In the constantly changing world of social media, one of the most frequent questions I receive is, ‘what’s new on Instagram in 2021?’
Regardless of which flashy filter has been recently released, you’ll always here me talking about algorithms.
“Social media algorithms are a way of sorting posts in a users’ feed based on relevancy instead of publish time. Social networks prioritize which content a user sees in their feed first by the likelihood that they’ll actually want to see it.” – Sprout Social
Social media companies don’t release any details around how to make the algorithm work to your best advantage. They are a closely guarded secret that, when discovered, let the user maximize their organic reach to their audience (read: allowing you to reach the most amount of people on the platform without paying for ads).
Oh, and the best practices around how to make algorithms work are always changing.
So, no matter what content you’re producing and posting for any social media platform, the algorithm of that specific channel should always be top of mind as it greatly affects how your content will perform.
Which brings me to what’s new on Instagram in 2021 – I focus once again on maximizing organic reach (read: unpaid posts) by utilizing Instagram’s algorithm.
So, let’s get to it.
This is what’s new on Instagram in 2021
The TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) tip with this blog post is: You must utilize ALL of the tools on the platform to make the algorithm work best. These are posts, Instagram Stories, Reels, Live, IGTV.
Why?
Well, think about it.
Instagram only exists by its users uploading content - that’s its entire purpose! When the platform was first launched, that content only came in the form of photos or short video clips (Think circa 2012 and being limited to only being able to post 15second clips! Outrageous, right?).
Fast forward to 2021 and the platform is more dynamic than ever before, with several options for showcasing your content, product and services to the world! Plus, the more ways you can do that, the more quality content exists on the platform, which in turn keeps its users and audiences engaged with the platform, bringing them back time and again, ultimately keeping Instagram in business.
Simple.
I’ll explain the difference between each of the tools and examples of the type of content that works best for each.
Instagram Posts
The bread and butter of Instagram. You can post a photo, video clip, or a series of photos called a carousel. Your posts live forever on your Instagram profile.
Instagram Stories
Disappear after 24hrs, viewable from the top of the feed page or your profile, you can tag other users to reshare and use a small amount of hashtags, but Instagram Stories can’t be found on the explore page and they are more focused on serving content to your existing audience.
Instagram Reels
Short 15sec clips that live on your feed forever, can be featured on Instagram’s hashtag page for a much longer time, are easy to reshare, and can be found on the Explore page
Instagram Live
Instagram Live allows you to live stream and broadcast to your followers. When ‘going live’ your account is displayed at the top of the feed, attracting the most user attention possible, you can save your Instagram Live video for future content and share it to your profile so it’s viewable for 24hrs
IGTV
This is the ‘YouTube’ of Instagram. You can post longform videos (up to 10mins), is accessible through Instagram or via a standalone app, content lives forever on a separate tab on your profile
This information of course only complements the existing rules that you must play by to capitalize on maximizing your reach on Instagram. The golden rules remain:
Be Social: Respond to comments, have meaningful conversations in return, don’t’ forget about your DM’s, leave conversation starters on other posts. It is social media after all.
Find Where Your Audience Lives: The importance of understanding what your niche is cannot be overstated. Once you have a clear picture of where your brand fits, you’ll know where to find your audience and customers. Then go there, talk with them, engage and lure them to follow your amazing content on your own channels.
Timing: Use the analytics feature on your Business Account to understand the best time of day and week to post content.
Frequency: Further to the point above, you also need to find the right frequency of posting that resonates with your audience. Too often, they’ll unfollow. Not enough, they’ll forget you exist.
Consistency: This always has been key. Be consistent with posting and quality of content, and the algorithm will reward you in return.
So there you have it.
Birdsong Marketing provides marketing services in Canberra, Australia and beyond.
From hyper-local clients to multi-million-dollar operations, Marketing Strategist & Founder, Alison Jones leads the creation of marketing strategies based on the goals and objectives of your business, as well as the facilitation of the tactical parts of putting your plans into action. Learn More >
For more FREE marketing tips, follow @birdsongmarketing on Instagram.
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