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How to Navigate the Current Instagram Algorithm

Instagram is constantly evolving and in order to grow your engagement and discover new opportunities, you have to keep up with all those changes.  Click here for more info on the social media packages and services we offer!  Whether you are looking to improve your presence on Instagram for your personal profile or for your business, the key to success is keeping up with Instagram’s ever-changing algorithm. 

Gone are the days of Instagram post superstition, “I always post on Sunday evenings at 8:00” and “I need at least 10 hashtags under my caption to reach new people”.  It’s not a guessing game anymore, but there are some tricks to reaching as many people as possible.  

There is a reason why you never see posts from one account and always see posts from others.  Your Instagram feed shows you posts in order of how often accounts are active and how often you interact with them. Instagram’s current algorithm decides which posts to show at the top of your feed based on what they think you will be most likely to interact with!

Here are a few features you can use to maximize your exposure:

1. Utilize Instagram Stories

It can feel a little weird to post on your Instagram feed everyday, especially if you don’t have an album full of perfectly Instagram-ready photos on deck at all times.  This is where Instagram Stories come into play!  On Instagram Stories, your followers want to see casual content; pictures, text posts, interactive polls and videos.  If you treat your Instagram Story like a daily vlog, you will easily have 5+ stories posted each day.  By doing so, you’re staying on people’s minds!  You get to give your followers a glimpse into your daily life.  And you guessed it, when your followers watch your stories everyday and interact with them, Instagram figures “Hey, We think you like this page!” and will move your posts to the top of their feed.

2. Create Interactive Feed Posts

Interaction with your followers shouldn’t stop at Stories.  When you do post photos to your feed, think of a clear call to action!  The Instagram algorithm focuses on likes, comments, shares and saves to judge your level of interaction.  So create posts that your followers will find memorable and thoughtful.  Ask questions in your captions that prompt them to comment. Try to create relevant shareable images that your followers could post to their story or send to their friends.  

3. Uplift Others 

Lastly, you can use these tools as a way to uplift other creators and businesses on Instagram.  If your favourite local restaurant just posted about a new dish they’re serving, share it to your story and encourage others to check it out.  If you follow a fitness influencer, save their workouts to your Saved posts file so you can look at them later.  

Remember, we are all looking to grow our networks!  If you use Instagram to help uplift others, they will likely do the same for you.