How the algorithm works
There’s still some secrecy about the Instagram algorithm, but in general it takes into account the following factors.
Interest
Instagram takes into account your past behavior and tries to predict what content you’re most interested in. It considers the accounts you interact with the most, the people you are tagged in photos with, and the types of posts you like and comment on.
Recency
Instagram is always trying to show you the latest, most interesting posts.
Relationship
Instagram prioritizes posts from family and friends and accounts that you interact with the most. The system takes into account for example people whose content you like, people you direct message with, people you search for, and people you know in real life.
Frequency
While determining what to show to you, Instagram considers also how often you open the app. If you open the app several times a day your feed will be more chronological. If you check out the app just a few times a week Instagram will try to find the most interesting posts since your last visit.
Following
If you follow a lot of people Instagram can pick from a wide variety of users so you’re not likely to see all the posts from every account you follow.
Usage
If you’re spending a lot of time on the app Instagram will dig deeper into its catalog to show you more posts. If you spend a lot of time scrolling you might even run out of new content to see and then Instagram will show you suggested content from new accounts that you might like.
Algorithm on Stories, IGTV, Reels and Explore
Instagram has an algorithm also for its other features, so machine learning will determine what you see on Stories, IGTV, Reels, and Explore. In their core, these algorithms are quite similar to the feed one as they try to find the content you are most interested in. As a result, you will see content from accounts that you interact with the most as well as the type of content you have interacted with in the past. In addition, especially the Instagram Stories algorithm prioritizes recency showing you the latest Stories from your favorite accounts.
How to make sure your followers see your content
Now that you know the basics of the Instagram algorithm, you can work with it to get your content in front of your followers. Here’s five easy tips to follow.
1. Test Instagram’s latest features
Whenever Instagram launches a new feature, like Stories or Reels the system will try to prioritize that content to make sure followers adopt it. If you haven’t done it yet, now is a great time to try out Reels.
2. Talk with your followers
Encourage your followers to engage with you by asking questions, sharing their opinions, or by tagging a friend in a comment. You can also utilize polls and questions in your Stories.
3. Post often and at the right time
Considering recency is one the main factors that Instagram considers it’s a good idea to post often and when your followers are online. This is especially important when it comes to Stories.
4. Use hashtags the right way
The Instagram algorithm does much of the work that hashtags used to do in the past. However, hashtags can still be useful when you are trying to reach a new audience. Accurate hashtags tell both to people and the algorithm what’s in your post, and will help users to discover your content.
5. Cross-promote your content
The easiest way to get more followers to see your content is to cross-promote it across the feed, Instagram Stories, IGTV, and Reels. By doing this you can drive different audiences to your most recent content.
