Social media platforms are constantly being updated to improve their use for users and allow a fairer method of promotion, engagement, and recognition for all profiles, both business and personal. Though these changes are made to help the users with the exposure of their content, you may have noticed that some of your posts aren’t receiving the same kind of engagement they used to or that older pictures are popping up in your feed over your newly posted images. Don’t panic! We’re here to explain all about methods of posting and sharing that can help you use the new algorithm changes to your advantage.
1. Post Truly Engaging Content
One of the biggest changes in Instagram’s new algorithm is the method of rating photos based on how much true engagement your posts initiate. More popular posts with comments, likes, and views are going to be higher on the posting list than others. A great way increase engagement easily on your posts is by asking questions in your captions, running contests, and offering advice. Depending on your brand, sometimes it’s better to simply post fun captions with a great photo. Either way, the point of social media is to ignite a conversation and start asking questions, gaining responses, and making connections with your consumers. Instead of viewing your posts as cheesy ad-based photos geared toward trying to make a dollar, your viewers will have an authentic view of your business, be able to make a true connection with you, and maintain a good relationship with your business and its brand.
2. Live Video and Stories
Instagram hopped in with Facebook and Snapchat for live video and story sharing. Users love being able to interact with others on a more personal, instant standpoint. So, if personal users are constantly viewing stories, why not do this for your business? Stories give your business the opportunity to reach out to your followers on a daily basis, which could include sharing new things like products, sales, events, employees, shoppers, and much more. Stories stay available for long periods of time and are viewable based on chorological order, not the level of engagement or the quality of the photo. Live videos are even better for engagement because most users are notified of the story being posted right when it’s posted. You’ll be able to connect with your users easily and quickly. The decreased post engagement can be avoided by posting stories and getting engagement there. There’s all sorts of great features to use in stories to get even more engagement like polls, tagged locations, animated stickers, and more.
3. Monitor Your Most Active Hours and Post Then
Common sense tells us that you’re more likely to engage with users if they actually get to view your content. Posting during times of high engagement is a great move, according to Instagram. As a whole, Instagram gets the highest amount of engagement on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays between the hours of 5am-6am, 11am, and 3-4pm. While these hours are likely usually a great gauge across the board, be sure to personally keep track of your own engagement times (available in the “Insights” section on the app interface). Because of your target market and brand, your engagement times and levels may vary differently to the average norm, and the last thing you want to do is post at incorrect times and ruin your chances at getting good engagement.
4. Hashtags and Following Hashtags
It used to be better to use more hashtags because it gave people a better opportunity to connect with your brand and find your profile and posts. Now, Instagram wants you to be more strategic and involved in your hashtagging. The best engagement luck has come with using about 4-5 unique, yet decently popular hashtags that have to do with your business. This means avoiding random hashtags, overused hashtags, or irrelevant hashtags. Your branded hashtags are always acceptable along with interesting, yet popular hashtags that have a great following. There’s also a new feature available on Instagram where you can follow hashtags individually according to their topic. It’s important to follow hashtags, interact with on-brand posts, and create a larger presence within your industry on social media because your posts will be boosted more often and will garter more of a following.
Keeping track of what’s going on with Instagram’s algorithm can really help you with how well your content performs after and before posting. Keeping what may seem like small things in mind can actually make a huge difference and promote an even better viewpoint of your brand to more users. Social media is a great tool when you use it correctly, and at BG Digital Group, we offer great social media management plans that will let you forget about keeping track of all the crazy social media changes and continue working on your business. From post planning, posting, content creation, photography, video production, logos, graphics, and more, we can make sure that your social media is not only engaging, but bringing in new followers and leads every day! Call us today to get social with your followers.
