Are you sitting down? Because this is pretty mind-blowing…
Last week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri almost broke certain corners of the internet with a blog post titled, “Instagram Ranking Explained.”
That’s right — for the first time in nearly two years — Instagram actually decided to spell out how the Instagram algorithms (plural — there are many, not just one) actually work!
Now, Mosseri didn’t exactly come right out and reveal many of the things that people really want to know about the algorithms — like how many times they should be posting a week, what your ratio of photo posts to video posts should be, or whether the algorithms really do favour Reels that are edited in Instagram over those created using much more user-friendly third-party apps (cough, CapCut).
BUT, if you read and listen closely, there are still a ton of valuable takeaways that you can use to your advantage to promote your business on Instagram.
Here are my 5 big takeaways from Mosseri’s announcement:
1. Photos are still a core part of Instagram’s content mix.
In 2021, Mosseri sparked waves of panic across the internet when he announced that Instagram, in an effort to compete with TikTok, would be leaning hard into video content (i.e., Instagram Reels).
He even went so far as to say that, “We’re no longer a photo-sharing app.” Ouch.
Suffice to say, this dramatic about-face was not well received by the thousands of creators and businesses who’d invested heavily in photo-based Instagram strategies over the years.
There was even a Change.org petition to “Make Instagram Instagram Again” — supported by Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Chrissy Teigen and literally hundreds of thousands of Instagrammers — demanding that Instagram stay true to its photo-sharing roots.
In response to the backlash, Instagram rolled back some of its more aggressive video-first features (remember that full-screen feed and how bad it made photos look?) and tried to assure its community that photos will always have a place on the app.
In fact, in January 2023, Mosseri further reiterated this, saying that Instagram had gone too hard on pushing videos in 2022, and would look to make photos more of a focus once again in 2023.
(And the data supports this: According to social media engagement data collected by Emplifi, photo carousels are tied with Reels as the top-performing post formats on Instagram, with median interaction rates of 30.45% and 30.08%, respectively.)
With this latest announcement, Mosseri and Instagram were careful not to use any language that would indicate video content is favoured over photos.
Mosseri actually went so far as to say that photos may even be favoured over videos in some users’ feeds, saying that, “We’ve also started considering other factors like format, so if we notice you prefer photos, we’ll show you more photos.”
That’s not to say that video is going anywhere and that Instagram doesn’t heavily favour video in certain contexts, but you can take heart in knowing that your photos still have a place on the app for the foreseeable future.
2. Recency is still a huge factor in how Instagram ranks posts in the feed.
“Recency” refers to the fact that Instagram prioritizes newer posts in your feed over those that are older in an effort to keep your feed fresh.
As Mosseri writes: “With Feed we consider recent posts shared by the people you follow, as well as posts from accounts you don’t already follow that we think you might be interested in. We determine what you might be interested in based on a variety of factors, including what and whom you’ve followed, liked or engaged with recently.”
This may sound simple, but there are a few nuances to be aware of:
➡️ Given the priority that Instagram places on recency, if your followers aren’t logging on every day or even multiple times a day, your posts might get pushed down by newer posts. For this reason, it’s important to post consistently if you want your posts to be seen.
➡️ Along the same lines, it’s equally important to consider the time of day that you post as well. Given the volume of content and the competition for your audience’s attention, aim to post at the peak times when your audience is online and most receptive to your content.
(For more on this, check out my post, “The Best Times to Post on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.”)
3. Interacting with your audience is more important than ever.
Interacting with your followers is HUGE for your business’s success on Instagram for so many reasons — nurturing relationships, building trust, cultivating brand loyalty and delivering outstanding customer service, to name just a few.
But with this latest update, Instagram makes it clear that you have HUGE algorithmic incentives to do this, too!
For example:
➡️ When determining what posts show up in a user’s feed, one of the ranking “signals” is how many times a user has interacted with you in the past few weeks, and whether there’s any reciprocity, like commenting on each other’s posts. The more interaction that happens, the more likely your posts are to be prioritized in their feed!
➡️ The same goes for Stories: how often a user engages with your Stories determines where your future Stories will rank in the queue (i.e., at the front of the line or at the back).
For this reason, aim to post Stories that will start a conversation or get a reaction from your audience. You can do this by including engagement stickers for polls, questions or quizzes, or encourage your audience to DM you to take advantage of a specific offer.
(For more on creating effective Stories, check out my post, “Instagram Stories: Are You Making One of the Big 5 Mistakes?“)
4. Think beyond just getting “likes” on your posts.
Bar none, the most important ranking factor in whether your posts are going to be favoured by the algorithms is whether or not people are liking, commenting, sharing and saving them.
As Mosseri writes, “In Feed, the five interactions we look at most closely are how likely you are to spend a few seconds on a post, comment on it, like it, share it, and tap on the profile photo. The more likely you are to take an action, and the more heavily we weigh that action, the higher up in Feed you’ll see the post.”
Is this a groundbreaking insight? No.
But is it a good reminder? Absolutely.
When creating your content, it’s so important to think beyond just getting “likes” on your posts. Before you post, ask yourself, Is this something my audience will comment on? Send to a family member or friend? Or save for later?
Likes are great, but if you can get your audience to do more with your posts, the algorithms will take note and work in your favour.
5. “Shadowbanning” is real — but Instagram is taking steps to be more transparent.
Have you heard the term “shadowbanning” before?
It’s the idea that your content could be deliberately hidden from others on a social media platform without your knowledge or any method of recourse.
Signs of a “shadowban” could be a sudden drop in views, reach, likes or comments, or not having your content appear under certain hashtags or on the Explore page.
While Instagram doesn’t formally acknowledge that shadowbanning exists on its platform, it does admit that it indeed downgrades certain types of content that violate its standards or go against its Community Guidelines.
However, Mosseri states that an account’s advertising spend has nothing to do with how its organic posts fare with the algorithms:
“While we’ve heard some people believe you need to pay for ads to achieve better reach, we don’t suppress content to encourage people to buy ads. It’s a better business to make Instagram more engaging overall by growing reach for those who create the most engaging content, and sell ads to others.”
Worried that your account may have been shadowbanned? If you have a Creator or Business account, you can check your Account Status and find out for sure.
You can check your Account Status by tapping on Settings and privacy, then scrolling to the bottom and tapping Help, and then tapping Account Status.
From there, you’ll see several options to help you understand why your account’s content may not be eligible to be recommended, with options to delete any content affecting your account, and appeal the decision if you think Instagram has made an error.
A final note…
Was it nice to see an update from Instagram on how their algorithms work in 2023? Absolutely.
Did it answer our most pressing questions? Not even close.
That said, some insight is better than none at all so I hope you found these key takeaways helpful! You can check out Mosseri’s full video and blog post here.
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