For marketers with social media strategies already rolled out and in play, a few adjustments may be necessary if you want to stay in the game this year, as Instagram hashtags aren’t going to work quite like they used to when it comes to organic reach and engagement.  Back in 2016, the Instagram algorithm change removed the chronological feed and threw its weight behind factors like post engagement more heavily, which meant that hashtags held greater influence. But, things have once again shifted, as this year’s latest algorithm change is reintroducing chronological order to users’ feeds, just not quite like what we saw before.  

Fortunately, for those who remain proactive and play their cards right, this latest update to Instagram’s feed could actually work out in marketers’ favor.  So, before you start adapting your social strategy, let’s take a deeper look into what you can expect from this latest change.

Introducing the 2018 Instagram Algorithm Change

With this latest announcement, Instagram will still use its own algorithm to determine which posts users will see in their feeds, but it will more heavily weigh when content is posted.  The idea is to give users more control over their feeds in order to ensure that the posts you see are timely.  In other words, newer posts are now more likely to appear first in your feed.

Before this roll out, Instagram ranked posts based on several different factors including how many interactions a post received, how long people viewed a post, and how quickly users engaged with a post.  Now, these factors will all still be relevant, but much more weight will be thrown behind how recently content is posted. For the average user, this simply means that they’ll see newer posts more often. But, what does this mean for marketers?

Time for a Change of Strategy

While there’s no doubt that marketers and brands will need to continue to post engaging content that matters to their target audience, this latest Instagram change will require a few adjustments to be made to social media strategies.  So, as marketers prepare for these changes, there are a few factors that will need to be prioritized when posting on Instagram this year. Those include:

  • Timeliness –  Timing your posts is now more important than ever, as newer posts are more likely to show up at the top of users’ feeds.  So, the best way to ensure that your content is seen by users is to make sure that it is the first thing that they see when they open the Instagram app.  To do this, you’ll really have to start tracking content through analytics to see when your target audience will be online so that you can post during those peak hours.       
  • Tempo – In addition to timing your posts correctly, marketers will also need to pay attention to how often they post.  Because of the timeliness factor, posts now have a shorter shelf life than they did when post interaction played a heavier role in determining priority.  This means that content that is a few hours or days old is less likely to show up near the top of users’ feeds. So, posting more frequently when you know your audience is online could help your content appear at the top of their news feeds more often.  But, none of this will matter if you don’t continue to focus on creating engaging content that your audience actively wants to interact with. To get to the top, it’s all about who’s posting the freshest and most interesting content.
  • Branding – With the latest changes giving chronological order a much larger role, all of this means that posts from brands may actually perform better than before.  If branded posts are new and targeted enough, they’re automatically on a more level playing field with other posts on the app that their users are engaging with, which is great news for marketers who often struggled to edge out their competition with the previous algorithm.     

The best way to keep your brand and content on top is to reconsider your Instagram content strategy.  To optimize your posts with this latest algorithm change, focus on finding the perfect posting time through the use of analytics, find the right cadence with your posts, and keep encouraging meaningful engagement with your posts and users.