With Instagram updates coming out every second week (an exaggeration but it definitely feels that way), staying on top of your social media strategy may seem like an impossible task, especially if you are a smaller business or budding content creator.
If you want to increase your followers, engagement and views, or just understand the latest algorithm Instagram has introduced, make sure to follow these important tips.
Delayed explosions
According to BAM, delayed explosions have been quietly introduced to the latest Instagram update. In short, delayed explosion refers to the sudden boost in views on Instagram Reels that may not have done well, to begin with.
How do delayed explosions work? — Instagram has a vacuum supply of content, and when there is an overwhelming demand for a certain subject, for example, influencer marketing tools Instagram pushes out all content related (in the form of Suggested Content) to said topic, including (you guessed it) old posts. In many cases, these posts go viral because of this supply and demand dynamic. It’s so much easier to get 100 000 or a million views on a post that’s old these days. The amazing thing about this is, that once your older posts do go viral, Instagram will start recommending your new content.
So how do we take advantage of this new feature in the algorithm? TIP: DO NOT DELETE YOUR CONTENT.
If you’re still growing your Instagram page, deleting posts is a mistake many companies and content creators make. These days, many smaller pages are seeing a ton of growth based on the videos they made a week or a month ago. So do not (I repeat) do not delete your posts – no matter how bad they do.
Short-trendy content
Instagram has a knack for literally stealing ideas from other social media platforms and TikTok is no exception to this. Instagram has built its latest algorithm around promoting short-from TikTok-esque videos. If you’re trying to grow your page, try your best to push out this style of content. The ideal post you want going live on Instagram right now is both short and trending. If you struggle to get video content out, however— TIP: REPOSTS. Reposts are doing well on Instagram right now. If you didn’t already know this, you can take a video you’ve uploaded a week ago, maybe 2 weeks ago and repost that video. Since Instagram is testing how well reposts do, it will rank reposts higher in the algorithm— meaning that in a lot of cases, these posts will end up getting a lot more views than the original video (just remember to use the right hashtags and post at the right time, but you know this already).
The Big 3
Instagram wants happy users! So what are some factors we should consider regarding the latest Instagram updates? Let’s talk about the big three and how we can beat them:
Watch time: Did the user complete the video or not?
Shares: Was the video shared in-app or cross-platform?
Follows: Did a viewer follow you after watching your video?
If you want to bypass these crazy requirements and post the “ideal” content (according to Instagram) our TIP: LONG DESCRIPTIONS. It makes sense — the longer they spend on your post, the more likely they’ll help you rank on Instagram since they’re automatically fulfilling the “watch time” requirement of the algorithm.
Your long description should have these features:
A hook: a sentence that will get someone to continue watching your video. It needs to invoke curiosity!
The body: tell a story, be creative, point out concerns
A conclusion: should have the solution to those concerns mentioned in the “body” paragraph. This solution should be in the form of your call to action (whatever it may be).
Having good descriptions is synonymous with shareable content, which in turn will make your post go viral.
Collaborations
Instagram is optimizing for its latest feature- collaborations. When you do a collaboration post, the post will feature on both your feed as well as whoever you are collaborating with. TIP: INFLUENCER MARKETING. Take full advantage of the new feature by collaborating with influencers that are suited to your business (if you’re a restaurant, collaborate with food bloggers, if you’re a make-up brand, collaborate with popular MUAs). You almost always want to collaborate with someone that has a higher follower count than you— this will hello you get more followers, more exposure (brand awareness is King) and more people checking out your page.
Show-all stories
Instagram is currently working on a new feature that will hide excessive stories uploaded by its users. In short, users will have to tap on a new option called Show-All to be able to view the rest of someone’s story.
This new feature will only show three stories uploaded by a user and hide the excessive ones. The update could be useful, helping users see updates from more of their friends and connections at the same time. However, it could cause the views on the fourth story and so on, to decrease, which might not be a good thing for creators and influencers on Instagram. Stay ahead of this new change— TIP: CUSTOMER-GENERATED CONTENT.
Your marketing strategy should include promotions on your Instagram Story since, according to techjury.net, 70% of Instagram users watch Stories daily. — But if you cannot post “excessive” content to your Story about your brand, product or venue anymore, why not encourage your customers to do it for you instead?
According to CrowdRiff, 85% of consumers trust customer-generated content over brand photos or videos anyway. So encouraging your customers to post about you on their stories is the best way to avoid getting lost in the new features introduced by Instagram and — a way to beat the algorithm!
If you’re not sure how to do this, there are tools available that will help you encourage your customers to spread the word about your brand- ttagz, for example, is an organic marketing tool that allows businesses to create incentives, for their customers, in exchange for posting to their stories.
Instagram updates happen all the time, so staying on top of all the latest trends, features and tools is vital for social media success. We hope you’ve made notes of these awesome tips and we can’t wait to see you thrive on social! Good luck!
James is the co-founder of ttagz, a social media platform that allows businesses to create incentives for their customers, in exchange for posting to their stories.
