Instagram is rolling out changes to improve the user experience, but these adjustments will also affect how you find and like content — and how others find and view your posts. In an ever-changing social media sphere where users are always at the whim of Insta’s latest algorithm changes, it can be difficult to continue growing your stats, such as engagement. But heavily-liked content will always be necessary
“As algorithms change, Insta’s focus will always be on accounts and posts with high audience engagement levels. We find that once a photo or video starts getting hearts, more people see it and are eager to show they like it. The first engagement is crucial to getting more eyes on your post, which is why it’s so helpful to invest in social media promotions just to get started, says Catherine R. Caswell, founder of SocialsGrow. “This will improve your reach and grow your audience.”
Social networks are a fantastic source of information as well as a way to learn about the world and meet interesting individuals. It would be preferable if you used these social networks wisely so that they did not become a vicious web for you. Of course, they will not replace offline human communication or reading physical books. However, the internet is a great place to learn and grow.
Here are some other things you need to be aware of to make the most of Instagram’s changes. With these tricks, your business will go up!
Home, Favorites, and Following Feed Views
Instagram will offer three options followers can choose from for viewing the content in their feed:
- The Home screen view is curated based on Instagram’s algorithms. It may be pictures of dogs, videos of your favorite pop star, or posts about your favorite sci-fi franchise. When you like posts, more will show up in your feed. IG suggests other content you might like based on your current feed, such as other sci-fi shows, artists similar to your favorite singer, or cat posts.
- The Favorites view is more narrowly curated, showing you only posts from Instagram accounts you’ve added to your favorites. It is great if you don’t want to miss any content from one or more bloggers and support their business with likes. There is no “suggested” content here, so the feed is more focused, and some users may find it cleaner and more streamlined.
- The Following view is suitable for people who want to see their content in chronological order. Basically, this feed shows posts from all the accounts you’re following in the order posted. Some people like this option a lot, but it is best for those who check in multiple times a day. If you only look at IG occasionally and follow more than a handful of accounts, it’s likely to be overwhelming, and you won’t be able to get through all the posts.
How Do I Use These New Feed Views to Promote My Account?
This new setup offers more options for self-promotion. It would help if you got consistent engagement on each new post. The most suitable variant to ensure you show up on the feed is to get a few likes at the start. There is a range of companies providing such services. Nevertheless, you have a lot of work after that. Here are some more ideas:
- You can set up your Favorites view with accounts you want to follow for business or creative reasons. Assume you own a local bakery. In that case, you could include other local food businesses you sometimes do cross-promotions with or tag in posts to get more likes and other kinds of follower engagement.
- You can also add profiles that inspire your creativity, like popular food accounts. Then if you can’t think of any ideas for new content, you can scroll through and seek out inspiration.
- If you have a business where you work with multiple other companies, you can make a Favorites list of these profiles to do a shout-out to a different business each day, or just be sure not to miss anything meaningful from them.
- Your Following list can include industry leaders or businesses you compete with, so you never miss staying up to date in your field. Do not forget to give these IG pages likes to see their posts more often.
But How Do I Get on Other Users’ Following or Favorites List?
This is the question on everyone’s mind. Instagram is a busy place, so you need to make your profile stand out from all the others. Here are some tips:
- First, you need to have content people want to see. If all you do is try to sell a product or service, people will scroll right by. No one wants to watch reel after reel of commercials. Remember the 80/20 rule — only 20 percent of your content should be promoting your brand or business. The remaining part should be entertaining or informative. Today, this ratio can vary depending on your target audience and other factors, but it’s essential to focus on creating useful content more than promotional content; it will bring you more Instagram likes from followers.
- Pull back the curtain and let your audience see what you do at work or on a typical day. It can be interesting for Instagram viewers.
- Doing an “Ask Me Anything” on a live IG video is another fun idea, especially if you can come up with an interesting way to introduce yourself. For example: “I spent a year traveling the country on horseback. Ask me anything!”
- The occasional musical or satirical video can also engage and keep people interested, giving you likes.
Video, Video, Video
You’ll notice in the last list that we focused a lot on Instagram videos. That’s because another change at Instagram is a shift toward centering the site on video more than still photography. Many users spend much time wondering whether they should do more Reels, IGTV, or feed videos, but now Instagram is planning to place all video content in the same place. But it will still be helpful to do a combination of different types of videos to reach more users and likes.
However, Instagram is also spending some serious coin on Reels to compete with TikTok, the current king of short-form video. Although it’s fine to continue making longer videos, it would be good to add at least a few short-form vids each week, and it will help maintain the level of engagement and take control of your likes.
In particular, Instagram is heavily promoting its Remix feature to go up against TikTok’s Duets. It is an in-app editing feature that allows you to add your own video to another user’s existing one. For example, if you’re trying to grow as an influencer, you can make a Remix of yourself trying a product next to the brand’s video showing the product for comparison. This offers excellent opportunities for comedy and gaining a new audience of people who liked the original video.
Final Thoughts
The above tips are great for drawing people into your content and gaining new stats for social media. There are many more ways to increase your or your business’ reach on Instagram than I have listed. However, implementing the provided hacks will definitely improve your stats and make your followers give you much more likes.
