Instagram recently added a new algorithm that reorders images and videos appearing in a user’s feed based on their interests, as opposed to in chronological order. For the more than 400 million people using the site, it may be irksome, but for marketers, it’s creating quite a stir. For brands dependent on Instagram for a sizable portion of their business, this sudden change may seriously disrupt their marketing strategy. Here’s how it may affect yours.
Competition for Customers
Instagram is known for offering a wide range of content and competition between brands is fierce. The newest algorithm will favor those who have the resources to produce polished content with broad appeal. Smaller brands hoping to go up against the big guys and have their ads compete will have to work that much harder to remain relevant.
What do smaller brands need to do? Create high quality content customers will want to engage and interact with. Those that do will be rewarded by Instagram’s algorithm change and avoid having their ads get lost in the crowd. To compete with bigger competitors, celebrities, and more well-known social influencers, brands will need to think more strategically about the content they produce:
- Who is producing content that is racking up the most engagement?
- What content will best captivate customers?
- Where are consumers interacting with content outside of social?
- When are customers most likely to share and/or engage with content?
- Why are consumers choosing one brand over another or choosing influencers over brands?
- How can smaller brands create content that transforms quality images into effective sales tools?
Pay to Play
Just as marketers had to adjust to using sponsored posts on Facebook (Instagram’s parent), they’ll want to start preparing now for the possibility of having to pay for the reach they previously achieved for free. The best way to do this is by focusing on quality over quantity and by creating engaging and compelling content. The new filtration feature will now reward the posts that do so and get the greatest customer engagement.
Marketers have loved Instagram for quite a while, but the platform discovered the sheer volume of content being posted was having an adverse effect. When announcing the change, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom revealed "on average, people miss about 70% of their feeds." The good news here for marketers is while the new algorithm may change the current hierarchy, everyone will benefit if engagement figures rise.
Time Will Tell
Instagram hopes to further monetize from brands without alienating its audience. Instagram users expect a certain level of authenticity and if that is compromised, it may work against Instagram. Just remember algorithms are designed to eliminate clutter, so continue to create useful and engaging content that is truly useful and engaging to their fans, the new algorithm should not make a huge difference or have a detrimental effect.
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