Instagram’s algorithms can often feel like some scary, unknown bogeyman, actively working against your business. If it has felt like that for you, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered!

Here’s the rundown on what the algorithm is and how you can make it work for you.

There are different algorithms for each Instagram element: reels, stories, home page, explore page etc. They work with ‘signals’, which are the who, what and when.

Who:

Whose posts you’re liking or saving, searching, interacting with or spending the most time on. Those posts are more likely going to be shown to you.

What:

What type of content you like. If Instagram was a human it would be thinking, “They like beauty content, this beauty content blew up, so they’re definitely going to like it!”

When:

When a post has been posted but also when you’re using the app. If you use it every day, it is more chronological. If you use it now and then the algorithm really has to pick and choose what it feeds you to prioritize what it thinks you want to see more.

Instagram’s algorithms have one goal: to make you stay on the app longer by delivering content you’ll find relevant and interesting.

To use these algorithms to your advantage it starts with knowing your signals. What communities are you serving? Who’s liking you content?

Learn from your insights. Which posts got you the most likes and comments? Play into those.

Score of interest:

Every time you interact with posts, the algorithm logs a score to that topic or account, according to what it thinks are your interests, taking these four factors into consideration:

1. Info about the post: is it a video or photo?
2. Info about the person who posted: are they a friend, do they post often?
3. Your activity: do you tend to watch a lot of videos? What type of content do you typically engage with?
4. Your interaction history: have you engaged with that account before?

Using these factors the algorithm tries to figure out which post you would most likely interact with, taking 5 interactions into consideration:

1. Time: how much time are you going to spend on this post?
2. Like: how probable it is that you will like the post?
3. Comments: how likely you will comment on the post?
4. Taps on profile: how likely you will tap on the profile once you see the post?
5. Saves: the probability of you saving the post.

Here’s what Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, says that summarises it brilliantly: “The more likely you are to take an action, and the more heavily we weigh that action, the higher up you’ll see the post.”

Many think that time is also a major factor, but Instagram is favouring interest over the timelines of the post. Although, posting at a certain time that your followers are more engaged still helps accumulate more engagement.

Hacking the system:

You can tailor your strategy to ‘hack’ what the algorithm is prioritising so you can reach more users and build a community of engaged followers using these tips.

1. Use clear calls to action

We know that Instagram monitors interest from within the app, so the more interaction there is with your post the higher it will rank on the feed. In light of this, encouraging users to interact with your post is not a wasted concept. Calls to action are basically telling your audience what to do when they see your post. For example, ‘double tap if you like this’ or ‘save this post to use later’.

2. Help the algorithm understand what your content is all about

Use the relevant keywords and hashtags to your posts so that the algorithm knows what type of content it is and who to feed it to. You can even take this a step further by adding alt text – a description of your post for those with visual impairments – by heading to ‘Advanced Settings’ when you’re about to post.

3. Share video content

Video content is super engaging and is having the biggest ‘glow up’ at the moment, being fed to users double-time, everywhere, so if you haven’t jumped on that train yet, you’re missing out!

4. Post content when your followers are most engaged

This ensures more of your followers interact with your posts sooner giving it higher ranking. Figuring out when the best time for you to post is a process of watching how well your posts do at certain times and monitoring it over a month or so. There are also products out there that do this for you.

5. Share feed posts to your stories

Sharing your feed posts to your stories gets more eyes on your post.

6. Use Instagram story stickers

The more engagement you can drive the better your ranking will be. Stories stickers are fun, easy ways to interact with your audience. Ones that are really engaging are the emoji slider, polls, question stickers and the quiz sticker.

The algorithms are put in place to work for you, not against you. Trust it to do its job when you do yours by staying consistent and putting out valuable and niched-down content. The world of Instagram and social media is not that scary after all.

Still don’t think you can ride the wave of the algorithm all by yourself?

Get in touch with us and sign up for the Anago Brand Strength Plan and let’s optimise your social media profiles together.