The Newsstand - May 2018

Instagram Introduces New Changes

The New and Updated Algorithm

Instagram has recently updated its algorithm, resulting in tons of businesses stressing out over how badly their Instagram profiles are performing.

The goal of most businesses on Instagram is to land on the home page, where posts get the most exposure and engagement. So, how do you get there with the new algorithm in place?

The visual platform has designed its new algorithm to prioritize engagement over everything else. However, there are multiple factors that tie into a post’s ability to make it in front of the right audiences at the right time.

Here are some of the major factors Instagram’s new algorithm takes into account:

Engagement

This includes the number of views, likes, comments, DM shares, and also the duration of engagement on your posts. The new algorithm rewards posts with higher engagement and increases their chances of being found on the front page.

Relevancy

The algorithm also takes the relevancy of the content into account. Not every user’s front page looks the same, and that’s because the content shown to them depends on the genres they view, like, and interact with the most.

Timeliness

This factor revolves around how recent your content is. The new algorithm favors speed as well as likes. The quicker your post drives up engagement, the more likely it is to land on the home page, or on top of your audiences’ news feeds.

Relationships

This aspect takes into account the people users interact with the most on Instagram. It also explains why a lot of posts on the home page are often from influencers or accounts you’ve interacted with or viewed the content of before.

It’s important to remember that Instagram essentially makes money by selling ads to businesses and influencers. The platform has over 800 million users and higher engagement rates than many other social media networks.

The higher engagement there is on the platform, the more businesses will want to buy its ads. That’s why it makes complete sense that Instagram’s new algorithm is designed to keep an increasing number of people engaged for longer durations. 

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