How to Make the Instagram Algorithm Work for Your Business

With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is one of the leading social media platforms that your business should be on. A common headache with Instagram is the algorithm. Whether it’s not showing your posts in the news feeds, your stories aren’t being seen, or you aren’t showing up in the explore pages of Instagram the algorithm is a tricky concept. That is until you’ve learned how to make it work in your favour.

Give more than you take on the platform.

Are you simply posting on Instagram or sharing yoursharing to your stories and clicking out of the app?

You get what you give on Instagram.

When is the last time you spent engaging on the platform? A few great ways to engage is to reply to all of the comments on your posts, reply to all DMs (check message requests for DMs from people who you don’t follow), engage through your news feed, and engage through hashtags.

When engaging, you want to leave meaningful comments on posts, reply to stories, send DMs, and follow accounts that are your target audience. To find them, search through niche hashtags and engage with “recent posts”.

Growth hack your post’s engagement through stories.

If your posts aren’t getting much reach, share them to your stories! Talk about what content you are sharing and WHY someone should click on your post. What are they going to get out of it? How can they benefit from reading it?

Start conversations in the DMs.

How many real conversations with people are you having on the platform?

We tend to think about the numbers on the platform, but we often forget that there are real people behind those numbers. Watch stories and reply to them to start a conversation! Connecting with real people will make all the difference in your Instagram success.

Check your insights.

If you feel that your Instagram growth is stagnant, it is time to check your insights. The insights directly on the Instagram app can be very insightful. You want to check insights beyond likes and comments. Likes and comments are great, but they aren’t going to turn your followers into paying customers. A few key metrics to track are profile visits, website views, reach, post saves, and DMs. Why each of these metrics is important:

• Profile Visits – This is how many people have taken the action of visiting your profile after seeing your post, story, or from when you engaged with them.
• Website Clicks –
• Reach – This is the number of times your content has been seen, and it is measured by unique accounts that see your content.
• Post Saves/Sends – This measures how many people saved your post to reference later, or if they shared it with another account or to their stories.
• DMs – How many DMs are you getting? As mentioned above, when you are having real conversations with accounts on Instagram you are building connections = sales.

Switch up your strategy.

Consistency is the key to social media. However many times you plan on posting to your feed and sharing to stories, you should stick to it and never go under that limit. Consistently showing up on your follower’s news feed will keep you at top of mind.

When you are feeling stuck on Instagram, breath, take a step back, and re-adjust your strategy.

Written by Jess from Social Savvy HQ

After years of working in corporate marketing, Jess left the comfort of her 9-5 job to pursue entrepreneurship full time. She now works with lifestyle brands and heart-centered entrepreneurs to grow their online presence through creative content and social media marketing campaigns.