How Instagram Works Now In 2018

And how to work WITH the changes.......

2018 has seen a plethora of Instagram changes ranging from the fickle/playful such as stickers to the more 'commercial' like 'Highlights' and shoppable links (see bottom of this article).

However the MOST important change has been to start the major changes that have also been seen on Facebook with the intention (we are advised) to please the Users. That will have to be seen to know if the 'intent' matches 'reality' (the cynic in me says these changes are merely to deepen how monetised Facebook and Instagram are).

What Is Instagram Looking For In YOUR Content To Give It More Visibility?

Instagram wants to make sure your users see the most relevant content to them, that is served at the right time and that they are most likely to engage (like, comment, share) with. So pretty similar to the Facebook changes and no surprise given the parentage of the platforms.

Specifically Instagram uses 3 factors now to decide on what content to serve:

1. Interest
2. Timeliness
3. Relationship

It gets pretty interesting here and without diving too deep into detail these break down into:

1. Interest | How likely, based on your past behaviours, to Like, Comment, Share the post. No doubt worded content, hashtags are analysed by the algorithm. Potentially machine reading the image/video (but this is not clear yet so don't quote me on this one).
2. Timeliness | Alongside 'when' the post is delivered determining 'Reach effectiveness, it is now understood that content is 'aged' so that content of 1 week+ is down ranked. Keeping timelines fresh(er).
3. Relationship | This is less clear but seems to be literally 'are you related' i.e. family. If so, you should seen content from your relatives nearer the top of the Timeline. Makes sense for Facebook Timelines but not Instagram (in my view) as the interactions are different between users. I suspect that, in time, this will be developed more deeply to look at Friendships (which Facebook already provides Users with Facebook generated content).

What is Next?

I am picking up, from my sources in the USA, that the swing towards 'Less Adverts - More Organic Content' already seen in March this year on Facebook, is on its way to Instagram by the end of this year.

What this means is tightening up posts on their quality and relevance (good in my opinion) and driving up the cost of Advertising posts (bad in most SMEs futures). This has certainly been the case with Facebook changes this year (resulting in a reported 66% reduction in Organic reach compared to last year).

More to come later on as I dig out more information. Meanwhile here's some handy information if you didn't already know it.

Extra Help and Advice

If you need my help or advice please direct message me or have a look at Social Media Services the team and I offer (including managing Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn lead generation, Twitter and adverts for these platforms).

How do I set up a business profile on Instagram?

It is pretty straight forward details are available here just following the (very few) steps.

The advantages are:

• Get real-time metrics on how your stories and promoted posts perform throughout the day.
• Get insights into your followers and how they interact with your posts and stories.
• Add information about your company, such as business hours, location and phone number.

How Do I Get 'Shoppable Images' on Instagram?

There are a number of accounts that already have this feature but as far as I have ascertained this is not something you can 'request'. Some sources indicate that this feature becomes available when you have 10k+ Followers, others that it is being rolled out.

Here's an early article from Social Media Examiner that details this feature further.