How to Manipulate the Instagram Algorithm

The Instagram algorithm is personalised to each user and their interests. But if you understand how it works, it’s super easy to get your business out there and reaching wider audiences!

Instagram looks at each account you’ve interacted with before and uses this information to surface the best, most relevant content onto your feed each time you log in. It doesn’t want you to miss important posts from your family and friends, for example, so uses machine learning to customise what appears on each person’s feed.

It’s not as simple as that, though. Instagram is like an onion, it has layers. (Sorry not sorry for the Shrek joke). Instagram doesn’t show you posts chronologically. Instead, it re-orders the posts from accounts you’re more likely to interact with. Moving from a chronological feed to a ranked one means that the average post is now seen by 50% more followers.

Instagram’s features

Instagram has plenty of nifty features, so take advantage of them! Use the interactive stickers on Stories like polls, questions, sliding scale rankings. And don’t stop at Stories. There’s IGTV, Reels and Lives to explore, too. Expose yourself to the algorithm by using a variety of posts like these. Sharing your content in wider forms helps you reach a wider range of people. Not everyone will want to watch a video or read a microblogged caption on an Instagram post. Another great way to overcome this is to re-share your feed posts onto your Stories to appeal to serial story stalkers.

Short, TikTok-like videos are becoming increasingly popular, especially on Instagram. It seems as though they’re going more video-oriented. It’s always important to keep your fingers on the pulse of the forever evolving landscape of social media!

When should I post?

Make sure to be relevant to your followers’ daily schedules. Post at the best time for your business to be seen. Are you appealing to clients who work 9-5 jobs? Post on everyone’s lunch break! Or post before the early morning commute, where people are sitting down with a brew, doing their early socials-scroll.

Do hashtags really work?

Um. Of course they do! You need to create a hashtag strategy. Studies show that your posts will receive higher engagement with hashtags rather than without. You can use up to thirty hashtags, so go hard or go home! Hashtag til your heart’s content! But make sure they’re relevant to your field. You don’t want to be hashtagging ‘pineapple’ on a post about ‘The Importance of Images on Your Website‘. Unless…

Maximum exposure leads to more recognition of your business. Following these easy steps will lead to more likes, more follows and inevitably more clients!

Want to to take advantage of Limely’s varied expertise? Contact us today.