In March 2016, Instagram made the most unpopular change to its app; it changed the beloved chronological ordering, to most popular or relevant appearing at the top of your feed; following in the steps of Facebook. This caused uproar within basically the whole of the Instagram community, particularly the ones who previously used Instagram as a reliant platform to promote their blog or businesses.
I hadn’t noticed a change in my engagement nor had the algorithm that is until recently effected me. I started to see my engagement dropping, when I started making more of an effort with my feed, Instagram where’s the logic in that? So I have tried and tested some different methods in order to get my engagement back up and my posts actually appearing on peoples feed.
ALGORITHM IS BASED ON 7 DIFFERENT FACTORS
- The engagement that your posts receive
- The duration people spend looking at your post
- Your friends/family/favorite accounts that you engage with most
- The time frame in which you post
- The content you choose to post
- Whether you search for specific accounts frequently
- Exposing your posts in DMs.
SO HOW CAN WE BEAT THE ALGORITHM?
Good Content
No one is going to engage with your post if it is something they frequently see on their timeline, nor will they engage if it isn’t a high quality photo. Post things that are unique to you, and make you happy, don’t post things for the sake of posting, as people are often able to sense when a post is half assed. Another thing, you don’t need an amazing and expensive camera to get good quality content, your phone and the right lighting will do just fine!
Hashtags
Don’t be afraid to use hashtags, they’re there to help your post get noticed, so take full advantage of them. There is a 30-tag limit on all Instagram posts, and I wont lie, I nearly always use at least 20. Try to use a range of different tags, ones that have a heavy amount of posts to them, but also ones that don’t, as these will help you to get noticed.
Connect With Your Audience
You can’t expect to receive a heap of engagement on your posts, if you don’t make the effort to engage with others. I found the most effective way to connect with my audience and up my engagement was to click on a hashtag relevant to my post, have a flick through the pictures and like and comment on the ones that catch your eye. This is such an effective way to get your posts noticed, as it drives people to check out your account. It has also really helped me to boost my following!
Be Consistent
Be sure to frequently post, the more you post, the more engagement you will receive, leading to your post reaching more people. Also people are always more inclined to follow your account when they know your posting regularly, because if they like your content, they’re going to want to see it popping up on their feed!
Figure Out What’s Successful
Some posts wont be as successful as others, I find that for my feed, personally, photos of myself/outfit photos and food photos are always the most successful posts of mine. Whereas the more miscellaneous posts aren’t as successful, therefore I try to post the more successful things as frequently as possible, as I know they will do well.
Find Your Prime Posting Time
If you have a business profile on Instagram this will be easy for you to find out, my followers are most active between 4-8PM; therefore I always post within this time frame. If you don’t have a business profile, research has shown that posting at either 5PM or 2AM, drives the most engagement to your posts; although this is a factor that differs for everyone.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like Instagram will be changing its algorithm anytime soon, so I hope this has given you all a bit of help on how to beat it. These are tips that have worked for me, and I hope they work for you also! I’ve linked my Instagram below, feel free to leave a link to yours so we can all engage with each other!
https://www.instagram.com/_han.armstrong/
All my love,
Han xx
These are amazing tips! I’m in a hate-love relationship with IG at the moment. I don’t know what to think haha.
Thanks for sharing these 🙂 if you want to take a look you’ll find me from instagram as jjjasuuu 🙂
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I think everyone is in that hate-love relationship at the moment! I just think we shouldn’t let it dishearten us, and if we enjoy posting on the platform, to keep doing so! I’ll be sure to check out your instrgram later xx
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Great post Han, I think I am starting to notice the algorithm at the moment which I am finding a nuisance but the tips you have provided are really good and I will definitely use these going forward x
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Thank you! It literally hadn’t effected me up until a few weeks ago, its so annoying just the fact that no one is seeing my posts! x
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completely agree especially when you put so much effort into them x
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Such a relevant post given that everyone is finding the new Instagram to be a pain in the bum! Will defo be trying out some of these tips xx
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I hope some of the tips help you, its so frustrating when your putting effort into something, but no one is seeing the posts! xx
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It like you’ve read my mind, I needed help with my insta page and you saved me lol
My page has been struggling a lot lately and it’s so frustrating.
Can’t wait to try your tips.
I’m sure they will all work like a charm. xx💗xx
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I do hope that the tips help you out lovely! x
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This was really helpful!! Would you recommend getting a business account then? As I’ve heard lots of people say this can also affect you from showing up. I’m just a bit scared to try anything on Instagram now as it never seems to go in our favor x
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I would recommend getting a business account as it is so easy to see when is best to engage with my followers, and also post! x
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I hate the Instagram algorithm feature! It is really unfair on people who can’t get much engagement on their posts! This has really helped though! xx
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These are some fab tips! I’m in a love/hate relationship with Instagram at the moment 😩
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What a helpful post! Instagram is the biggest pain! The algorithm breaks my heart, I put so much effort into posts and then they don’t show up on anyone’s feeds! I’ll have to give some of your tips a go
PaleGirlRambling xo
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I agree! I think we just have to remember thought that we don’t do it for the likes, we do it for the enjoyment of taking photos! I’m glad you found it helpful! x
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Love this!! It’s so helpful. I’ve only just noticed the algorithm change but it’s such a pain – I’m definitely going to try some of these, especially using the links to find content to like and comment on xxx
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Glad you found it helpful! And neither had I, like my posts were doing just fine until a few weeks ago! Hope the tips help you out xx
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This was super super helpful. I will definitely be applying all these tips. Thank you for sharing this post. – ashianashome.wordpress.com 🙂
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Glad you found it useful! x
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Really fantastic tips! Found them so helpful!
I will definitely be keeping these in mind!
https://elephantsvoice.blog/2017/09/10/10-chats-with-charlie/
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I never actually realised there was a hashtag limit! Something I struggle with is consistency in posting so I’m hoping that this will change and I’ll be able to beat this stupid algorithm 🙂
Sarah x
saraheliza.co.uk
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I used to love Instagram. It was my all time favourite social media platform. Until I went from getting 700 likes, to 500 likes, to 200 likes and more recently 150 likes on average. From experience from my account and the ones, I work on. Getting your organic reach to go higher is very challenging. Your suggestions are what I usually give out to people. I would add that, the more you engage with others, around the time you post, can help creep your reach up.
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instagram is a bit hit and miss these days isnt it?! i find not worrying about the likes and just enjoying what i post the best way!
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Thats exactly what I am doing, I think its important to realise that we all do it because we like taking photos, therefore likes shouldn’t really be relevant! x
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This post is super helpful, I’ve just followed your instagram page and absolutely love it 💕
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So glad you found it helpful! Thank you for the follow girlie, I’ll check out your page now! x
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