Instagram can be one of the best ways to reach your target audience. In social media campaigns, visibility is everything and Instagram offers a purely visual interface. With pictures and videos featuring short captions being the only way to present yourself, you have the opportunity to create organic visibility at a low cost.
Of course, advertising is always prevalent and tactics for getting higher visibility change with each update to the platform’s algorithm. The change in Instagram’s algorithm for 2019 has generated a lot of buzz, and we’re here to help you understand what it means for you and your social media marketing campaign.
In past years, Instagram was a strictly time-based platform. You chose to follow a few people who posted things that you liked, and when they posted something it was bumped to the top of your feed. You could hit refresh every few minutes and see new posts, which led to an addiction of refreshing to see what was happening in the world.
In 2018, they switched things up a bit and made an individual’s feed show what they felt was most relevant to that individual. If you regularly scrolled through, for example, Kim Kardashian’s feed, you would see what she posted before you would see what your high school friend posted. This remains the same, which means if you are advertising regularly on Instagram, you need to have engaging posts for them to be visible to your fans.
Instead of completely changing their algorithm, Instagram tweaked features to allow you to market on their existing algorithm better. While posts are still viewed in order of probable engagement, you have the opportunity as a marketer on their platform to engage in a more meaningful way.
The new update for 2019 introduced automatic playing, which means your videos don’t need to be clicked to make an impact. While this in and of itself would be an incredible boost, they are also combined with several major marketing companies to allow scheduled posting. With Hootsuite, one of the most common marketing tools, you can now schedule videos to be posted at optimal times for your individual company.
Another change in Instagram’s latest update is the ability to share a single post across multiple accounts. This can be a double-edged sword, as you ideally should create unique content for each account that you have – but if you have two accounts which tie into the same overall idea, it can be beneficial for creating buzz.
This is only for single feed posts, not for stories. Stories remain, as of now, specific to one individual account. Incidentally, they’re also one of the best features of Instagram for marketing right now. Live video and organic material generate high user interaction, which means you can reach your targeted audience without paying too much into advertisements. Regardless of what you aim to achieve with Instagram use, this new update promises plenty of return on investment!