How To Beat the New Instagram Algorithm and Build Your Account Following!
Feeling infuriated, defeated, and lost with the new Instagram algorithm? We don’t blame you! As much as we wish we could go back to the days of posting Starbucks cups, pet pictures, and high angled, awfully lit selfies (okay, maybe that one can stay in 2012), the platform has changed and so has the algorithm along with it. So if you want to build your Instagram account in 2021, follow these easy steps:
Post saveable, sharable content!
The new Instagram algorithm doesn’t care how many likes you have or even how many people are commenting. It’s all about how many people are clicking those precious save and share buttons. So what content can you or your business create that will make people want to save or share? Think about what information your business could offer that would help your audience and create content for it! If the content is useful, people are more likely to save it for future use or share it with their followers on their stories.
Know your audience!
Have you looked at your Instagram Follower Breakdown? Do you know the age range of your most active followers? The ratio between men and women? Do you know where they live?
This is all incredibly valuable information that will help you to understand your specific audience and what content you should be creating in order to cater to them and their interests. On the other hand, these insights may also show that you’re not actually reaching your target audience at all. In which case, you may need to do more research into current trends for the target group you’re trying to reach in order to shift your account in the right direction.
Schedule Instagram posts in advance
Another great feature of the Instagram Follower Breakdown is that it shows when your current audience is most active on social media. It is vital to post your content during your follower’s most active time in order to receive the most engagement. However, we’re more than aware that everyone has lives outside of running their Instagram accounts and it’s not always possible to manually post something at 6 pm every day. This is where scheduling apps come into play! No need to spend hours each day thinking of the perfect caption or worrying about whether a post is going to ruin the aesthetic of your grid – now you can schedule all of your content for the week/ month/ year in advance and see how it is going to look all together on your profile!
Some of our favourites..
Canva: Create and schedule posts all in one app
Planoly: Schedule stories and feed posts across Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.
Later: Don’t have time to create your own content? Later helps you find on-brand content that you can add your personal touch too.
Use your hashtags
If you’re not making the most of hashtags on your posts then you should be! Hashtags are proven to increase engagement, following, and reach.
Here are some of our top tips for using hashtags on your posts:
- Always use your 30 hashtags, never less!
- Avoid using the same hashtags over and over again – try and switch it up to reach a larger audience
- Take the time to check the top 9 posts of all the hashtags you intend to use – If they’ve all been posted within the last hour, days, or week then they’re great to use! If they’re from a few months or even years ago then avoid using them as they’ve become redundant and won’t help you to reach anyone!
- Use neontools.io ‘s Hashtag Analyser to help you find hashtags to use on your posts
Reels are your new best friend
Reels, reels, reels! Try to aim for at least three a week. Instagram is trying to keep up with TikTok so they are pushing reels as much as possible, making them the absolute best way to reach a wider audience and boost your engagement! If you’re struggling for ideas, head over to Tiktok for inspiration! There are so many creators constantly thinking up content so it’s the best place to find out the latest trends. However, we would always recommend that you never upload a reel with a Tiktok watermark, as Instagram has started to pick up on this and your video won’t do as well!
Convert pictures into video wherever possible
Our final tip for beating the Instagram algorithm is to change your feed pictures into videos! Instagram is constantly pushing video content and will value video posts over still photos. A great way to change your photos into videos is by using Canva to add an animation to your post which will instantly turn your still image into a video that Instagram will love. Alternatively, you can screen record your photo, crop and mute the video and then upload it straight to your feed. Now, get going! We can’t wait to see your Instagram grow!
Although these are all fantastic tips, we understand that putting out content for social media isn’t always easy and can be a struggle for businesses who are looking to be competitive on multiple fronts. Luckily, we can help you out with that!
Contact us through [email protected] to learn more about our offerings!