Everyone was up in arms after Instagram updated their logo to its colorful new design. The backlash was instantaneous and harsh, but so far, there hasn’t been as much of a response to their bigger change…their implementation of an algorithmic timeline. Now users see posts based on how frequently they interact with that account, as opposed to the old chronological timeline. Instagram (who is owned by Facebook) claims that this is to make sure you’re seeing the content you want to first and more frequently, basing this on your history of interaction. But many businesses who use Instagram as any part of their digital marketing strategy are worried about this leading to a significant decrease of impressions of their posts. So what can you do to ensure you don’t disappear into the Instagram abyss?
As with algorithm changes on other social media platforms, companies are finding the need to create more relevant posts and posts that will have their followers interact more frequently with likes, comments, and shares. Essentially, you’ll have to work harder to gain the engagement of followers, but the payoff will be larger. Overall views of your posts may decrease, but engagements and clicks should increase.
That being said, some companies are pushing away from Instagram and embracing Snapchat as their new digital platform of choice. Allowing both picture and video posts like Snapchat, those who use it have described it as being a more reactive social media platform than Instagram, with view numbers on posts approaching those of Instagram.
Instagram isn’t shaking its death rattle, and as users and consumers adjust and get used to the new algorithm timeline, their numbers will become steady. But you will need to take a new approach to reach your followers on Instagram, or else your posts will be lost far down their newsfeeds.
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