These are the 6 Changes in Instagram Algorithm in 2019 that you should know

There’s no denying that if your business doesn’t have a social media presence on Instagram, you are missing on a lot of opportunities to market your brand to nearly a billion active Instagram accounts.

But, just like search engines, social networks such as Instagram also changes their algorithm from time to time. This algorithm affects your content visibility and engagement, which makes it crucial for you to keep yourself updated and modify your marketing strategies to get ahead of your competition.

6 Major Changes in Instagram Algorithm in 2019

Below are the 6 major changes in the Instagram algorithm for this year according to Later, an Instagram management tool. These are mostly based on their own research, experience and conversations with other experts in social media.

We’ve made sure to include our own professional opinions from our experience managing multiple brands on Instagram for clients.

Post Likability Prediction

Instagram’s algorithm can predict how much you care about a post or content. This prediction is based on your past activities. For example, if you’ve been liking a certain friend’s post for the past few months and continue to interact with their account, these actions are used by the algorithm to assume you want to see more of your friend’s post, which is why you also continue to see their latest posts in your feed.

Encouraging your followers to like and comment on your content can really help boost your visibility on their news feed. A simple CTA (call to action) on your post may also help with increasing your engagement, which boosts the chances of increasing your leads and conversions.

Followers Relationship

How much you engage with followers is also a factor that affects your post’s engagement and visibility. When your profile is tagged or if someone mentions you in their post, this is seen by the Instagram algorithm as a sign that you have a close relationship with that account.

Imagine if you exchange these kinds of interactions with the majority of your followers, it would surely help bring your content to the top of their newsfeed.

Posting Time

The time you post your content is also one of the factors that will affect its reach and visibility. This is why it’s important to observe the peak time for when most of your followers are online and schedule to publish your content by that time.

The more active followers you reach, the greater the chances are for your post to receive more likes and engagement. If you do this regularly and consistently, you will be able to successfully grow your brand on Instagram.

Usage Frequency

What your followers see in their newsfeed also depends on how often they use the Instagram app. Instagram displays posts according to a user’s usage of frequency, according to the team at Later.

“If you’re a frequent scroller, your feed will look more ‘chronological’ since Instagram tries to show you the best posts since your last visit. If you check the Instagram app less often, then your feed will be sorted more to what Instagram thinks you’ll like, instead of chronologically.”

From this, we can see how important it is to interact with your active followers who use Instagram frequently, especially if one of your main goals is to consistently increase your engagement and visibility.


Account’s following

The more accounts you’re following means the fewer chances are that you’ll see any posts from accounts you don’t engage. Apply this perspective to your brand, and you’ll understand that most of your followers are following a lot of accounts. How can you make sure your content will be visible to them?

You can do this by interacting with them as much as possible. Call their attention on your post, run a contest, create a reward system for loyal followers, or engage participation by using a poll on your post.  These are just a few ways to get them to interact more with your posts, and in return helps boost your content’s visibility in their news feed.

App Usage

The more you use Instagram, the more content you’ll see. Here’s what Later said about this part of the algorithm.

“If you spend a lot of time on Instagram, you’re going to see more posts as Instagram ‘digs deeper into its catalog.’ However, if you only spend a few minutes in the app each day, then you’re going to just get the day’s highlights from the algorithm.”

This means that if you are planning to pick social media influencers, make sure you get people who are heavy Instagram users. The more these accounts interact with your brand, the higher the likelihood of their followers seeing your content in their news feed.

Final Thoughts

To sum up all of these algorithm changes, they all boil down to a single fact, which is that the more you interact with content on Instagram, the better your chances of boosting your visibility.  Interaction with your social media community is crucial to creating engagement, and engagement is the key to boosting visibility.

Visibility is king with Instagram and other social media platforms, because the more people discover your brand, the higher the chances are that they’ll buy your product or subscribe to your service.

If you need help in growing your Instagram business profile organically, don’t hesitate to get our help. Call us at 972-437-894, or visit this page to learn more about our SEO service.