Blink! And there’s been another update to the social media algorithm released. The latest changes to Instagram put into play in mid-March, has caused a frenzy amongst businesses owners. The new changes mean the Instagram timeline will show posts with high-engagement instead in an order based on the time and date they were posted. It is determined by the type of content Instagram thinks you will be most interested in, your interaction you have with the person or business and the relevance of each post.
What does this mean for your business?
It doesn’t matter whether you have 30 or 30k followers, it means less organic reach (the number of people who saw an unpaid post from you appears on their timeline). You will need to urge your followers to turn on their notifications, so they’ll get a push notification alerting them to an update.
How to navigate the new Instagram changes for your business?
You can still have great success on Instagram if you take the following points into consideration.
Quality content and more of it!
How many times do you have to hear that content still king? These words have almost become cliché. Despite being hammered with this, we continue to see businesses who are too busy to dedicate time to creating relevant, relatable and shareable content. Previously, if you had a well-known, international brand, you could get away with posting substandard content due to the huge amount of followers and paid advertising. Well, the buck stops here! The new Instagram algorithm treats your business the same as a personal page. Great content is imperative to getting attention. The better the content, the more likely people will engage, comment, like and share. As a result, your posts will get shown in other’s timelines.
Evaluate your results
If you’re on Facebook, you’ll know how easy it is to track your analytics. There’s a dedicated page that tells you how well your paid advertising worked, how many clicks, shares etc. With Instagram, it’s up to you to evaluate the behaviours of your followers. This may require a few tests posts at different times throughout the day with trending hashtags. Keep in mind, don’t go hashtag crazy, all you need is a few well-thought, relevant hashtags.
Interaction
Interaction is everything! By this, we don’t mean begging your followers to ensure their push-notifications are on. Use quality content to drive engagement with comments like "tag your friends" or a funny relatable, relevant meme that encourages users to like it.
If you are providing quality content and have good engagement, you don’t need to be worried by the new changes to Instagram. If prior to now you’ve been making little to no effort with little thought put into your content, then this is a game changer. Let us help you get your Instagram content trending. For an evaluation of how you can do Instagram better, contact us today.
