Still trying to wrap your head around the drop in engagement levels?
1) You’re not the only one affected
2) It’s not too late to start mastering the secrets of Instagram’s latest algorithm
Read on for know-hows which many influencers speak highly of.
Feed ranking
Posts appear on your feed based on your Instagram activity. From posts you’ve liked, to accounts you’ve interacted with in the past, Instagram uses these data to predict the content you are most likely to enjoy. To keep you on the app, Instagram prioritises content which they think you’re most interested in, and most inclined to hit “like”.
Tip: Update your Instagram consistently. Even if you have nothing to post, share a funny video or a snippet of your life via IG story. This maximises your visibility and gives your followers more chances of liking, or commenting on your posts when you do upload a new post. The increase in interest they show will in turn help you rank higher on their feed. That said, if your posting frequency drops, your feed ranking will decline too.
Engagement metrics
This refers to the effectiveness of your posts and determines if your followers truly enjoy your content. Once again, better engagement equates to better feed performance.
Traditionally, these are post likes, comments, reach and clicks. However, since Instagram decided to hide like counts (P.S. selected users now have the option to hide or reveal it), shares and saves are said to play a big part as well.
- Likes: The number of times someone tapped the heart icon on a post
- Comments: The number of comments received on a post
- Reach: The unique number of times your post has been viewed
- Clicks: The number of times someone taps on a link, image, or sticker you shared
- Shares: The number of times your content has been shared by a user
- Saves: The number of times a user added your post to their collection
Tip: Create content that your followers can relate to, or learn from. Humorous and informative content often have more views and shares, as people tend to share these with their friends. Educational content (e.g. how to pose for photos, or recipes) is ideal for getting saves as people will usually revisit them. You can also get more comments by writing engaging captions or asking questions to encourage a response.
Recency of posts
Recency of content affects your feed ranking as well. Between content posted last month and five minutes ago by your favourite singer, which are you more interested in? Most would go for the latter simply because it’s more recent, and we often crave for the latest news.
This explains why Instagram is always feeding you posts uploaded in the past few minutes, if not, within a day or two at most. This is most apparent for Instagram stories whereby recently posted stories often appear the minute a user opens the app.
Tip: Kill two birds with one stone - find the best time to post, and maximise your engagement. The ideal posting times differ for everyone; it depends on when your followers are most active on IG. To check this, switch your account to a Business Account (they have slightly more features than Creator Accounts) and tap on Insights > Most active times.
Bot accounts
Bot accounts (aka spam, or fake accounts) cause more harm than good. While they make your follower count look more wholesome, such accounts affect your engagement rate and ranking on Instagram. They rarely leave relevant comments, and neither do they consistently interact with your posts.
If you have a large following, getting rid of bot accounts is a long and arduous process. But don’t let that deter you from removing them because your engagement rate will dip. Instagram will deem your content as irrelevant and chances are that your post will not appear at the top.
This is exceptionally detrimental to content creators because brands do conduct internal checks. If they find that a user has a large number of fake followers, they wouldn’t engage him/her.
Tip: Look out for telltale signs and remove these accounts as much as possible. To remove them, head over to your list of followers and hit "remove" to cleanse your account. Alternatively, you can visit a specific profile > tap the 3 dots on the top right corner > tap remove follower.
How to identify bot accounts:
- Handles (username) usually contain numbers
- Low follower to following ratio
- Little to no content posted
- Poor content quality
- Low engagement rate
The Instagram algorithm is ever-changing, but these are what you need to know as of now. Armed with your new-found knowledge, it’s now time to put them into use and work your way to the top on Instagram!
For a faster way to get more recognition, join our ongoing campaigns and start working with your favourite brands. Download the Partipost app today and start earning - it’s free! Stalk us on Instagram and Telegram for a sneak peek.
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