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How to make your post appear on news feed instagram


9 Ways to Show Up in the Instagram Feed [New Info!]

If I could scroll on Instagram as a full-time job, I would. It’s so easy to find anything and everything that interests me all in one place. I’m betting your small business’s customers feel the same.

However, in order to capture those potential audience members, you have to first show up! But how do you show up on Instagram? How does the Instagram feed work?

Instagram itself recently lent a hand with this by releasing insights and tips on how your business page can show up on all corners of the app. We’ll cover everything you need to know, like:

  • What is the Instagram feed—and where can your business show up?
  • How does the Instagram feed work?
  • How to get your Instagram posts to the top of the feed (and anywhere else customers might find you).

Without further ado, let’s jump in!

Image source

 

What is the Instagram feed?

The Instagram feed is the app’s home base where users go to see content from pages they follow. People can continuously scroll to see content from their friends, family, and organizations. This is often a  business’s go-to spot for starting fostering a social media presence.

How does the Instagram feed work?

Instagram recently released more information on how their feed works. Contrary to popular belief, there is no one-size-fits all algorithm that determines how posts are served to users. In fact, Instagram quotes in this recent release that it’s quite the opposite:

“We use a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose. We want to make the most of your time, and we believe that using technology to personalize your experience is the best way to do that.”

What this means is that each user’s feed ranks items differently depending on that person’s interactions, activity, and interests with the pages they follow. This varies by each section of the app as well, since Instagram goes on to say:

“Each part of the app–Feed, Explore, Reels–uses its own algorithm tailored to how people use it. People tend to look for their closest friends in Stories, but they want to discover something entirely new in Explore. We rank things differently in different parts of the app, based on how people use them.”

An example of the Instagram feed.

 

How Instagram ranks posts and pages across the app

Based on Instagram’s explanation, we found there are essentially four factors that carry different weights depending on which section of the app you’re in. Here’s a breakdown:

Instagram feed and story ranking factors (in order)

Surprisingly, your customers’ previous activity with you doesn’t matter as much as your own content does when it comes to showing up in the Instagram feed. See below:

1. Information about the post: This includes signals like your post’s number of likes, the post date, what locations (if any) are tagged, and any other basic information.

Related: Learn how to add a location on Instagram.

2. Information about the person who posted: This is Instagram’s determination of your page’s overall credibility. The platform is evaluating how likely your audience members will find your post to be interesting. It gauges this by looking at how often people interacted with you recently.

3. Viewer’s activity: Thirdly, Instagram looks at what your viewer might be interested in based on the types of posts they’ve liked in the past.

4. Viewer’s history of interacting with someone: Finally, Instagram determines how interested your viewer might be in seeing your post based on their previous activity with you. This means it will be harder for you to show up in followers’ feeds if they have never liked, commented, or otherwise engaged with your past Instagram content.

Instagram explore page ranking factors (in order)

When it comes time to show to a wider audience, the explore page is where you’ll want to appear. This is where people go to find new content from those they don’t necessarily already follow.

You’ll find that your page’s past history isn’t quite as important. Meanwhile, your post’s basic information still reigns supreme. You’ll also notice the signal definitions are slightly different here:

1. Information about the post: Instagram points out in their recent article that popularity matters much more in explore than on the regular feed. If people are generally liking, commenting, sharing, or saving your posts, you’ll be more likely to show up there. This matters regardless of who’s following who, or the post’s date.

2. Viewer’s history of interacting with the person who posted: Instagram acknowledges that the point of the explore page is to show to folks who most likely never heard of you. However, if they have, in fact, visited your page or liked a post of yours in the past, you’ll still be more likely to show up to them in explore.

3. Viewer’s activity: Not only does this look at your viewer’s past activity, but also how they’ve interacted on the explore page in the past.

4. Information about the person who posted: In this case, Instagram is looking to provide explore content from a wide variety of relevant accounts. While it’s looking at page account information, it’s also looking to see how many people have been interacting with your page historically.

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Instagram reels ranking factors (in order)

You’ll see below that “information about the person who posted” is not factored in here, but the quality of your Instagram reel matters a bit more. Let’s take a deeper dive:

1. Viewer’s activity: Similar to the definitions above, this looks at your audience’s comments, likes, and engagements.

2. Viewer’s history of interacting with the person who posted. Like in explore, it’s likely the video is showing to someone who may not know about your business, but if they have interacted with you in the past, that helps you show up for them again.

3. Information about the reel: These are signals about the content within your video such as audio, technical specs like pixels and whole frames, as well as popularity.

4. Information about the person who posted: Again, Instagram does take popularity of the overall account into consideration here.

 

Tips to get your business to the top of the Instagram feed

Let’s put those signals into practice and see how you can apply these new Instagram ranking insights to your business’s social media marketing strategy.

Be consistent in your activity

As we can see from above, both your page’s activity and your viewer’s activity matters in some capacity across Instagram. When you post regularly, you heighten your chances of showing up on Instagram from driving more engagement. Additionally, you also become more credible by having recent, consistent activity.

Your best bet is to create a social media schedule and stick to it. Try carving out specific times to post. If this seems too time-consuming on top of running a business, use an online social media tool like Sendible or Hootsuite to “set and forget” your posts.

Interact with your followers

You’ll also want to set times to like, comment, and interact with your followers. Follow them back and engage with what they post. And remember to always respond to their comments on your posts. You can also tag customers in posts, captions, or comments. The more recent, historical interactions people have with you, the better!

Connect with people through “close friends”

If you want to take your connection with your audience a step further, “close friends” is a great option. Close friends lists are lists any Instagram user can create to only share stories to those people. In Instagram’s article, they mention this as an option to help users focus in on what they want to see.

If you incorporate “close friends” into your Instagram stories strategy, you’ll give your audience a sense of “exclusivity. ” It has even been found that social accounts, Instagram included, can see up to a  10% growth rate once they go for private or exclusive strategies like “close friends.”

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Be sure each post provides value

Instagram is still going to look at the quality of your individual posts. Be sure there’s accurate, appropriate, and relevant information within each of your posts.

If you feel like this is a struggle, think of it as you would with general marketing goals. Try assigning a “goal” or “point” behind each post. Think about what your audience might want to learn more about. Sidenote: it also never hurts to give your post an extra proof-read for copy accuracy and adequacy.

 

Tips to show on the Instagram explore page

Stories and posts are ranked in a similar fashion since they both are part of the main feed. However, the explore page is a whole other section of the app that can be just as rewarding for your business. Here are few more tips on how to show up there, too:

Follow social trends

Instagram looks at the quality of your posts, videos, or reels when judging their eligibility for the explore page. One tactic to be a top pick is to follow trends. Recycle popular audio clips, run contests, or post on hot industry topics that will help boost engagement and attract new viewers.

Remember, you want to use your presence on the explore page to build up new audiences. Since they’re not familiar with you (yet), use post content that they already know and will take to.

Post engaging, media-rich content

It’s no secret that Instagram has expanded its capabilities well beyond standard photo posts at this point. To keep up with that trend, try incorporating videos or reels into your Instagram strategy on top of your set photo posts.

50% of consumers prefer videos to go along with content they engage with. After all, a high engagement rate makes all the difference when it comes to ranking on the explore page! To assist in video creation, you can go the free route simply by using your phone. Or, try an online tool, like Wochit.

 

Tips to show up in Instagram search results

In addition to their release of ranking factors, Instagram added another article to their behind-the-scenes series to provide more clarification on showing up in the search portion of the app.

Showing up on Instagram search is mostly dependent on the searcher’s activity and query, but here are a few things you can do to help your business pop up:

Use keywords on your profile

Since Instagram bases search results off of what the user is looking for, you can treat Instagram search similar to SEO.

You’ll want to include keywords in your bio, hashtags, and post captions so that Instagram has all the information it needs to know you’re a match to your ideal searcher.

Include hashtags in your posts

Speaking of hashtags, they’re are the best way to capture more views on Instagram search because there’s a whole separate “search by hashtag” section! This is key to finding new followers and audience members because people search for hashtags when they want to see fresh content or are unsure which type of account to look for.

Increase your chances of showing up in the hashtag portion of search but using popular hashtags and keeping your use of them consistent. Plus, people can even follow their hashtag searches to see more of your content.

Evaluate your profile information

Another way to make your profile quick to find on search is make sure your handle is something that will easily grab searches. If you use an obscure name, people won’t know how to look you up. You’ll also want to make sure your bio is clear in what your business is about, so that Instagram’s algorithm can further understand how you’re the right fit for the search.

 

How showing up on the Instagram feed can help your business

Understanding how the Instagram feed works is the first step towards turning the platform into a social media win for your business.

When you appear in the Instagram feed, explore page, or search results, you’re reaching your followers and your potential followers—all for free! This allows you to cast a huge net and broaden your audience at no cost. With about 1 billion active users on Instagram today, there’s tons of Instagram growth potential you can tap into once your business starts showing up more!

How to Get Your Posts at the Top of Instagram's Feed

You post and post on Instagram, hoping that the frequency of your posts will increase the chances of your content appearing in your followers’ feeds. You schedule posts to publish often, and you’re feeling on top of your game.

I have some sad news for you: you can post as often as you like and still not appear in your followers’ feeds if you’re not posting the right type of content. Why? Because Instagram’s new algorithm no longer works chronologically. Relevance is the new driving factor.

How Does Instagram’s Algorithm Work?

Instagram’s new algorithm displays content in feeds that is relevant and meaningful to the individual user. This wasn’t always the case, however. Previously, before 2016, Instagram’s algorithm ordered posts chronologically in feeds; it did not prioritize content based on relevance. With the old algorithm, the frequency of your posts did matter because the algorithm functioned as a first come, first served system.

Instagram found a flaw in this chronological system, however: users were missing the posts that they cared about because incoming, chronological posts were pushing them lower and lower in feeds. To solve this issue, Instagram altered its algorithm to prioritize posts that are considered more relevant and meaningful to each individual user based on previous activity and engagement with certain types of content. For example, if you have a history of liking posts by your mom, Instagram will show content published by your mom in your feed over posts by a distant friend with whom you rarely interact, even if that distant friend published a post prior to the time your mom published hers.

But what specific information does Instagram’s new algorithm consider when prioritizing content in users’ feeds? It all comes down to these four factors:

  1. Number of Engagement on Posts (likes, shares, and comments)
  2. Relationship with the Instagram User
  3. Time of Post
  4. Profile Searches

By understanding these four factors, you are well on your way to moving up on Instagram’s feed.

Number of Engagement on Posts (Likes, Shares, and Comments)

If quality pushes your content up in feeds, you may think that you simply need to polish your content. Well, it’s a little more complex than that. Engagement plays a big role in what Instagram’s algorithm considers relevant for users.

Say you post a photo. Instagram will first show it to a small percentage of your followers. Then Instagram looks at specific engagement activity, such as likes, shares, and comments, that your photo receives, as well as how quickly people engaged with it. Next, Instagram compares your photo’s engagement performance with that of posts you published previously at similar days and times. For example, it will look at a photo you shared at 5 p.m. on Saturday and compare its engagement performance with a previous photo you also shared at 5 p.m. on a Saturday.

The more engagement your photo has, the higher it will appear in the feeds, the more exposure it gets, and the longer it will stay on the top of users’ feeds. In contrast, if your photo receives little to no engagement, it will drop to the bottom of feeds, if it’s even shown at all.

Posts with high engagement appear higher in feeds.

Relationship with the Instagram User

Instagram places such importance on engagement, including shares, because it strongly indicates the relationship between you and your followers. Instagram’s new algorithm shows users posts by those they care about, those with whom they often interact with. The more a follower engages with your content, the stronger Instagram perceives the relationship between the two of you. If you want to appear higher in users’ feeds, you want to focus on establishing relationships with your followers.

Time of Post

Yes, the new algorithm is no longer chronological, but that’s not to say it’s going to display weeks-old posts at the top of feeds simply because it identifies a strong relationship between you and a follower. The new algorithm still considers the time the content was posted, but it only does so for users with strong relationships and high engagement.

Once a relationship is established, you want to focus on when you post, concentrating on times when your followers are online. Just as you would in any interpersonal relationship, you want to give users the time of day needed to foster the relationship.

Profile Searches

When a follower searches for your profile, Instagram sees that action as an interest in your account because the follower is intentionally seeking posts from you. Instagram then concludes that your content is relevant to that follower and will consider displaying your posts higher up in that follower’s feed.

Users can search for profiles using Instagram’s search engine

How to Get Your Posts at the Top of Instagram’s Feed

Now that you know how Instagram’s algorithm works, it’s time to use the information to push your posts higher in your followers’ feed. Here’s a breakdown of how to do that.

Gain more engagement: Post photos relevant to your followers and photos that are visually appealing. You want your photos to catch followers’ attention and cause them to pause mid scroll. To do this, you want an image that looks great and bears some meaning to your followers. For example, if your account is dedicated to cats, you may want to post photos and videos of cats.

Instagrammers should post content relevant to their accounts. Cats of Instagram does this well.

Learn from the best: If you are struggling to create new posts that generate high engagement, look back at previous posts that performed well. Replicate the most popular posts, using Instagram Insights to identify them.

Post when your followers are online: Post at times when the majority of your most engaging followers are online. If you do not know when that is, try Squarelovin, which can help identify peak times of your followers’ activity.

Post on Instagram Stories: Users enjoy viewing spontaneous and personable Stories, and Instagram takes engagement on Stories into consideration when determining relevant relationships.

Humanize your brand: Post content that feels less like an advertisement and more like an opportunity to socialize and connect. Using the cat account example again, instead of creating a post that says “Buy new cat toys today,” you would likely get a better response saying “Nala is enjoying her cat toy,” with a photo of a gray tabby cat playing with her toy.

With all this in mind, maybe now posting Instagram content for your business or brand will feel less like you’re fighting a losing battle. Maybe now you will coast along with high engagement, stronger relationships, and an overall meaningful connection with your audience.

Written by Anna Hubbel, staff writer at AdvertiseMint, company for Facebook ads

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Setting up the Instagram Feed application | Help Center

You can set up the Instagram Feed app after you connect it to your Instagram business account or personal Instagram account. Choose the language of the app, change the design and layout, customize the button text, and add links to your posts.

Contents:

  • Changing the application display
  • Configuring application settings
  • Editing application text and links
  • Change app layout
  • Customize app design

Change app display

On the Show tab in the Instagram Feed settings panel, select the information from your Instagram account that you want to show, whether you want to show or hide your posts and hashtags.

To change the display of the Instagram Feed:

  1. Select the Instagram Feed application in the editor. nine0010
  2. Press Set .
  3. Go to tab Show .
  4. Activate the Your Profile toggle to select the account information you want to display in the Instagram Feed.
  1. Activate the Your posts toggle to display posts in the Instagram Feed.
  2. Turn on the Feed hashtags toggle to display hashtags in the Instagram Feed.
    Note: Hashtags that have not been used in the last 30 days will not be displayed. This is a Facebook limitation. nine0010
  3. Find the hashtags to display in feed hashtags under Hashtags to display .
    Note: You can search 30 hashtags in 7 days. This is a Facebook limitation.

Customize app settings

You can customize the behavior of the Instagram Feed when visitors interact with it in the Settings tab in the app settings panel.

Select the application language, click and hover behavior of posts, and the direction in which profile information and posts are displayed. nine0003

To adjust these settings:

  1. Click on the Instagram Feed app in the editor.
  2. Press Set .
  3. Go to tab Settings .
  4. Select the language you want to use in the application under Application language .
  1. Select what happens when a visitor clicks on a post in section On clicking on post .
    • Expand to full screen: when you click on a post, it opens in full screen.
    • Open on Instagram: when you click on a post, it opens on Instagram in a new tab.
    • Nothing: clicking on a post does nothing.
  2. Click the Post hover action radio button to choose whether to display captions, comments, and likes when a visitor hovers over a post. nine0010
  3. Select the direction in which your posts will appear to visitors in section Application direction .

Edit text and app links

You can choose the text that will be displayed in the app and add links to your Instagram posts in the Text tab in the app settings panel.

To edit text and links:

  1. Click on the Instagram Feed app in the editor. nine0010
  2. Press Set .
  3. Go to tab Text .
  4. Choose whether to show hashtags, a custom title, or no title in section Gallery title .
    Note: This option is only available if you have connected an Instagram business account.
  5. Edit the button text that allows visitors to follow your account.
    Note: This option is only available if you have connected an Instagram business account. nine0010
  1. Edit the button text that allows visitors to download more posts in section Show More button text .
  2. Go to tab Links .
  3. Click Add Links to add links to Instagram posts. You can add links to pages on your site, Wix Stores products, or other sites. Learn more

Change app layout

Customize your Instagram Feed layout in tab Layout in the application settings panel. You can choose different settings for profile information, posts, and feed hashtags.

To change the layout:

  1. Click on the Instagram Feed app in the editor.
  2. Press Set .
  3. Go to tab Layout .
  4. Click Your profile .
  5. Customize the layout, shape, and size of your profile picture.
  6. Press Back .
  7. Click Your posts .
  8. Select the layout, size, spacing, and padding of posts.
  9. Choose whether to allow visitors to see older posts by enabling the Show More button .
  10. Press Back .
  11. Click Tape hashtags .
  12. Select the layout, size, spacing, and padding of the hashtag.

App design customization

You can customize the design of the Instagram Feed app in tab Design in the application settings panel. Choose different settings for your posts, text, buttons, app background, and expanded versions of individual posts.

To customize the app design:

  1. Click on the Instagram Feed app in the editor.
  2. Press Set .
  3. Go to tab Design .
  4. Click Posts .
  5. Adjust the transparency and color for the layer effect and text, select the information you want to display and additional layer effects for your posts. nine0010
  6. Press Back .
  7. Press Text . Note: This option is only available when connected to an Instagram business account.
  8. Customize text fonts and colors for your profile information and feed hashtags.
  1. Press Back .
  2. Press Buttons .
  3. Customize the font, color and button design.
  4. Press Back .
  5. Press Background . nine0010
  6. Adjust the transparency and background color for the Instagram Feed app, as well as your profile, posts, and hashtags.
  7. Press Back .
  8. Press button Set expansion .
  9. Set the display of posts in the Instagram Feed in expanded mode.
  10. Press Save .
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rules of survival - Dark site of marketing

You must have heard the scary story that Instagram will never be the same again? Everything flows, everything changes, and the Instagram feed changes along with all this. Soon posts will be displayed not according to the principle of “novelty”, but according to the principle of “interesting” for the user. What does this mean and how to live with it - let's try to figure it out. nine0003

Instagram feed changes

Initially, the news feed on Instagram was formed on a temporary basis. That is, the posts of friends in your feed were displayed in order: someone just posted - this photo appears in the feed first, who posted 10 hours ago - this photo is lower in the feed, you have to scroll to it.

At the beginning of March, Instagram announced on its blog that it turns out that we are skipping about 70% of the posts in our feeds. And we need to do something about it. As a result, it was decided to make the Instagram feed look like a Facebook feed. In the Facebook feed, posts are displayed according to the principle of "interest" for the user. Those posts that the user is most likely to be interested in facebook raises higher in the feed. Those posts that are probably of less interest to the user are lowered (in fairness it should be noted that in the facebook settings you can choose the type of feed: popular news or the latest). nine0003

How to determine which post is interesting and which is not? Instagram itself says that this will be determined by user behavior. Account posts that the user likes and comments on will appear in his feed above others.

What does this mean? This means that even if you have 100,500 followers, but they don't like or comment on your posts, soon they won't see your photos in their feeds at all. No, at first all posts will remain in the feeds, only their order will change. But whether they get through to your publication is a question. nine0003

No panic

With the release of the announcement of a new feed on the Instagram blog, life was divided into “before” and “after”. People created a petition asking them to cancel the innovations, and perhaps they didn’t go to rallies. Then a new wave of panic came and everyone posted pictures asking them to turn on notifications for new posts. With each new such post, the versions changed: if in the morning they were asked to turn on notifications so as not to simply miss posts, then in the evening they began to ask to turn on notifications so that posts would appear in the feed at all. nine0003

As a result, instead of subscribing, users began unsubscribing from those who posted such calls to “keep up”. So survival #1: Don't panic.

Post interesting content

Now officially on Instagram, texts have become as important as beautiful photos. If up to this point you have sinned by publishing photos without captions or with only tags, then don’t do it again. Start adding descriptions to your posts, and it is desirable that it be informative and interesting. Even better, if your posts evoke emotions: laughter, anger, the desire to argue and prove - this is good, because these are comments and holivar. And if you are commented on, then you are interested - here, please, put your post above the rest. nine0003

Funny and useful content will also work well, because they are willingly shared with friends by tagging them in the comments.

Tag other people

If you publish a post, talk about someone, or publish a text inspired by another blogger, tag it in your post. He will receive a notification that he was marked, he will go to your account, read, maybe even like and comment. All this is interaction with your account, which, in theory, should be counted as interest. nine0003

Chat with followers

If people write comments to you and you ignore them, soon people will get tired of writing to you. No one is interested in a one-way conversation. Unless you are Ksyusha Borodina, then ok, no one is waiting for an answer from you.

Moreover, a comment can be turned into a dialogue, and the user will come back to answer you, and again, and again, and again ...

Use a call to action

If you sincerely think that you post interesting content, you are sure that you have live subscribers, but they still do not like or comment on your publications, ask them what is wrong. Ask for help, let the readers themselves tell you what they don't like. Maybe you make good posts, but not about that? nine0003

Vkontaktovsky option “Do you like it? Like it!" can also be used. Moreover, the call options may be different:

● Would you like more articles on this topic? Like!

● If the post gets 1000 likes, I'll tell you how...

● Would you like a discount? Like.

● If the post gets 1000 likes, there will be a sale tomorrow.

Collaboration with bloggers with an active audience

Not everyone loves and is used to leaving comments and likes on the posts of strangers and shops. Many people just read silently. But there are a number of people who come to Instagram to communicate. If you have found a blogger with an active audience, then this audience is already ready to communicate. She will not need to be "rocked", she only needs to be given a new platform for comments - your account. nine0003

Therefore, negotiate joint promotions, marathons, advertising and other forms of cooperation with such bloggers. However, please note that your account must be conducive to communication. If you publish photos taken in the dark with a flash, and even without a signature, no matter how the blogger promotes you, this will not give an effect.

Official Targeted Instagram Ads

You can advertise single posts on facebooke. It is likely that such a function will appear in Instagram (yet it is not). But targeted advertising is already there. nine0003

If you sell through Instagram, then such advertising allows you to transfer the target audience directly to the sales page (website or landing page). The main thing is to correctly set up advertising on Instagram and that the receiving page is adapted for mobile devices.

BONUS!

We analyzed all the Instagram posting solutions available today and chose OnlyPult as the best tool for Instagram marketing automation:

  • Scheduling and auto-posting to Instagram (scheduled posting)

  • Unlimited photo and video upload to Instagram from computer

  • Multi-accounting (maintaining multiple accounts at the same time)

  • Analytics

  • Can be tested for a week for free

Finally

Well, I hope your eyes don’t start to twitch nervously from the phrase “new rules on Instagram” anymore? Don't worry, we'll learn to live with it too.

Learn more