Instagram’s Algorithm Explained 2019

Instagram algorithm

Share This Post

If you’re an Instagram user, you might be wondering if Instagram has changed their algorithm recently because both your feed and the engagement on your posts seem a bit off. Here at HippoMedical, we have all of the answers for you when it comes to recent updates to the Instagram algorithm. Whether you aren’t seeing your friends and family in your feed any longer or you have found that your page is lacking the likes and comments it once received, we’ve got the answer and solution for you.

The History of Instagram Algorithm Changes

When Instagram was first launched, they had a chronological feed (that we all loved) which came to an end in 2016. This is when they decided to change their algorithm to help user’s feeds prioritize “the moments you care about.” After this sad day of history, we began to struggle with seeing what we actually wanted to see in our Instagram feeds.

In 2018, Instagram announced improvements to user’s feeds that would give feed priority to recent posts. This update was pretty vague aside from us now receiving the notification that says “you’re all caught up.” Most of us still felt like we more missing posts on our feeds. So the real question is, did Instagram change their algorithm again?

Instagram’s Response:

In January of 2019, Instagram FINALLY broke their silence about the algorithm and responded to complaining users on Twitter with these tweets.

According to Instagram, the first posts you see in your feed are based primarily on your own activity on Instagram. Apparently, the takeaway should be to “just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling” to see all of your posts.

If you want to gain more exposure for your own posts, this will take a killer content strategy.

Content Strategy Tips to Combat Instagram’s Algorithm

Make Sure Your Content is Quality

Instagram themselves have claimed that “great content” will rank higher in your follower’s feeds. While they don’t give specifics or guidelines as to what makes content “great”, we can assume its high-quality photos. Make sure you are posting quality instead of quality. One great post will provide more value than 3 mediocre posts. If you’re not sure what’s good content, go through your insights and find your best performing posts. Use those as a template as to what’s a good post.

Publish Stories Consistently

Stories don’t have any sort of influence on the Instagram algorithm, so they claim. However, stories still gain quite a lot of views. Make sure you’re posting both stories and regular posts for maximum exposure. You can also link your posts to your stories which can help your posts out.

Publish Video Content

If you never post video content, now is the time to start. Instagram is pushing videos hard with IGTV so it only makes sense that they value videos a bit more than photos. In addition, people like watching videos. They will spend more time interacting with your profile if you have videos.

Go Live More Often

If you never go live, now is the time to start. Although going live doesn’t do anything for the algorithm, it does give your followers a notification and then place your story at the beginning of their stories feed.

Writer Better Captions

If your captions are long and don’t read well, it’s time to put more effort into your writing. Make sure your captions give your followers directions for engaging with your post. Even a simple “tag a friend in the comments” is effective.

Use Hashtags

If you aren’t using hashtags, this is a simple way to gain more exposure on your Instagram. Use a combination of relevant hashtags, branded hashtags, product and community hashtags for best results!

Run a Contest

Running a contest on your Instagram is always a good idea to drive traffic to your page, especially if to enter they need to tag friends in the comments. Get creative and make sure you allow ample time for the contest to run!

Need More Instagram Help?

We hope this blog helped you with Instagram’s frustrating algorithm change. If you need any additional assistance with Instagram marketing, don’t hesitate to contact us at HippoMedical for our expert advice.

More To Explore

Do You Want To Boost Your Business?

drop us a line and keep in touch