Cracking the Instagram algorithm in 2018

It’s no secret that Instagram makes changes to its algorithm regularly. The ‘Moments You Care About’ algorithm change, where the algorithmic feed replaced a chronological feed, shook things up in early 2016, and users and content creators still enjoy the benefits and tsk-tsk at the downsides of the app’s workings.

And just in time for the second anniversary of the algorithmic feed, Instagram introduced more changes to the way news feeds are laid out. Some creative agencies and social media teams might rue the new additions, because they require a new approach to community management and fan engagement. Others have jumped at the challenge to increase engagement rates with a fresh algorithm.

IG’s goin’ through changes

The first major change was the app developers’ decision to base exposure off engagement.

Basically, when a post is published to an account’s main feed (the ‘grid’ as opposed to the Stories), it appears on about a tenth of that account’s followers’ news feeds, and they engage with it, maybe. However, because of the ‘Moments You Care About’ algorithm, other posts which have high engagement rates among a tenth of their followers, and are more relevant to individual users, can snuff your shiny new post if the tenth of your followers that immediately see it don’t engage with it.

This rumour was already flying around in January this year, but we really started seeing its effects around mid-February. Bumping up engagement rates required a bit of research, and even more work to ensure we stayed hip.

No comment? Yes, comment

Previously, comments from followers and users were great for engagement and to chat with the Instagram community. However, they weren’t a priority for many business accounts, especially the bigger ones with hundreds of comments on each post.

Now, Instagram demands that account managers respond to incoming comments to demonstrate that the account cares about the community, and that more helpful posts and conversations are seen more.

Beyond this, account managers have to engage in conversations elsewhere with the community. This means finding posts and conversations relevant to your account and getting involved. Like a picture of a Malaysian beach? A surf news or products account probably should comment to show they’re interested and have something to contribute to a conversation! See a great discussion on the Winter Olympics? A political news account might want to mention the dynamic relations between North and South Korea.

Money, money, money, moooooneeey

Like all businesses, Instagram needs to make money. Advertising through Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, has been made super easy and convenient for businesses, but Instagram wants to give us even more of a reason to advertise with them.

This is where the algorithm change becomes a subtle sales strategy. Some companies and agencies will see their Instagram engagement drop and might find a few more hours of work a week to be the most cost-effective strategy. Other companies and agencies will see their engagement drop and might find the need to advertise as imperative.

Many companies will do both, and this is perfect for Instagram to not only increase direct revenue, but also to increase how often users and businesses are spending on their app. It’s the perfect plan for snowballing the app’s use and Facebook’s revenue.

#Relevant

Another factor to consider in the rocky terrain of new Instagram is how relevant your hashtags are to your content and page.

While irrelevant and general hashtags have always been sort of frowned upon (#like4like is a personal least favourite), Instagram detects extra attention to hashtag generation. A common tactic is to use hashtags with the most hits because those are the most widely used hashtags and therefore might always be searched in the Search & Explore tab in the app. But now this is an unlikely route to success, especially on the back heels of last year’s shadow ban craze.

Keeping hashtags relevant also plays into the recently implemented feature which allows users to follow hashtags. Now, instead of searching a hashtag in Search & Explore whenever a user wants to check up on their favourite topics, they can follow a hashtag and top posts with this hashtag in the caption will appear on the user’s main feed.

If the content from one particular account appears on the user’s feed and isn’t very good, the user can hide posts from that account. This means that good content and relevant hashtags are very important in unison. Who in the world would follow #like4like, right?

While some social media industry commenters have described the changes as largely difficult to overcome, we have been looking at the algorithm as an ever-evolving challenge. If all else fails, promote those posts!