How to Navigate the Instagram Algorithm
You’re scrolling through your Instagram feed. What’s that restaurant your friend is at? Click. Where are his shoes from? Click. A Hawaiian resort giveaway? Tag all your friends in the comments. Next thing you know, you’re seeing that restaurant, those shoes, and those travel pictures of Hawaii all over your discover page. Why are you seeing this? We’re breaking down the Instagram algorithm and how its demands for specific content, increased interactions, and a thorough understanding of your post analytics mean your brand might could benefit from an Instagram marketing agency.
With today’s Instagram algorithm, promoting your brand without proper performance analytics is like sailing out to sea without the proper tools to navigate your way towards your destination. The steps you take after posting on Instagram are just as—if not more—important than the actual content you put out. Why? Because Instagram is becoming increasingly personalized. With this, it can be an exhausting task to stay afloat the current algorithm in order to avoid sinking deeper into your target audience’s feed, especially if you have multiple accounts. More than ever, your brand needs to put out the right content, interact with your audience, and further examine your engagement analytics in order to effectively navigate your way through the ever-changing Instagram algorithm. As a social media agency in Los Angeles, we utilize Instagram’s method of maximizing the amount of time people spend on their platform to your brand’s advantage.
Content
Recently, brands have been using one of Instagram’s newest features, IGTV, to supplement their content. With the current algorithm, all kinds of video,like time lapses and boomerangs, can be used to promote audience engagement in a creative way that is unique to your brand.
With all of this focus on content, the question is: Are hashtags out? No. In fact, Instagram now allows for its users to follow hashtags. As a result, including relevant, brand-specific hashtags on your posts not only enhances your searchability, but also expands your community by automatically showing up in interested users’ feeds.
Interaction
The Instagram algorithm pushes content to users that have existing relationships with your brand; therefore, building individualized connections with your audience is an important driving force in promoting your posts. Instagram influencers have caught onto this concept and often ask questions in their captions, chat in the comments, and like their followers’ posts to create these authentic relationships. Social media monitoring (keeping track of and responding to interactions in your community) and social media listening (analyzing trends in your industry and brand) are both highly necessary when developing future strategies, so taking advantage of an Instagram marketing agency with the right tools will quickly open up the Instagram algorithm atlas towards success for your brand.
Since the algorithm thrives off of attention, contests and giveaways that encourage audience interaction are one of the most effective ways for your brand to promote its posts on the platform. With an emphasis on exclusivity and market relatability, our social media agency in Los Angeles is experienced in using contests and giveaways as a fun way to bring awareness to your brand and increase audience involvement.
Understanding Post Analytics: Utilizing an Instagram Marketing Agency
Post and done, right? Not with today’s Instagram algorithm. The key to success for your brand on a platform like Instagram is a thorough understanding of your individual post analytics and knowing what to do for your future posts. Creating content that resonates with your target audience heavily depends on a comprehensive and transparent interpretation of your brand’s analytics and reporting. As a social media agency in Los Angeles, we utilize social media monitoring and listening tools to track, present, and evaluate post analytics in order to optimize the success of your brand on platforms like Instagram.
We are also aware that navigating through the Instagram algorithm becomes a particularly overwhelming task when overseeing a broad range of accounts, but that doesn’t mean you need to narrow down your goals for success. An Instagram marketing agency equipped with the right tools and experience can efficiently manage multiple, related accounts with the ultimate goal of utilizing the algorithm to your brand’s best interest.
