Making Sense of the Instagram Algorithm

Let’s talk about the Instagram algorithm, it’s not that scary, I promise! The overall goal is simple: keep users on the app. Remember, the algorithm rewards good content! I’m going to walk you through the differences between connected and unconnected reach, along with key factors like watch time, likes, and shares. We’ll also look at a few viral reels right now and I’m sharing some easy ideas you can run with!

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• Understanding the goal of the Instagram algorithm and how to make it work for you.
• Do some types of engagement matter more than others? We’ll talk through the different types of engagement, like shares, likes and saves.
• Two types of content reach: connected vs. unconnected.
• Content engagement metrics and key indicators that can affect your content ranking.

Links to reels in this episode:

• Reel #1: Birthday Traditions
• Reel #2: Never forget the paint color
• Reel #3: Costco Hacks

Other episodes you might have missed:

• Episode 005: Create Shareable Content to Increase Your Reach with the 3 S’s
• Episode 029: Tailoring Successful Reel Techniques to Your Niche
• Episode 030: Attract New Followers with Talk to Camera Reels
• Episode 034: Is Engagement the Most Important Metric on Instagram?

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Transcript

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:00]:
I am your host, Shannon McKinstrie. Welcome to Good Content, the podcast where I remove the never ending content creation, guesswork and overwhelm so that you can actually enjoy being on social media again and growing your business with what has always worked. Good Content. Let's make sense of the algorithm today because honestly, it's not that complicated and it doesn't change as much as you think it does. Now, are there gonna be tweaks here and there? They're little. Yes. But overall, the algorithm on not just Instagram, we're talking every social media platform out there, right? It's goal is to keep you on the app.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:40]:
So that is why social platforms reward good content. That's why you're here. Cause we wanna create good content so that the algorithm rewards us and shows it to our people so that we can help more people grow our businesses, et cetera. So when it comes to that algorithm, I don't want you to think of it as this big crazy, scary thing because again, it's actually trying to help you. And I know people hate to hear that. And trust me, I get mad at the algorithm sometimes too. But I have no one to blame at myself if my content doesn't do well, I'm like, well, what I miss? What did I do wrong? Time to go back to the drawing board, right? But I want to stress this, right? If your goal right now is to get in front of new people, meaning you are trying to get new followers, new people to convert, you got to remember that means the content you're putting out needs to attract people who have literally never seen you and don't know you at all. And that's tricky, right? How do you get someone, okay, let's say you walk through a bookstore.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:28]:
How are you gonna get someone to pick up a book, right? It's gotta have something like a really good title or something that grabs you to make you wanna pick up that book. Same as a restaurant. I always say, like you're walking down the street, you're gonna typically go to the restaurant with a line or you're gonna be interested in that restaurant cause you're like, what's, what's so great in here, right? So content getting engagement, there's a reason for it. The algorithm will push it out to more people because it's keeping people on the app. Now Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, recently came out and just broke it down in the most simplistic way, which I appreciate. But again, he didn't say anything really new that we didn't already know. But he did give us a little more intel into the ranking system. Now, I'm going to tell you a few things I found interesting, but at the end of the day, nothing has changed in the however many years it's been since they went from chronological feed to interest centric, et cetera.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:18]:
So again, when you open Instagram, you open TikTok, you open LinkedIn, whatever, they're all going to have different algorithms. But at the end of the day, the algorithm's job is to show you content you're interested in, right? So that you stay on the app and you don't leave. It's like a store, you know, they don't. They're like, no, stay in, stay in, keep buying, keep buying. So it's almost like I actually saw someone. It was on a new show. I want to say it was CBS Sunday Morning. And they said it in such a cool way, basically saying, like, imagine walking into a grocery store where all your favorite products that you want are, like, at the end of each shelf.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:46]:
You just go through and boo, boo, boo, boo, boo. Right? That's essentially what the algorithm is doing, is trying to feed you content that you want to see. So let me note a few things. What Adam and Series said, which I thought was very cool. What he said was, which I never heard it this way, is he said, you know, obviously, we know that there's two types of content. We see content from people we know that we're following, and then content from people we do not know. They're either recommendations or it's just like the Reels tab, where it's a free for all, typically. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:13]:
And in a second, I'm going to talk about content that's going to get people who don't know you from Adam to follow you. But first, let's talk about the algorithm real quick. Okay. It comes down to two categories. The content you see from people that you're already following, they call that connected reach. So if you are following me, you see my content, that reach of you engaging with it, it shows as connected reach. You're following me. And you liked my content.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:33]:
You did whatever you did, you saved it, you shared it, you commented, whatever. The second is unconnected reach. And that is when you engage with content you have not seen before or people you are not following. Okay, so those are the two categories. Connected reach, unconnected reach. So what's interesting, Remember, we all were like, likes don't matter. Well, we all know likes matter, saves matter, share. They all are data points for Instagram to understand if this Content is interesting to people.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:00]:
Now, what they're watching for, for both categories, what is most important, which we already knew for reels and carousels too, watch time, how much time you're spending on the content. So again, carousels, if you're swiping through to the end, that counts as watch time, right? They're. They're seeing that you're sticking around for a real. If you watch to the end, right? So you can look at all these metrics. If you have a business account, you can see it all. How long people are sticking on your reel, et cetera. That's what they're looking at majorly. But the other indicators that they look at to rank your content higher, one, likes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:33]:
And likes are more important indicator for them. For connected reach. Okay, that part was really interesting to me. Second, for non followers, right? Sends per reach. So meaning how many people it reached versus how many sends it got. So it's interesting, right? Shares matter a little bit more. They really look at that to decide if they're gonna push it out to more and more people who don't already follow you. Cause shares tell them, wow, this person's not even following that person and they're sharing their content.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:02]:
Must be good, right? So what does that tell us? We gotta create more shareable content. They've been telling us this for years. I've been saying this for years. This is nothing new. It's just cool to hear it from the head of Instagram himself. Those are the two indicators. But does that mean saves don't matter? No, he already clarified that saves are still very valuable. Comments are valuable.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:19]:
It's just kind of like the key. Indic later, if you will. But again, if people are watching your video all the way through, it's going to get pushed out, period. Instagram is going to assume that content is fire. It's going to keep pushing it out. If people are watching it, they're engaging with it, et cetera. But it is interesting to hear that likes shares likes for your follower, because if you think about it, we're already following you. We're typically going to like your content whether we even read it or not.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:39]:
We're just like, I do it when I'm in a hurry. I'm just like out of stoplight, like tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Guilty. And then if it's someone I've never seen before and I see their content, I share it with someone. That's a big deal. That again, huge indicator, Instagram, that that content is fire or you're making fun of them, we don't know. They don't care. They see it as a share.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:57]:
Okay, so again, top metric likes are so important. Just know that. And the reason he specified this, it's not that likes are, are, are necessarily the most important. No, he just said they may have the most data because every piece of content, no matter what, it's gonna have more likes than most other things. It might have more comments, but likes are what they say they really look at most. So interesting to know. Again, saves valuable. But they say shares are really the key indicator when it comes to getting in front of new people.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:23]:
And we know that. All right, so again, nothing new there, but just interesting. When you think about the algorithms, what does this mean for you? What does all this information mean for you? Create reels that people watch again and again or all the way through, or at least more than the first three seconds, if it's longer than three seconds. And create content that even people who don't know you are going to want to share. Boom, boom. That's your goal. The longer they stay on your content, the more the reach, the more followers, the more engagement, the more everything. With that said, let's go to some reels that are going viral right now so I can tell you exactly.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:50]:
I can tell the shares. We can see shares. So let's look at one that got a lot of shares. This one got 20,000 shares. He's talking to the camera and he says, you parents who want to be a little bit more intentional with birthday celebrations, I've got a birthday tradition idea for you. How many times on this podcast have I told you to talk ideas? Give people an idea meaning. Oh, with Galentine's day is coming up, you should go to this place for brunch. Cool idea.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:13]:
What do we do? We share it. We share ideas. Oh, my gosh. I sent it to my husband. I was like, oh, my gosh, Ryan, we should check this out. Or Ryan, we should do this with the kids. Or hey, we should go here. We love to share ideas and it doesn't have to be anything deep.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:25]:
You know, it's great. He didn't even use like an on screen hook. He just talked to the camera straight up. I keep telling you, biggest takeaway from this podcast episode, besides the algorithm stuff is just, you don't need fancy edits. You don't need anything fancy. While I love doing fancy edits, and yes, they can help, the slow zooms can help the fun little things I shared on a couple podcasts ago about Inshot, those things could definitely help. But what your account and content needs more than anything in your business is for you to just talk to the camera like a human being, period. All right, so that one 20,000 shares.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:54]:
An idea. What is an idea? You can give people seven right now. Oh, you're building a home. Here's an idea for you. Add a blah, blah, blah. Oh, you're hosting Easter this spring. Here's an idea for what to serve. Are you hosting an event soon for your clients? Here's an idea, right? Ideas.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:07]:
We love them. Here's another one. She's literally giving you a hack so you never forget the paint color you use on a room, and you write it on the back of the switch plate idea. You want to go viral. You want to get a bunch of new followers. You want people to share your content, Give them a cool idea. Now, like I always say, all whenever I give you guys these hook reel content ideas, ideas. There's no one type of reel.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:32]:
There's humorous reels. There's heard reels. I talk about this all the time on the podcast. There's happenings, there's helpful. Ideas are helpful. Typically, they could also be heard in a way. If you're talking about birthday traditions, that makes you, you know, feel like it gives you all these feelings inside of nostalgia and things. Hacks always get a lot of shares, too.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:49]:
So let me share this one, too. She says you go to Costco and you purchase something and it goes on sale within 30 days of you purchasing it. All right, so this girl's talking about a Costco hack about how within 30 days you can split the difference if there's a sale. But also when I again, it's in the show notes. Look at how she's holding the cash in her hand. So it's already. That's a visual hook right there. We're like, oh, she's about to tell us how to make some extra money.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:12]:
Her caption says, Costco life hacks. So again, really shareable stuff. Other things that are shareable, really powerful quotes, powerful stories. A lot of stuff is shareable. But I just want to show that those are three that have gotten a lot of shares recently. Those are ideas, hacks, et cetera. I talk about it all the time. We love to be the group chat hero.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:30]:
We love to be the one who sends the funniest reel, the coolest hack, the coolest idea for our upcoming blah, blah, right? So there you have it. You want to go crazy. You want to create some good content. Think of something. And again, it's sometimes the most obvious thing that we've that you think that no one knows. What's a cool idea you have for people within your world, your niche, your people. And share that, as always, I'm here to help you create better content that gets reach. I know how these algorithms work.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:59]:
They're not as scary and mysterious as you think. And again, the longer they stay, the better your reach. More next week. Love you, friend.