Brands and Instagram’s Latest Changes: 5 Tips

by Greg Farmer, Account Supervisor, 15º

As Instagram has grown in popularity, the company has slowly rolled out changes to the algorithm behind how posts are displayed to users. These changes have not been applied globally to all users; rather they are being rolled out in small batches to select users while Instagram “tests” these changes. However, to those users who have seen the changes, they are not happy.

One of the main reasons this was done (beyond further monetizing the platform) was so that when users are on Instagram, they experience the best that their feed has to offer. According to Instagram founder Kevin Systrom, “People miss about 70 percent of posts in their Instagram feed.” Instagram wants to ensure that what users do experience is, “the best 30 percent possible”.

But what does this mean for brands and advertisers? What steps can brands take to ensure that the content we’ve worked so hard to create is part of the 30 percent?

1) Ensure posts are branded and relevant, which translates to more likeable and favorable. The more relevant your content is the more likelihood there is that the Instagram algorithm will mark your posts as being more favorable and in turn integrate them into part of the 30% that it wants users to see.

2) Don’t overpost. This will instantly make your content score go down (this applies to Facebook too).

3) Test and control. Some filters are more popular then others and some topics will have more relevance among your followers. Learn which posts get more notice and create more content in a similar fashion.

4) Pay for sponsoring key posts. The largest reason Instagram made this change was to further monetize the platform. As a result, paid advertising is going to become more commonplace. Currently, a post on Instagram would organically reach all followers, but with this algorithm change, only a select portion of your followers will see it, making organic growth almost impossible. So financially boosting Instagram posts will become a necessity.