If you have an Instagram account and have paid attention to the number of likes your photos and videos receive, you’ve probably noticed that something is going on. The Instagram algorithm is creeping in and shaping the performance of individual account and customizing advertisement and search page to intrigue your curiosity.
The world of Instagram hasn’t always been that way. Instagram has evolved and changed since its birth in October 2010. Since the app introduced algorithm to the original chronological feed in 2016, it has changed the viewing experience in a great deal for its users .
Ever since the Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012, it doesn’t know the limit of its growth. The number of Instagram users reached 1 billion in June 2018. Considering that the world population is 7.7 billion as of April 2019, that’s a huge portion of population. Between 2013 and 2018, within 5 years, the figure of Instagram users sky rocketed 10 times from 100,000,000 to 1 billion users. (Number of monthly active Instagram users from January 2013 to June 2018) Today Instagram is one of the most powerful social media platforms that is used for marketing according to Upfluence. (20 Instagram stats that show just how powerful IG really is)
A Little About Instagram Algorithm
If you have an Instagram account, you have probably noticed a dip in the number of likes you receive in the recent past. (Or is it just me?) Sometimes you wonder if any of your followers even see your posts any more. According to some articles, apparently only 10% of your followers actually see your posts. It’s not surprising since so many people follow hundreds of thousands of accounts. Competition seems to only get higher these days.
It’s not a rocket science to figure out that the Instagram algorithm has affected individual Instagram performance. However, what people don’t realize is this. The algorithm was created to reward those who stay on Instagram longer. The flip side of it is that it penalizes those who don’t stay on it for a long time.
Recently I read a blog post “How To Beat The 2019 Instagram Algorithm & Grow” and it all became clear to me. This was by far the best article that I have read about Instagram algorithm. If you are wondering how you can grow your Instagram account by making the algorithm work for your benefit, you need to read the article. Dani, a photographer, Istagram influencer, and blogger, who wrote the article, breaks down the facts to explain how the algorithm works and shows you what Instagram account users need to do in order to perform better.
Time Is Money
In short, it basically boils down to this.
You need to invest a lot of time in Instagram to stay active and create engaging content if you would like to perform better and grow your following.
It is the business interest of Instagram to keep as many users ‘hooked’ to Instagram app as possible to maximize the effect of advertisement, the source of their revenue.
Even though there are more users and viewers out there, it feels as though our contents, most people’s contents, are not as viewed or appreciated as before. I used to think that there must be something that I am doing wrong. After studying a little more about how the Instagram algorithm works, I came to understand the depth of involvement that the algorithm requires you in order to gain more visibility.
Algorithm won’t favor those users just because they spend more time on Instagram. There are influencers, visual artists and companies with Instagram professionals who are out there to get more audience. The competition is real. Realistically speaking, without your time commitment to be creative and produce captivating contents and to engage with your audience (answering comments and DM’s), your performance may not be rewarded.
Understanding The Commitment To Perform Better
Based on the article “How To Beat The 2019 Instagram Algorithm & Grow”, below are what you have to do.
Post Posts frequently
Post Videos More
Reply to your DMs
Respond to Comments
Color Grade your Feed
Turn On Post Notifications
If you post a couple of times a day everyday, post a video either on your feed or story frequently in a week, communicate with your network on DM and respond to comments, check and like other accounts, and leave some comments on other people’s posts, you’re going to be spending more than a couple of hours a day on Instagram if not more. According to the online measurement company, SimilarWeb, users spent an average of 53 minutes a day on Instagram in 2018. (People spend almost as much time on Instagram as they do on Facebook)
Let’s look at how long influencers spend time on their mobile devices. According to the media site Whimn, a survey done by Influencer Agency showed that well-known influencers with 50K followers or more spent 9.02 hours a day on average on their mobile phones. (This, however, is not specific about Instagram.) (The Number Of Hours Influencers Spend On Their Phones Each Day Is Wild) On the other hand, an average U.S. consumer spends 3.43 hours (223 minutes) on their mobile phones.
It’s one thing if it is your job to manage a social media account. Influencers have to keep up with their Instagram engagement and performance. It’s a necessity for them.
For those of us who are trying to grow our audience for various reasons, but mainly for fun, it simply becomes too much of a time commitment.
What Does It Mean To Perform Better On Instagram
One can only dedicate so much time for social media everyday. I have already been feeling that I spend too much time on my phone, especially on Instagram. On the contrary, I have consistently felt discouraged to post on Instagram because I don’t see the return of my effort. After having read some articles on algorithm, I realized that my time commitment and effort was simply not enough. (I’m sure there are other reasons why my account has not grown, but this seems to be the obvious one.)
We are at the point where we need to really think whether we want our behaviors, decision making and time on Instagram to be controlled by the algorithm of social media or not.
If you know me, I have been blogging for some time. Social Media is an integral part of blogging. Since I love photography, Instagram seems to be the essential tool for me. Now with the new algorithm, I know that I need to up my game if I want to see the upward change in my performance on Instagram.
A lot of times, I feel that people assess the value of an entity or an individual based on the size of his/her following on a social media account. There is something to be said about the size of one’s following, but it shouldn’t affect us emotionally. There are talented and amazing humans behind the accounts who have a smaller following than some others.
Instagram is quite phenomenal to come up with the system of algorithm which will bring up the quality of some contents on Instagram while it will fulfill its aim to make people stay on Instagram longer. If it’s a quality entertainment, you don’t want to put it down. Algorithm is not going away. Our option left is to live with it. I just hope that I won’t let the algorithm control my mind beyond the app.
Leave a Reply