74: Brand-New Instagram Changes for 2025: Why Your Posts Aren’t Getting Seen (and What to Do Now)

Episode Summary:
If your Instagram posts feel like they’re disappearing into the void lately—you’re not imagining it. In this episode, I’m breaking down the just-revealed 2025 changes to Instagram’s algorithm and content strategy, based on a brand-new interview with Instagram Head Adam Mosseri on the Build Your Tribe podcast with Brock Johnson.

From why hashtags aren’t helping anymore, to why Reels still matter (but only if you do this), to how Lives have lost their edge—this is your updated playbook. I’ll also share the one thing Mosseri didn’t say out loud, but every creative business owner needs to hear.

Interior designers, content creators, and creative entrepreneurs—this episode will shift how you show up on Instagram moving forward.

What You’ll Learn:

• The truth about hashtags in 2025 (spoiler: they’re not helping your reach)
• Why Lives aren’t being prioritized—and what to do instead
• The new “content ecosystem” approach to Reels, Stories, Posts & Carousels
• The strategy shift Instagram wants from you—and how to deliver it
• How to use “Trial Reels” to test what works and grow smarter
• The real reason your content isn’t getting seen—and the fix

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Build Your Tribe Interview with Adam Mosseri
• The McClain Method on Instagram: @themcclainmethod
• Free Download: Instagram Strategy 2025 Fast Action Checklist

👉 Follow me on Instagram: @themcclainmethod
👉 Subscribe to The McClain Method wherever you listen to podcasts

FREE DOWNLOAD: Instagram 2025 Strategies Checklist https://mcclainmethod.com/ig25

00:00 Introduction: The Truth About Instagram in 2025

00:21 Welcome to the McLean Method

01:16 Instagram's 2025 Strategy Unveiled

01:55 Reels: The Dominant Force on Instagram

02:35 The Decline of Instagram Lives

03:11 Hashtags: Reality Check

05:10 Optimizing Your Content Mix

07:06 The New Instagram Content Hierarchy

08:31 Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts

11:38 Actionable Steps for Your Instagram Strategy

14:04 Conclusion and Next Steps

Transcript

 The McClain Method Podcast Episode 74:  Brand-New Instagram Changes for 2025: Why Your Posts Aren’t Getting Seen (and What to Do Now) 

What if I told you that hashtags don't really help your reach anymore? Ah. And that Instagram lives, well, they're practically ignored now by the algorithm. Yep. Adam Oeri, the head of Instagram, just confirmed it, but the biggest secret, he didn't actually say out loud. And today I'm breaking down exactly what that means for your business in 2025.

  Welcome to the McClain Method, the podcast for interior designers who are ready to stop hiding and start shining. I'm your host, John McClain designer, business mentor, author, and your branding bestie. This is not about paint colors or pendant lighting. It's about building a business that's both visible and profitable.

Inside and out. From marketing and messaging to mindset systems and visibility, we cover the front stage and the backstage of your design business because your brilliance deserves the spotlight, and your business deserves to run like a dream behind the scenes. So if you're ready to be seen, get recognized, and get booked, it's time to let it shine.

Welcome to the McClain Method.

 Hey friends. Welcome back to the McClain Method.

I am John McClain, your guide to building a bold brand marketing smartly and thriving in both business and design. Today we're diving deep into Instagram's 2025 strategy. I.   📍 Recently, Adam Ri, who is the head of Instagram, sat down with Brock Johnson on the Build Your  📍 Tribe, YouTube channel. Really great channel, great information constantly.

And while that interview was packed,  and I mean packed with great information, I was literally hanging onto every word. There was one insight that RI didn't say directly, but I feel it is the most important takeaway. Of that entire conversation, and I'm going to share that with you at the end of my episode today.



But first, let's simplify and unpack what he did say and what it means for you as a business owner and creative entrepreneur. 

 📍 okay, so let's start with what's hot and what is not. Reels are still dominating. Moserri was crystal clear on this? Reels are still the best way to get discovered on Instagram. It's where the   📍 platform is investing its energy. And it's where creators are seeing the most growth reels should be. 

And if you don't know this, just a little refresher for you. They're vertical. They're nine by 16, between 15 to 90 seconds typically, and attention grabbing within the first three seconds on a reel is super important to get those people to continue to watch.

You pair it with music and captions or voiceover. Of course for extra engagement, they can take a lot of time, but honestly, the best ones these days are not taking a lot of time and they're not the most complicated ones. because ironically, the simplistic reels are taking over for  📍 engagement  what about lives? Do you do live? There was a time when Instagram was pushing lives very, very hard.   📍 The live interviews, the live, uh, connections with your followers.  Surprisingly, he shared that the lives are not a current priority for Instagram. Right. That's so surprising because for so long everyone had this interview channel that they were doing.

On their IG lives, but the platform just isn't pushing live video the way it used to. Now, that   📍 doesn't mean that you shouldn't go live and support your followers,  but don't expect it to drive new eyeballs or huge growth for your channel.   📍 Now, hashtag this is a hashtag reality check, to be honest with you, because I was a late adopter to this as well.

And I've always felt that hashtags were the way to go. I am actually a part of an Instagram hosted group where they ask us questions and get feedback from us as people who use Instagram as people with accounts.

And then they give us ideas and things about what's upcoming. so I was surprised to learn this and I had actually learned about it when I had a phone call with Instagram maybe a couple months ago.

But Moserri definitely drove that point home in this interview with Brock. So what did he say about hashtags? Moserri said hashtags do not significantly affect your reach. Let me say that again.  Hashtags are not the growth lever that most people think they are. 

according to  📍 Moserri, they're more about categorization than discovery at this point. So what does that mean for you? Use three to five irrelevant hashtags, not 30, which is what they used to tell us Between that 29 and 30 range for hashtags you use between three and five. Just to keep it relevant to what you're saying, think of them as keywords to help Instagram know what your post is about. Don't think about them as a magic trick to get more views. Think about them as Instagram. Crawling your post to find out what you are posting about.

That really is the purpose of a hashtag. Now they're not really to bring more people to your page. And the thing that he said the most was to prioritize clear visuals. Really engaging hooks that you have for your post and the watch time over obsessing about the perfect hashtag.

Mix.   📍 Hashtags are kinda like a seasoning ride. They're helpful, but they're not. The entire meal,  I think is the best way to think about them. So readjust your hashtag strategy. You do not have to add a million hashtags to your post. You don't have to add An immediate comment with the hashtags in it.

Choose three to five relevant ones. Put those in there, and when you do it, think about how Instagram is going to find your post, not about how other people are going to find your post, who are searching for your   📍 content.

 Okay. Now that the hashtag conversation is over, I kind of felt that one would be a, like a ton of bricks falling on you. I wanna move into the next thing that I heard, which was optimize your content mix. What does this mean? The future of Instagram is about simplifying how your content works across formats.

Mosa hinted that the platform is also working   📍 to blur the lines between stories, reels and feed post.  But for now, you need to treat each format with intention. I think that was the thing that I heard throughout the entire conversation was intention on everything that you do.

Don't just post to be posting. And here's how they kind of broke it down, a real equals reach. So think about that. Stories are about relationship building. Feed posts, which is the posts that are in your feed.

Those static posts are about building your brand. The things that people go back to, to review over and over again. The things that people see as they go to your Instagram page, and then the carousel is about authority. So think about this all as like a content ecosystem, if you will. You're not just posting just for the sake of posting, you are leading your audience through a journey through the various components that I just mentioned. So just to review that, again, real equals reach, story equals relationship. A post in your feed is brand building and then a carousel is authority.

Again, this is your content ecosystem. This is about leading your audience through the journey of your Instagram page. So if any of you have been lazy with your Instagram and just throwing things up randomly, now is the time to stop doing that because they are paying attention to what you are putting on your page and they want that content to come from you, from your soul, from your heart.

Not just posting to be posting. They are actually able to tell the difference. And I did hear him say that they are crawling every single thing that you post, they're crawling the video content, the words inside of that, the transcript, they're crawling, the words that you actually type into the post.

And of course, they're crawling any other hashtag that you put on there as well. So remember. all of this is about better content. 'cause Instagram wants better content. So here is your new rhythm. Use reels to attract, right? Use stories to nurture the people that you have already attracted, and then use your posts and your carousels that are inside of your static page.

There. To educate and convert. I think of, honestly, of your page of the actual post and the carousels as sort of like your website. If someone goes to your website and wants to look at your projects that you've done, that is how I feel that your post and your carousels are, everything else is there to support that.

So I hope that helps you to understand the hierarchy of importance when it comes to what you're posting on your page. okay, so just to recap those pitfalls that we want to avoid.

. Don't focus on live as your growth engine, right?

Don't waste time on 30 hashtags. Hoping to go viral, and don't create slow intros because Instagram's algorithm responds to retention, not warming up. So if you start with like, Hey, you guys hope you're doing well, everything's fine with me. No, you gotta hit them with a hook right away, or they are not going to stay with you. And Instagram is not going to pay attention because they're not being retained and they're not watching your video.

So remember, they're gonna move on on that reel if that is not interesting because they want to be hooked in right away, you must start with a hook. So start strong. Keep it moving throughout it and as I said before, say something valuable. Don't just say something to be saying something.

So what is that takeaway that Moserri didn't say, but I think that you need to hear? Here's what struck me the most, and it wasn't a direct quote, it was more about what his answers implied, if you will. I heard that Instagram is no longer just a social media platform. It is a content marketing channel, and if you wanna grow, you have to think like a content creator, not just a designer or a business owner.

That means creating content in series or in themes or aligning your post with sales cycles that you might be having within your business. and you should also be looking at your analytics.

Know what your watch time is, know how many people are saving your post or saving your reels or sharing those. I can guarantee you that a lot of you have probably not even opened up your analytics on your Instagram page, and that is a bad, bad thing. So please check out your analytics. It will give you insights, and that's actually what it's called, insights to what people are doing to participate with your page, your posts, your reels, your stories, all of that. lastly, I want you to treat your content like assets, not afterthoughts. Zeri hinted on this throughout his entire interview, especially when discussing the formats and the simplification and hashtags.

The platform of Instagram is rewarding creators who are clear, consistent, and strategic. So this is not so much anymore about chasing that algorithm. As a matter of fact, he was kind of poo-pooing the algorithm saying that it's not so much about the algorithm, It's about, quality content that you put out.

and it's also about understanding the direction that Instagram is headed and building a brand around that, that kind of rides with that wave. One thing that he said I felt was very interesting is that Instagram is also becoming a search engine platform in a way.

So when you go online and look for AI content and ask AI questions, Instagram wants to be a part of that. So Instagram is being crawled, if you will, from ai. And AI is pulling from Instagram. And I noticed this because I wanted a quick link to my Instagram page one day, and I just typed in my Instagram page, McClain method, and I found that it was popping up as a search engine result, not just a link to the Instagram page.

So that is why they are really pushing the content, they're really pushing the quality of the content and their less focus is on grabbing quick viewers or trying to beat the algorithm.

So remember that as you're posting, quality is important. The words that you put in there are important. Your post is important. Your posts should, of course, correlate to what you're showing in your video, but the content that you put out should come from you.

Do not rely, this is my opinion, do not rely on AI to give you all this content because AI is pulling it from the mass produced content that's already out there. I want you to drive content from right here, right?

What's between your ears, the intellectual property that you have. You can use AI for helping you to come up with things to talk about, but look at that and put your own spin on it or else you're going to sound like the same thing that everyone else is posting. And Instagram is going to glide right over you if what you're posting sounds exactly what your neighbor's posting or some other creative is posting.

just remember that your content is important and your content should come from you, not from ai.   📍 All right. I hope that simplified things a bit for you, and I want you to do this this week to sort of drive this message home. I wanna challenge you to do the following,    📍 post one reel that starts with a hook and teaches something your audience cares about.

Remember, hook, hook, hook. Grab them from the beginning, keep them  📍 watching.  Secondly, use three to five targeted hashtags, not random or trendy ones. Use targeted hashtags about what you are saying in that post or in that reel. Do not just put generic hashtags on there.

Be specific about what you are talking about and only use three to  📍 five. Repurpose that reel into a story preview and a carousel post. Follow up. He did talk a lot about sharing and when things are shared. With your friends and things are shared with other people. Those shares show Instagram that your content is important and that people are reacting to that.

So the more shares that people do with things that you post, the more Instagram is going to pay attention and the more they're going to bring new eyeballs to you. I also wanted to mention, now, he didn't mention this, but I wanted to mention this to  📍 you. The trial reels that I've discussed before, those trial reels are great.

If you have a piece of content that did go viral or if you had something that was really, getting a lot of views or a lot of likes or a lot of responses, a lot of shares and your insights and your, um, analytics were great. Use that again. So repost. That reel as a trial reel, right in the settings of your Instagram.

And if you wanna know how to do that specifically, I did post a more detailed explanation on my IG page for my business, which is the McClain Method on Instagram. And there's a post there that we'll talk about that. But the point is that trial reel will pull in people who are not following you right now.

And Instagram will use something that was popular before to bring in new people. But your existing people on your page, your existing followers don't get bombarded with the same material. It's kind of  📍 cool. 

and lastly, I want to remind you to track your watch time, not just your views. Look on your feed. And in the corner you're gonna see like a little eyeball situation happening there, and that is going to show you the watch time for all of the things that you've posted.

It's really intriguing to see that now, and it's super helpful at a glance without even having to go into your analytics to find out what's going on. 

 📍 And when you do all of that, go ahead and send me a DM at the McClain Method and let me know how that worked for you and what happened. I'd love to hear if it's working and how the response is for you. So DM me on my IG page at the McClain Method on Instagram.

All right. A big shout out again to Brock Johnson and the Build Your Tribe team for this fantastic interview with Adam Zeri. You can find the full video on YouTube. I will drop the link in my show notes as well. and if what I discussed today gave you clarity or strategy or even a fresh idea to try. 

Share it, save it, or send it to a fellow entrepreneur. Let's keep that momentum going. Tell everybody what you've learned and help other people out too. It only makes you a better person and a better business owner. 

  And if you want to make sure that you don't forget or overlook anything that I discussed today, I did create a download for you.

You can find that on my podcast in the show notes or on YouTube in the notes below. This is your 2025 Instagram checklist Fast Action Strategy. so download that now completely free.

You can also find it on my website@McClainmethod.com slash ig 25.

And wherever you're listening to this, whether on YouTube or on my podcast, please make sure that you are fully subscribed. Make sure that your downloads are happening automatically. That's important. so go to your podcast platform and hit that button that shows automatic downloads, and let this podcast download automatically, and you'll never miss an episode.

 

Same thing on YouTube. Hit that subscribe button and that notification bell to be alerted when I have new content, because I'm working on something that I think you're going to love. It's about have to turn one great feature on a project into a full scale. PR campaign, you're gonna love it. But until then, keep showing up, keep serving, and keep designing a business and a brand that gets seen.

I'll see you next time. 

 Thanks for tuning into this episode of the McClain Method Podcast. I'm so grateful you made it all the way to the end because that tells me that you're ready to do the work that truly transforms your brand, your business, and your life. If you want more tools, trainings, and behind the scenes looks at what I'm building next.

Head over to McClain method.com and don't forget to follow along on Instagram at the McClain Method for even more drops of brilliance. And remember, my friend, your brilliance is your brand. Don't dim it, design it. I'll see you next time.