INSTAGRAM 101 - PART 16/18

 

How to Promote Your Instagram Guide

Promotion runs two ways; your overall promoting of your accounts and brand, and then promoting your brand through your Guides. Sounds complicated, but it actually is not.

At the time of writing, Instagram did not have a search function for Guides or a specific tab as they do with other features, however, it is likely that one will be developed. The basic principles will likely be like the other tabs so the information below will be transferable- -not to worry!

Easy share

The easiest way to promote your Guide is to share it in your Story by pressing the paper airplane. You should aim to share your Story at a popular time of day.

Some users believe that sharing a selfie in the Story before sharing something they wish to promote is a better way of being prioritized by the algorithm. Presumably, this is due to the unique and personalized aspect of the selfie.

The mystery of the Instagram algorithm

Promoting on Instagram can be a challenge because the algorithm works in so many mysterious ways. Different content is prioritized for seemingly random reasons. There are ways to try and guess which kind of content will be popular at a certain time, but unfortunately, there is not always a way to know for sure which posts are going to be successful in the algorithm.

The most basic thing that you need to remember is that the more someone interacts with your content, the more that content will be prioritized for them. An easy way to do this is to simply have good quality content--while easier said than done, fundamentally this is the only thing that will truly grow your audience in a useful way.

Different interactions are worth different amounts to the algorithm. For example, presently, a save of your content is a more valuable interaction than a like, as well as shares and comments. Instagram and the algorithms are no longer just a competition of who can get the most followers and the most likes.

The algorithms prioritize content that gets the most engagement and is also more likely to show users content that they have recently and consistently interacted with. This means that posting on a regular basis, at a peak time, is the best way to ensure that your audience is seeing and engaging with your content.

Posting at peak times

It is essential to remember, that, to the annoyance of many users, the Instagram app is no longer chronological. When a user opens the app, the algorithm will try and show the user the new content that it thinks that they were like. If users scroll frequently through Instagram, it is likely that the feed may seem to be more chronological as Instagram will try and show them the best content since they last opened the app. But if users check the app less often, the algorithm will try and show them the post that they think they almost like based on their past engagement. It is also worth remembering that past posts are no longer shown in a user's feed after a while, they must click ‘see older posts’ in order to see posts that were posted last recently--even if it's only a matter of hours.

In essence, you will need to know when the peak times for your audience will be. By checking your analytics, you will be able to check this. Analyze when your audience is online and when they are most likely to interact with your posts, you can do this by using third-party demographic checking platforms and tools, but it is also recommended that you do this based on your own analytics. Look into the engagement on your posts, your stories and your Guides and see which are the most successful and what the features of those are for you to be able to replicate in future posts.

Similarly, with stories, stories from accounts that users engage with a lot and will frequently interact with are put to the start of the list. It is a good idea to consistently post Instagram stories to constantly remain at the top of their feed. The more they look at you the more they will engage with you and the better your ranking will be my algorithm.

Sponsored posts

You can create sponsored content, too. This is a great, although paid, way to get your posts onto new people’s feeds. Make sure you check your analytics before, and after, to see the impact that sponsored posts have on your engagement.