses all this information to calculate the likelihood of you interacting with a post and decide in what order posts will be displayed in your News Feed.
How does the Instagram algorithm organize the content in the “Explore” tab?
Instagram’s algorithm organizes posts in the Explore tab based on previous posts you’ve engaged with, the same way it does with Stories and posts that appear in feeds.
The big difference is that when choosing content for your Explore page, the algorithm almost exclusively selects content from accounts you don’t follow or know about.
Here are the most important ranking factors for the Explore tab:
The following information about the publication
The algorithm will consider the following elements: how popular is the publication in question? How many people liked, commented, shared or even saved the post? How engaged are Instagram users with this post?
Your interaction history with the person or business who posted
Most of the content featured in the Explore tab is from new accounts, but sometimes the algorithm may place content from an account you’ve interacted with before, even if you don’t follow it.
Your activity on the platform
What content have you ever liked, commented on, saved or shared? Your activity on social media will condition what the algorithm sees fit to show you on the Explore page.
Certain information about the person or company who posted
If an account has had a lot of user engagement over the past two weeks, that tells Instagram’s algorithm that this account posts content likely to be enjoyed by other users on the platform.
How does the Instagram algorithm for Reels work?
For Instagram Reels, the algorithm considers both contents from accounts you follow and accounts you don’t follow, as long as their content is similar to what you previously engaged with.
Here are the ranking signals Instagram’s algorithm looks for when selecting content for your Reels:
Your activity on the platform
Instagram’s algorithm considers the Reels you’ve liked, commented on, shared and saved recently. This helps it determine which content is relevant to you.
Your interaction history with the person or business who posted
Instagram’s algorithm also checks if you’ve engaged with Reels posted by the person who posted them in the past. If so, you’ll likely see that creator’s Reels in your feed again.
The following information about the Reel
The Instagram algorithm tries to determine the quality and potential of the Reel based on its audio track, popularity, video quality, etc.
The following information about the person or company who posted
Can the person or company who posted a claim have an engaged audience? Does their content get frequent likes and shares?
If the Reels posted by such a person or company have a high virality rate, it is necessarily an advantage from the algorithm’s point of view because it means that users love this content.
As a result, Instagram will favour and share them more on users’ news feeds.
Speaking of Reels, it’s good to know that this type of video generates more than 20% more engagement than regular videos on Instagram, so if this format fits your social media marketing goals, it’s high time to use it.
Now that you know how algorithms determine what content appears on your Instagram feed, let’s see how you can use this information to your advantage.
Here are a few tips to get the most out of the Instagram algorithm
To improve the positioning of your Social Media posts in Instagram users’ feeds, you need to publish quality content that can entertain, inform and captivate your audience.
We will see in this last part how you can increase your reach and encourage Instagram’s algorithm to put your content in front of new users of the platform:
1- Plan your publications at the best time
Audience engagement is one of the essential signals and criteria in the eyes of the Instagram algorithm.
However, it is better to publish your content at the right time to benefit from optimal reach and engagement.
It is possible to determine the best times of the day or days of the week to post your publications, but nothing beats the help of software specialized in this field, such as Hootsuite, SocialPilot or even Sprout Social.
This type of tool can suggest the best times for you to publish your content based on your previous performance and your audience’s online behaviour.
2- Integrate the Reels format at the heart of your Instagram marketing strategy
As mentioned, “Reels” get more engagement than regular Instagram videos.
It simply means that Reels can help your business increase its visibility on Instagram.
Here are some useful tips if you want your Reels to be noticed and your efforts to be rewarded:
- Use only high resolution videos
- Record your videos in a vertical position
- Use this format’s features (music, filters, visual effects, etc.)
- Keep your Reels short and playful. The Instagram algorithm favours funny posts and positions them accordingly
- Especially do not recycle TikTok videos with the TikTok brand watermark visible
3- Switch to Instagram Live
Live video on Instagram is also a tool to explore. But first, you need to know, vis-à-vis the algorithm, that Instagram Live generates notifications to subscribers who also place themselves on top of their Stories feed.
What’s special about live video is the spontaneity; your audience is bound to expect something simpler and more improvised than what you’re used to in your other video formats.
This is all to your benefit, as it means less pressure than a more professional-looking content format.
Live video has exploded in the last two years, and all brands should explore this format to stay in touch with their audience, whether hosting live events, Q&A or presenting something new.
If the algorithm understands your post, it can share it more easily with people with the same interests.
Using hashtags wisely to profit from them is not just about typing anything behind the “#” symbol.
This requires researching posts related to your niche to see which hashtags stand out and which particular hashtag best matches your post.
There are specialized tools called hashtag generators, such as Ritetag or Hashtagify, which can help you optimize the wording of your hashtags.
Finally, unlike Instagram ads, using hashtags is 100% free.
5- Post Regularly
Whether you want to increase your follower count or boost the reach and engagement of your content, posting consistently is highly recommended.
In 2021, companies published an average of 1.6 posts on their feed each day.
But the most important is to post regularly, whether once a day or 3 times a week.
During Instagram’s Creators Week, which took place in June 2021, Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram, revealed that publishing 2 feed posts per week and 2 stories per day was enough to create a community. Instagram follower.
To be consistent on Instagram and publish your posts at regular intervals, it is recommended to use a content management tool for social networks, such as Sendible, Hootsuite, Sprout Social or Social Pilot.
6- Increase your engagement rates with Instagram stickers
Let’s say it again: engagement is important to the Instagram algorithm.
If you have commitment issues, stickers can be part of the solution.
These stickers are more than ordinary stickers because they allow you to invite other users to respond to the content of your Story and thereby create public discussion threads.
Thus, you can ask your followers to share their opinions thanks to Instagram stickers.
These comments are a great way to show the algorithm that your posts engage your audience, like likes, shares, and saves, so be sure to ask your audience to interact each time. Whenever possible.
Speaking of engagement, a good engagement rate on Instagram is considered to be between 1-5%.
But the average engagement rate on Instagram was less than 1% in 2021 for business accounts.
some things you can do besides using stickers:
- Create a streaming Story where you can share user-generated content.
- Research your target audience to discover their interests and what they want from you.
- Respond to comments and instant messages you receive.
7- Automate your analysis reports
To optimize your marketing activities on Instagram – and find favour with the eyes of the algorithm, it is essential to automate your “analytics” process, i.e. the monitoring and analysis of your performance on the Instagram platform. Social network.
You are finding out what works and what doesn’t will help you refine your marketing strategy and plan and save time and effort for your next campaigns.
Instagram offers its analysis tool, soberly called “Instagram Insights”.
To collect more advanced data, bet on a tool capable of going beyond what marketers call “vanity metrics”. This is essential if you want to understand your audience better and know what content they want to see in their news feeds.
An Instagram analytics tool, for example, can help you find out when your audience is online, so you can launch your posts at the right time, which hashtags are doing well, or which of your latest posts are getting real engagement.
Enjoying analytics reports is a must if you want to use Instagram professionally.
Take the time at least once a week to look at the numbers and see how you perform on engagement, reach, impressions, etc.
Social media analytics tools like Sprout Social, Iconosquare, Keyhole or Hootsuite can be great allies to keep you updated on how your Instagram account is performing.
8- Respect the guidelines of the Instagram community
No matter how good your feed, Stories, or Reel posts are, Instagram’s algorithm will reduce their visibility if the content being served goes against the app’s famous community guidelines.
If your publications include, for example, messages of a political nature, false information, or incite hatred and violence against a group of people, the distribution of your content will suffer.
Conclusion
To get the most out of Instagram in 2022, you need more than just focus on regular content posting.
It’s also important to focus on building strong relationships with your audience and creating high-quality content while engaging with Instagram users in all circumstances.
Because if the Instagram algorithm evolves yearly, the links you forge with your community remain unchanged and can even strengthen over time.
The Instagram algorithm shouldn’t scare you. Instead, stay on your toes for updates, and view any change as an opportunity to reach your target audience in a new way.