After the abandoning of the reverse chronological feed, Instagram algorithm announced in 2016 that it would feature more of “the moments you care about” on their user’s feed.  In 2018, they announced priority would go to timeliness, which means fresh, timely posts gets to stay on top of the uses feed. And since then, there have been various rumors about what the algorithm might be targeting.

Knowing the algorithm of a social network is essential so that you organize your marketing strategy in a way that works with rather than against it. But since there are lots of misinformation concerning the algorithm, it could be challenging to know what to do precisely.

Thankfully, we’ve gathered grapevine information concerning the Instagram algorithm to share with you and also reveal the rumors you should ignore. Here are some facts to know about how the Instagram Algorithm works in 2020:

Audience engagement

Firstly, we have to consider the primary goal of Instagram, which is to ensure users are spending more time on the platform. If you can keep your follows online for an extended period, there would surely be a reward because the longer users stay on the app, the higher the probability that they will come across some ads.

Ranking signals

In June 2018, Julian Gutman, the product lead of Instagram in a press briefing conference in San Francisco discussed the ranking signals of Instagram and how the algorithm makes use of it to organize their users feeds.

What are the top ranking signals of Instagram

We are going to focus on the top three ranking signals, which are relationship, interest, and timeliness.

Relationship

Instagram prioritizes relationships, and here it means an account that gets the full engagement from users including comments, direct messages, tags, or enabled notifications. It makes your users see more posts from you (about 90 percent) as long as they engage in the above.

Interests

Here, the algorithm considers the past behaviors of users to predict the post that they would love to see in their feeds. This method is similar to almost all forms of the algorithm in the digital space.

The Instagram algorithm makes use of the image recognition technology to check the photos content to know what to bring to the top of the users feed whenever they log in to the platform.

Timeliness

This method relates to the reverse chronological feed. Here newer posts get represented to the users by the algorithm. What this means is that brands that observe their audience behavior and can predict when they’ll come online will benefit from this signal.

How to work with Instagram Algorithm in 2020

Here are some smart tricks that can keep your brand on top of your follower’s feed to drive them to engage with your brand.

Keep posting

Post more than once or twice a day. Formerly, there was the belief that posting more than once could make users get irritated and reduce engagement with your brand.

But this is no longer the case as Instagram’s algorithm has been able to ensure your followers sees several photos from different accounts depending on the number of accounts they follow. And then there are also many ads on display. So there are chances that they would not see a line up of posts from your brand.

Plan your posting schedule by using the various Instagram scheduling apps to help you manage when you should post.

Build relationships

Remember one of the top signals is relationship, and your posts will only appear to users who have a close relationship with your brands. Take steps to build and maintain relationships with your followers by replying to comments in a friendly way, being open and conversational, liking posts of followers and other brands, etc. Also posts contents that drive engagement and don’t be afraid to ask questions and expect answers.

Remember timeliness

You don’t want to post when your target audience is working or sleeping. There are chances that by the time they come online, your post would have sunk to the bottom of the feed overshadowed by brands that were more strategic with time.

Make it a point of duty to pay attention to when your followers come online. You should also get an Instagram scheduler to help send the posts out at the right time so that you don’t have to keep checking the time. Another plus of the scheduler gives more insight into Instagram analytics than Instagram itself.

Use hashtags appropriately

No doubt, Instagram is a platform where you can use up to 15 hashtags in a post, but you need to use them in a way that it doesn’t become offensive. Avoid using too many hashtags so that your post does not look disorganized. Also, ensure the hashtags matches your content. It would be weird if you put up an image of someone riding a bicycle and one of your hashtags is #cooking.

Post videos

Videos will help only if your target audience gets pleasure watching them. If your follower always scrolls past every video, Instagram will show less video to the individual.

However, if we are going by statistics, most Instagram users love watching videos with sound or without. So the algorithm is always looking for videos to show its viewers, which is why you should include video contents to your posting schedule.

There are varieties of videos you can post on Instagram these days from IGTV to Instagram stories to the regular live videos that appear on feeds. Users spend a long time viewing a video than an image, which is a means to boost audience engagement and increase their ranks.

Try contests

Contents are another smart way to make Instagram algorithms notice your brand. It boosts engagement by making followers comment, tag, like, and probably turn on notification.

Take your time to prepare the contests with simple giveaways which should naturally be your products and services. As one of your contests bid, encourage people to turn on their notification so that they can get updates about the contents. The chances are that they may even forget to turn it off after the contest, which allows your content to show up on their feeds.

Post unique contents

 Be deliberate about the contents you post for your followers and target audience to interact. Ensure they are always exclusive and not generic posts. You should also use high-quality photos and images and compelling captions to attract and keep your followers.