SIU PRSSA Southern Illinois University Public Relations Student Society of America
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Like all social media platforms, Instagram uses an algorithm to decide which posts are shown to which viewers. This can explain why sometimes you might miss out on certain posts even though you may follow that page, but what determines that algorithm and what you see on your feed, and how can you get your content seen by more people?
The algorithm exists to improve user experience, it tries to serve you what you’re most likely to be interested in based on the history of your interaction with other accounts and interests so you will essentially spend more time on the app. In 2021 the algorithm has been updated to try and get even more engagement on the app including these six key factors; your interests and behaviors, your relationships, the amount of time spent on the app, your following and who you follow, and lastly the new and improved explore page.
The algorithm judges your post in four stages:
- First your post is shown to only 10% of your followers, then Instagram gives it an engagement score.
- Second your account is given a “current quality score” which is a representation of how important you are to Instagram.
- Third your post is shown on hashtags, and lastly your post appears on the explore page.
Those are the stages your post has to go through in order to be “popular” on the app. Sometimes these things can be confusing to people who don’t quite understand what an algorithm is, but want their page to be successful, so here is a link to an article that does a great job explaining the 2021 Instagram algorithm.
There are several things you can do to boost your account on the algorithm, but here are six things that almost guarantee your posts to be seen by more viewers.
- Post specialized content that targets your audience
- pay attention to all relationships and DM’s
- show up consistently
- use keyword search to your advantage
- get more creative
- up your engagement and get featured on the explore page
The algorithm can be tricky, but if you use it to your advantage, you can really gain a large following on Instagram with more engagement than ever. There are many resources you use to help have a better understanding of the 2021 Instagram algorithm.
