If you’ve being paying attention, you know I can’t stop banging on about CULTURE > algorithm. I don’t believe you can CONSISTENTLY win and stay ahead by gaming the system. Brands that succeed on Instagram focus on driving CULTURAL IMPACT.
You don’t have to try to hack the Instagram algorithm… but if that’s what you still want to do, I have some tips for you (read that again, those are TIPS, not tricks).
Also Read: Do Google SEO Tactics Work on Social Media?
Firstly, remember that Instagram’s algorithm – and every other platform’s for that matter – is built for one reason: to make users stay on the app longer by delivering catered, relevant and interesting content. And one thing you need to keep in mind is that the algorithm will change as often as user behavior on the app does.
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- Use Instagram SEO – Instagram is, above all, a “website” and by this I mean that it exists on the Internet, and pretty much whatever exists on the Internet can be found on Google. If you’re lucky, your content might even make it to the forever elusive Explore tab. You get it, I am going to tell you to optimize everything you write for search, using the same techniques you would normally apply to SEO content: keywords. Use relevant keywords in your bio, your captions, you reels subtitles, everywhere text exists.
- Add stickers to your Stories – This one might not seem like much, but Stickers are a great way to encourage your audience to interact with your content on Instagram. And, surprise! The more engagement they get, the more your Stories will be boosted by the algorithm. The best stickers to use to generate a ton of engagement are the poll, emoji slider, question slider and, my personal favorite: the “add yours.”
- Invest in your captions – We talked about SEO for captions, but now I’m going to add the “be interesting and engaging” part. Yes, Instagram might be a visual platform, but if your visual content captures the attention of your audience just enough for them to stop scrolling, you need to deliver in the captions too! Try writing strong captions that provide value, express an opinion, and drive engagement. It could be as simple as asking your followers to share their thoughts, asking them to tag a friend, or simply double-tap.
- Hashtags (Yes!) – This one’s going to be controversial, I am sure. But hashtags still work (even if Adam said they don’t) because they give a clear signal to the algorithm about what your content is about. On top of that, they help with SEO too! The time for overusing them is indeed over, so don’t do it – but adding 3-5 hashtags to your captions won’t hurt. In fact, it may actually help. Just, please, use RELEVANT ones – not the trendy ones.
- Optimize for views – Adam Mosseri couldn’t have been more clear: views matter more than likes. It seems counterintuitive, but it’s real. So, how do you get more views? Well it’s back to the basics: post at your personalized best time (by the way, you can find that in the app analytics), study and apply the visual trends so you can implement them, or go against them to stand out, and cross-promote your content…
- Cross-promote your content – Last, but not least, the further your spread your content the better. Crossposting will almost always generate bigger numbers. Meta is really good at letting you post your Instagram content on Facebook (yup, that’s still a thing), but also using your content across the different tabs and formats: grid, reels, stories. Also, if you can “collaborate” with another account, that’s engagement gold. I once posted on a brand account in collaboration with a certain hip-hop star, and we got over 300K engagements within the hour (the brand in question barely gets 5K on a great day).
Circling all the way back to my original point: CULTURE > algorithm. What do you think? It’s time to double-tap that sh*t now.
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash