"Effective strategies to navigate Instagram's algorithm changes and boost your social media presence in 2024."

You’ll find a lot of opinions about how certain types of content are ranked higher on the platform than others.

“Instagram Reels perform better than Feed posts”. While that may be true in many cases (I’ll unpack why down below), statements like that give the impression that new posts and Reels are weighed against each other by a single algorithm, and Reels are given a leg-up — which is not true.

Instead, Reels and the Feed (and Stories and Explore) are all controlled by a different algorithm. Why? People’s behaviour tends to differ in different areas of the app. “People tend to look for their closest friends in Stories, use Explore to discover new content and creators, and be entertained in Reels,” Mosseri?explains.

With that in mind: here’s?how?it?works..

In the ever-evolving world of social media, Instagram continues to be a powerhouse for businesses and influencers alike. However, with frequent algorithm updates, maintaining and growing your presence on the platform can be challenging. As we step into 2024, it's crucial to understand these changes and adapt your strategy accordingly. Here are some effective strategies to help you navigate Instagram's algorithm and boost your social media presence this year

How does the Instagram algorithm work in 2024?

The Instagram algorithm dictates the order in which posts are displayed for users as they’re scrolling through their feed.

Based on specific signals, it prioritizes the best posts, pushing the most relevant ones toward the top and giving them the most visibility. Meanwhile, content that’s less relevant to a given user ends up being placed further down their feed.While it’s important to note the algorithm is always subject to change, here’s what we know about how the Instagram algorithm works in 2024.

It’s pretty common knowledge that Instagram will remove content that goes?against?itsUser interest: This algorithm signal is based on whether the user interacts with similar posts and accounts when they explore Instagram. Users who also engage with similar content are more likely to be shown your posts.

Post relevancy. When you publish a post on Instagram, the algorithm gives it a relevancy score, which impacts who it shows in the feed.

How Instagram ranks Feeds?

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When people talk about how the Instagram algorithm works, it’s usually this area of the app they’re referring to: it’s the first feed most people will see when they open the app.The Feed is a combination of videos, photos, and carousels (multi-photo posts) posted by anyone you follow, peppered with posts by other accounts Instagram users may be interested in, and sponsored posts tailored to them.

Instagram takes a staggering number of ranking factors into account when organizing Feeds. “We call these ‘signals,’ and there are thousands of them,” Mosseri says. Here is a breakdown of the most important signals, in order of importance.

Activity. Posts the user has liked, shared, saved, or commented on.

Information about the post. How popular a post is (how many people have liked it and how quickly people are liking, commenting, sharing, and saving a post) and more information about the content itself (when it was posted, and what location, if any, was attached to it).

Information about the person who posted. “This helps us get a sense for how interesting the person might be to [the user], and includes signals like how many times people have interacted with that person in the past few weeks,” Mosseri says.

How we rank Instagram Stories?

The stories you see are from people you’ve chosen to follow, as well as ads. Similar to Feed, when we look at ranking stories we start by defining all of the potential stories – excluding advertisements – shared by accounts you follow, and remove any stories that violate our Community Guidelines. We then look at a variety of input signals such as:

Viewing history: This looks at how often you view an account’s stories so we can prioritize the stories from accounts we think you don’t want to miss.

Engagement history:This looks at how often you engage with that account’s stories, such as sending a like or a DM.

Closeness:This looks at your relationship with the author overall and how likely you are to be connected as friends or family.

To rank Stories we use things like which stories you’ve viewed or engaged with in the past;

Based on these signals, we make a series of predictions about stories you’ll find more relevant and valuable – including how likely you are to tap into a story, reply to a story or move on to the next story – to determine which stories will be shown higher in your stories tray. Our Community Guidelines and guidelines for what types of content we move lower in Feed and Stories apply?here?as?well

How we rank Explore?

Explore was designed to help you discover new things. The grid is made up of recommendations – photos and videos that we go out and find for you from accounts you don’t yet follow.

Again, the first step we take is defining a set of posts to rank. To find photos and videos you might be interested in, we look at past activity such as posts you’ve liked, saved, shared and commented on in the past.

Once we’ve found a group of photos and videos you might be interested in, we then order them by how interested we think you are in each one, much like how we rank Feed and stories. The best way to guess how interested you are in something is to predict how likely you are to do something with the post. The most important actions we predict in Explore include likes, saves, and shares. The most important signals we look at, in rough order of importance.

Information about the post. Here we are looking at how popular a post seems to be. These are signals like how many and how quickly other people are liking, commenting, sharing, and saving a post. These signals matter much more in Explore than they do in Feed or in Stories.

Your activity in Explore. These are signals like posts you’ve liked, saved, shared or commented on and how you’ve interacted with posts in Explore in the past. If you interact with a specific type of post, we try to show you more content similar to the original post you interacted with.Your history of interacting with the person who posted. Most likely the post was shared by someone you’ve never heard of, but if you have interacted with them that gives us a sense of how interested you might be in what they shared

How we rank Reels?

In order to find entertaining reels, we survey people and ask whether they find a particular reel worth their time or fun, and learn from the feedback to get better at figuring out what will entertain people. The most important predictions we make are how likely you are to reshare a reel, watch a reel all the way through, like it, and go to the audio page (a proxy for whether or not you might be inspired to make your own reel.) The most important signals, roughly in order of importance, are:        

Your activity:

We look at things like which reels you’ve liked, saved, reshared, commented on, and engaged with recently. These signals help us understand what content might be relevant to you.

Your history of interacting with the person who posted. As with Explore, it’s likely the video was made by someone you’ve never heard of, but if you have interacted with them, that gives us a sense of how interested you might be in what they shared.

Information about the reel. These are signals about the content within the video such as the audio track or visuals in the video, as well as popularity.

How you can influence what you see)

How you use Instagram heavily influences the things you see and don’t see. You help improve the experience simply by interacting with the profiles and content you enjoy, but there are a few more explicit things you can do to influence what you see.

Personalize your Feed and Stories

Add accounts to your Favorites list to make sure you don’t miss their content. New posts from your Favorites will appear higher in your Feed. You can also customize your feed to only show content from your Favorites or from accounts you follow (Following will show you the last 30 days of posts from those you follow in chronological order).

• If you just want a break from recommendations, you can also snooze all suggested posts in your feed for 30 days. Learn more here.
• Pick your Close Friends. You can select your close friends for Stories. This was designed as a way to let you share with just the people closest to you.
• Mute people you’re not interested in. You can mute an account’s Feed posts, Stories, Messages, or Notes if you’d like to stop seeing what they share, but are hesitant about unfollowing them entirely. This way, people don’t know you’ve muted them.
• To stop seeing posts from an account, you can unfollow that account at any time. People won’t be notified when you unfollow them.

Respond to surveys from Instagram. We send surveys to people asking “is this post worth your time?” and use learnings from these surveys to help improve our recommendations?overall.

Conclusion:

Navigating Instagram's ever-changing algorithm can be daunting, but with the right strategies, you can turn these changes into opportunities for growth. Prioritizing authentic engagement, leveraging Stories and Reels, optimizing posting times, focusing on high-quality visuals, utilizing hashtags and geotags, collaborating with influencers, embracing Instagram Shopping, and staying informed about updates are all crucial steps to enhance your presence on the platform.

In 2024, success on Instagram will depend on your ability to adapt and innovate. By implementing these strategies, you'll not only navigate the algorithm with confidence but also build a strong, engaged community around your brand.

As a digital marketing agency, we specialize in helping businesses thrive in the dynamic world of social media. Let us assist you in crafting a powerful Instagram strategy that drives engagement and growth. Contact us today to elevate your social media game and achieve your business goals.