{"id":11972,"date":"2018-10-16T13:47:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T19:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virtuance.com\/?p=11972"},"modified":"2019-06-20T14:55:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T20:55:14","slug":"beat-instagram-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.virtuance.com\/member\/blog\/beat-instagram-algorithm\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Ways to beat Instagram\u2019s algorithm for better reach and more likes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social media platforms change with alarming frequency these days.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Source: Neal Patel<\/a><\/p>\n

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For years, Instagram was a haven of chronological posts that almost guaranteed engagement as long as you timed your post correctly and shared something interesting.<\/p>\n

But that reality is no more.<\/p>\n

Recent changes\u00a0offer users more control<\/a><\/u>\u00a0over their feeds, which means it may be getting more difficult to engage with your audience.<\/p>\n

Instagram\u2019s users may be able to see fresher posts, but there\u2019s no guarantee that they\u2019ll ever see your content.<\/p>\n

That means you\u2019ll need to change your approach if you want to stay at the top of the Instagram pile.<\/p>\n

And to do that, you have to know what actually works for other brands who have cracked the code.<\/p>\n

This post will give you nine ways to do just that.<\/p>\n

But first, you have to understand Instagram\u2019s current landscape and how it affects your brand.<\/p>\n

Breaking down the Instagram landscape<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2016, Instagram\u00a0announced their efforts<\/a><\/u>\u00a0to favor the moments you \u201ccare about the most\u201d in your feed.<\/p>\n

Since then, marketers have been looking for ways to optimize their content and stay ahead of the Instagram algorithm to keep engagement levels high.<\/p>\n

As you\u2019re no longer guaranteed to show up in a chronological feed, you have to find a creative way to stay in front of your online audience.<\/p>\n

And as the press release indicates, Instagram\u2019s current algorithm filters content based on your user\u2019s previous behavior.<\/p>\n

So in theory, the more your audience interacts with your brand, the more they\u2019ll see your posts.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t exactly great news for most marketers though.<\/p>\n

The overwhelming tendency is to treat engagement as\u00a0the number one metric on Instagram<\/a><\/u>, and all of these changes have caused engagement to go down.<\/p>\n

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So success on Instagram requires brands to find new ways to continue building engagement and follower count. But to start engaging with Instagram users in the first place, you have to know who they are and what they\u2019re like.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, Instagram users are predominately young. Your audience is primarily millennials for now, and they have\u00a0different shopping patterns<\/a><\/u>\u00a0than previous generations. And perhaps even worse, the average user misses over 70% of their feed.<\/p>\n

That means even your best content isn\u2019t guaranteed to be in front of your audience no matter what you do. So if it\u2019s so hard to get views and engagement, why focus on Instagram at all? To understand that, you have to understand the raw\u00a0marketing power of visual engagement<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

According to research, visuals are a\u00a0more retainable<\/a><\/u>\u00a0form of sharing information and news. We retain vastly more information from things we see, which means visuals are important. That makes Instagram, which is a primarily visual channel, an essential part of many brands\u2019 digital presence.<\/p>\n

Brands that create visually-appealing or artisan items often rely on Instagram to engage with their audience when blogging. They use Instagram as an essential piece of their\u00a0social media sales funnel<\/a><\/u>, so success on this platform is life or death. And studies have shown that people buy items\u00a0they see on social media<\/a><\/u>\u00a0all the time.<\/p>\n

More than 42% of social media users have made a purchase simply because they saw it in their feed. So finding a way to break the algorithm in your favor and increase your engagement can help your brand\u00a0push sales through Instagram<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

And to do that, you have to create content that resonates with your audience and fosters interaction between your followers and your brand. Thankfully, there are plenty of proven methods that will let you accomplish that on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

The nine solutions in this post are data-backed and brand-approved methods for boosting engagement. And the first one you can start using right now.<\/p>\n