Instagram's Algorithm Update & What It Means for Marketers

The ever-evolving social media platform, Instagram, recently announced an update to its algorithm that not only affects its users, but also you as a marketer. The platform's stated reason for doing so was to help users see the photos they would likely want to see in their feeds, rather than just the latest posts. However, there's an additional marketing-centered benefit to this as well: it allows marketers and advertisers using Instagram to better target users based on what they like.

Read on to uncover more on the update and what to look out for regarding your next Instagram campaign. 

Why the update?

Before we cover how the Instagram update affects marketers, let's go back to how and why they updated the algorithm in the first place.

Previously, Instagram was set up so images showed up in the order they were posted – whether or not a user wanted to see them and regardless of the quality of the post. This meant that not only did users miss about 70% of content posted throughout the day, but the platform saw a decrease in users because they weren't seeing enough relevant posts (TechCrunch). 

Although Instagram is still testing exactly how this update will work, for starters they're placing the posts they think a user would want to see at the top of his or her feed – similar to how the feed of Instagram's parent company, Facebook, now works. The algorithm bases this calculation off how users interacted with other content, such as what they've liked and on what they've commented. Eventually, the feed may exclude low-quality posts entirely. 

Now, how does this help & hinder your next Instagram campaign?

Similar to Google AdWords, LinkedIn Sponsored Content, Facebook Ads and the like, with this more advanced algorithm, if you target the right users and create high-quality content, you will benefit from this update.

This comes with a price!

However, if you are using low-quality images, filling your ads with too many irrelevant hashtags, or simply generating posts users don't interact with, this updated algorithm will be equipped to catch you, and you may not show up in users' feeds at all. 

New Instagram Best Practices:

No longer is the more the merrier. Before this algorithm update, a common Instagram tactic for marketers was to produce many posts more often, so they would show up more frequently in users' feeds. 

Now, producing more posts does not actually help that much, and may put you at risk for being qualified as low-quality posts. In a similar vein, if your posts are high quality, they will show up at the top of users' feeds (without much regard to what time of day you posted them) and they will continue to show up throughout the day. 

The takeaway: Spend your energy on generating a few well-executed and meaningful posts, rather than a bunch of less worthy posts. Two main aspects to pay attention to: 

• Selectiveness

Don't include photos people haven't interacted with in the past. This will affect your overall quality. Similarly, make each photo count by spending time editing. 

• Hashtags

It used to be funny(ish) to use way too many hashtags, but now it just shows Instagram that some of them are irrelevant, making your post less relevant to viewers. 

• Users

Read more on the update in "What Instagram's Algorithm Means for Marketers" and grab more resources from Instagram's Advertising page.