Hi my lovely people, it’s Natalia and welcome
back to my channel where I help you create better content and grow on social media! The Instagram algorithm seems like such a
mystery to so many creators and I wasn’t joking with the Chamber of Secrets cause it
sure seems like nobody knows what it really is, there are so many myths around it and
the majority of people are kind of scared of it. So how does the Instagram algorithm work? Well, thanks to Adam Mosseri and the Instagram
blog, I can now spill all the secrets to you so that you how to make it work FOR you! Let’s break it down. 1. Instagram Algorithm 101 Let’s start with the Instagram Algorithm
101 and actually dispel one of the biggest myths out there! There is no one algorithm but a bunch of different
ones for different places! What it means to you is that Instagram ranks
things slightly differently for Reels, Feed, Stories etc. Don't worry though, the principles are the
same and you don’t have to create insane amounts of separate strategies for all the
different formats. It’s crucial though that you understand
how things work for different parts on IG. What you have to know as well is that algorithms
are there to understand the users to the core and serve them with the best content possible
in the present moment. This of course means they are very individual. What’s going to be shown and promoted to
one person may be completely different to another, not just because of their interests,
but also because of who they interact with or how they like to consume content. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s what you need to know about how the
ranking works in all the different places on IG. Let’s look at the first one, 2. The Story Algorithm
The moment you open the app, Instagram analyzes what story might interest you the most based
on a few factors which they call SIGNALS. The most important signal for IG that this
may be the right Story for you is your history of viewing previous stories from a particular
creator. If you’re regularly watching someone’s
stories, chances are that person will be one of the first ones you see in the Stories feed
when they post. If you’ve previously interacted with that
creator, replied to their Stories before or liked them, this also tells Instagram that
you’re likely to be interested in seeing more there. The algorithms are constantly trying to assess
how close you are to other people on the app so things like exchanging DMs often will also
be a sign for IG that there is a connection there. Based on all these signals, the algorithm
here makes a prediction as to how likely you’re to open a story, like it, reply to a creator
or move on to the next story. That’s how it assesses how high a story
should be ranked and therefore, shown. What this means to you as a creator is that
you need to **actively** encourage people to interact with your Stories. The most helpful tactic here is to include
engagement stickers on your stories, pretty much from the very first slide you’re going
to post because if they interact with this one, chances are they’re going to watch
the rest and connect with you further on the app. Never let those slide! I can tell from my own experience that when
I couldn’t keep up with my story replies, my overall story views started dropping so
that’s definitely something to think about. Alright, we’ve got Stories covered, let’s
scroll down a little and look at… 3. The Feed Algorithm The most important part to understand here
is that this part of IG is here to hook you in, provide you with a fresh batch of interesting
content posted since you last visited and definitely, definitely keep you on the app
longer. This means you’re not only going to see
posts from the creators you love but recommendations from others that Instagram thinks you’re
going to vibe with. To understand this, the Feed Algorithm tries
to guess as accurately as possible how likely you are to like, comment, share, tap on the
profile or spend some time looking at the post. Here, the signals are slightly different. The most important one is your previous activity
- the history of your interactions with different types of content. The posts you liked, shared, saved, or commented
on, give IG an indication of what you’re really into. The next one is the information about the
post itself. Is it a popular one? Are people engaging with it? How quickly are they doing it? Is there a location attached? The bigger the impact here, the more likely
it is to be pushed to other people further. Another important signal is the info about
the creator which tells IG how interesting they might be to you. Among other things, this is gaged based on
how many times people have interacted with that person in the past few weeks as well. And the last one for the Feed Algorithm is
how often you yourself interact with that creator. If you’re commenting or again, exchanging
DMs, it’s likely they’re going to be the right match for you in the eyes of Instagram
of course. The more chance there is of you interacting
(and the more important this interaction type is on a scale for Instagram), the higher the
post will appear in the Feed for you. Technically, what you’re most interested
in should be closer to the top, what you’re least into - closer to the bottom but we all
know Instagram doesn’t always get it right. That’s why we also have the Favorites and
the Following feeds to have more control over what we want to see. Now the Favorites is pretty self-explanatory,
it’s a list of creators you yourself added to your favorites. A quick tip from me here, it might be worth
encouraging your audience to add you to Favorites to send that great signal to the algorithm. The Following feed is basically a stream of
posts from creators you follow in chronological order. And a word from me on the chronological vs
algorithmic approach… I know a lot of content creators complain
that our posts don’t show up in the order that they were posted, saying that it was
much easier to reach people back when it was a thing. Well, I have to say, times have changed dramatically,
we have many many more active posters on the app and this means a whoooole lot of content. And I mean, unimaginable amounts posted every
minute. With the sheer volume, your posts would’ve
been much more likely to drown and there are users out there following hundreds, even thousands
of creators. I believe the algorithm is there for a reason
and helps us connect with our ideal audiences, if imperfectly at times. But let me know in the comments what you think
about it, I want to know how you feel. For the Feed, I’ve got a bit of tough love
for you. To rank better, you need to create better
content consistently. It’s not enough to string a few random posts
together with no consistency of strategy behind them. In order for the Algorithm to deliver your
content to your ideal audience, you need to create posts that constantly bring value,
are super engaging to the right people, and build a community around you. Without continuous interaction from your audience,
you’re unlikely to rank high on a consistent basis. Activating your audience before you post may
also be a good tactic to boost the interactions - if you want to know more about how to do
it and what other things you can do before posting to help your post do better, watch
this video right here. Ok, I think it’s time for the… 4. The Reels Feed Algorithm
and here, the goal is to entertain the viewer. For this reason, Instagram wants to introduce
loads of novelty for you so the majority of content there comes from people you don’t
follow. But how do they assess which Reel is the right
one for you? Here, the most impactful signal is what Reels
you’ve interacted with lately, by liking, commenting, sharing, or saving. This gives IG the overall context for your
current interests. Then, the history of your interactions with
the creator comes into play. Even though you don’t follow the majority
of people you see there, if there were previous interactions, it’s going to be beneficial
for ranking. Next, we’ve got the information about the
Reel itself like the visuals and the audio that’s attached plus the popularity. Finally, we’ve got the info about the creator
as well, especially how many followers they have and how high their engagement is. Pretty similar to the feed, but there are
some differences since Instagram is looking for entertaining content here. What’s the takeaway for you as a creator
here? Hook people in! You want to create engaging, visually stimulating,
snappy, and highly valuable Reels that entice people to interact with them. You can increase the entertainment factor
with some trending audios because when you actually scroll through the Reels Feed, probably
around 90% of videos you’ll see there use trending tracks. To find if a sound is trending, look for the
arrow icon in the bottom left here and to find a whole list of what’s popular right
now, tap on any trending audio, and click Trending below the audio name. Another place to get discovered is… 5. The Explore Page so it’s the perfect time to figure out how
to get on it. To find the best content for you, the Explore
algorithm selects a set of posts to rank, based on your past activity. Then, Instagram orders them according to your
predicted interest level, looking at likes, saves, and shares as their priority. Here, the signals are different because the
most important one is the information about the post itself, especially its popularity. The algorithm analyzes how many people are
liking, commenting, sharing, and saving a post and it’s very important how quickly
it’s all flowing it. In fact, Instagram emphasizes that it’s
more important here than on the Feed and with Stories. Apart from this general activity, your own
interactions within the Explore page are being assessed, again, in terms of your own likes,
comments, shares & saves you leave under those newly discovered posts. That’s a signal for Instagram to show you
more similar content in Explore. Then, we’ve got the history of interactions
which, similarly to the Reels feed, is less likely to have happened since it’s mostly
new people being shown there for you and information about the creator to see how many times people
have interacted with them in general. If you’re hoping to land on the explore
page, you need to consistently create valuable content so that people are interacting with
it of course. The key here is to use striking visuals and
strong hooks that instantly capture attention. Don’t forget about adding some relevant
hashtags to help the algorithm understand the post better. And of course, if you want to increase interactions,
you have to give back as well which means engaging with your followers and other creators
as well. This social aspect is so often overlooked
but is crucial to stimulate even more engagement for your posts across the board. 6. Now, a word on downgrading content… What’s important to note here is that there
are signals that the algorithms use to demote content. If a post goes against the Community Guidelines,
it gets removed. Pretty straightforward, right. When misinformation is detected by third-party
fact-checkers, the post may be marked as False, Altered, or Partly False, and consequently,
it will be ranked lower on the Feed or Stories. Also, based on what you reported previously,
Instagram may rank certain posts lower too. I think it’s the best place to talk about
Shadowbanning a.k.a. the algorithms artificially capping or limiting
your reach. It’s something that Instagram consistently
said does not exist and does not happen. If you’re experiencing lower reach, it’s
most likely that you’re a) not posting enough and consistently enough, b) not creating engaging
content that speaks to your ideal audience, and c) not having a clear brand message and
a clear niche. If you suspect that something may be wrong
with your account, it’s best to go to the Account Status which you get by going to your
profile, tapping the burger menu in the top right corner, choosing Settings & Privacy,
then scrolling all the way down to find it here in between Help & About. It is basically how you can tell if your account
and content are good to go and are eligible to be recommended on Instagram too. It's like a way of checking if you meet the
requirements to get featured on the platform and for your content to rank well in general. The best way to consistently hit your social
media goals and set yourself up for success is to have a strong content marketing strategy
and I’m confident this video here will help you create it. Give this video a big thumbs up if you’ve
enjoyed it and consider subscribing, it really helps my channel grow and allows me to bring
you even more in-depth content like this! If you have any questions or comments, leave
them down below and I can’t wait to see you… next time!
