As a social media manager for nearly 50 accounts nationwide, I get a lot of questions and I am responsible for the performance, analytics, and reporting of social media platforms for my clients. Lately, our biggest and most important conversation has been the new F5 Facebook design navigation and bugs.
Also, a big problem on the social media landscape has been the extreme downturn and dive in Instagram engagement on all accounts, but also those accounts of influencers. Instagram users everywhere are noticing this and are very concerned about it. Most users are affected negatively blaming it on all kinds of things from algorithm changes to their practices on the platform.
In groups all across Facebook, you will find users asking for help and advice as to why their Instagram account has taken such a huge downward spiral in engagement. Many are not sure why.
In January 2020 Instagram recently publicly addressed rumors about its controversial algorithm. Instagram released an infographic explaining at some of the major post actions that impact feed ranking. Follow this link to clarify many of the algorithm myths users ask about most frequently!
This infographic shows the engagements that are most important to Instagram feed ranking. Not much has changed. Comments, Likes, Reshares, and Views still are the top types of actions on posts that most impact engagement on posts.
According to an infographic by Later, photos and videos have the same impact on engagement. One is not more important than the other.
It’s important to know that the algorithm is always changing based on user behavior.
Fake interactions do not count at all. This conversation is for another blog post. I am sure you know how having a bunch of fake accounts (accounts that come on fast following you in numbers like 1K-5K and most of the accounts have zero posts) this indicates fake accounts or spam. This behavior very negatively affects your Instagram engagement.
All comment lengths count as engagement. There have been rumors that long comments can hurt your engagement. That is not true.
All account types are equal. I personally still have my Instagram account as a personal account. I manage accounts. I see the things that I don’t like in the professional or business account. Personal accounts do not experience all the spam, ads, and junk that Instagram business accounts have to contend with.
According to Instagram, it doesn’t matter what the account type is; if a follower engages with the content regularly, then the user will likely see future content from that Instagram account in their feed.
ONE REALLY BIG MYTH I would like to bust is that the first 30 minutes of a post does not have any impact on your engagement. So many misled Instagram users believe that the amount of engagement that happens in the first 30 minutes sets the tone or measure for the post. NOT TRUE.
Getting lots of engagement in the first 30 minutes after posting to Instagram doesn’t push your post to the top of the news feed. In fact, in Instagram Stories they Instagram they made it clear that the most important factor in what an Instagram user sees on his/her feed is the accounts they regularly engage with and follow.
“There is no need to have everyone run over to your Instagram post 5 seconds after it was posted to engage in order to somehow “trick” the algorithm into showing the post to more users. That’s simply not how the Instagram algorithm works.” Agorapulse
“Instagram delivers a unique feed to every user based on the content they engage with. So, if you see drops in engagement, that could be an algorithm change, but often, as an Instagram expert, Jenn Hermann points out, the dip could just be because your content is no longer appealing.” Agorapulse
Here is a summary of facts collected about the algorithm:
- The Instagram algorithm changes all the time. Daily, weekly, or within the hour.
- Instagram favors accounts that can keep their followers interested, active, and engaged on a regular basis. Loyalty!
- The algorithm does not give favor over photos or videos–both are treated equally and engagement is based on what that user engages with.
- Account types are created equal. Many say to switch from a personal to a business or creator for better engagement. I have proven that one myself. It does not give preference. It doesn’t matter if you are using a Personal, Business, or Creator account. If you want insights you must have a Business or Creator account.
- All comments are treated equally, regardless of how many words they contain. Don’t skimp on comments or try to get followers to skimp on comments because you are afraid longer one hurts your engagement.
- Getting lots of engagement the first 30 minutes after posting to Instagram doesn’t put your posts at the top of the feed or give in feed priority. This is not true.
A few ways we use at our agency to keep engagement high and consistent are as follows:
Below are the easiest ways to keep your audience engaged:
- We post a lot of photos and videos.
- Post to Stories often. At least once per day.
- Instagram Lives. This is so important to keep your followers engaged and to make them loyal to your posts and IGTV.
- IGTV- Create Q & A short sessions, talk about “A day in the life of your brand or business”
- Reply to your DMs. Don’t go missing in action. Reply to all DM and comments. Keep your notifications set. I always encourage users to reply to those quickly.
- Never use all 30 hashtags! Although you can use up to 30 hashtags in a post, this can now be flagged as spam. If Instagram flags posts as spam, they will demote your reach. Tested and tried many influencers and experts say to stay under 12 and use about five unique hashtags.
- Do not copy and paste your hashtag list over and over in every post. For each post have a completely new set of hashtags. Switch up each post and make the hashtags relevant to the photo or theme. IG will flag the posts as a bot.
- Thank commenters. Always!! This is one of our most important tactics. Every time you receive a comment, even if it is a thumbs up or another emoji, reply and say “thank you for the comment” or simply say “thanks.”
- Jump right in on new features. When Instagram sees you active across the App and sharing new features they ten to expose you more.