As designers, we always look for inspiration trends and create visual content that is attractive and useful, but what happens when it does not have any impact on social networks? Many times we think that having a beautiful design and using the right hashtags will be the key to the success of our posts, but we do not have the ever-changing “Instagram algorithm”.
To begin, the Instagram algorithm makes up the rules that help classify the content of this social network and how it appears in the user’s feed. The algorithm takes into account ALL the elements that may be of interest, from the hashtags to the complete description of your post, with the aim that the user fully enjoy their experience on the platform, by matching their interests with what is published. In short, the right content is shown to the right people.
For those of us who are dedicated to marketing and design in social networks, it is important to identify the factors that the algorithm has to classify.
Let’s start with something basic:
– How long does the user stay on the platform? If you are active for several hours a day, every day?
– The number of pages or people you follow, this is because it will never be the same that your content appears to a person who follows 20 pages compared to who follows more than 1000, it is a competition for space in the feed.
– The interest of the user, how long it hosts certain content, pages to follow, etc.
– How does the user interact with the pages that he follows? If he “likes”, if he comments, if they follow each other, and even if they have sent messages or reactions to the stories, that is, if your community of followers is active with your content.
– The quality or impact of the content, what relevance it has on a day-to-day basis, or is it something that goes with current trends, which leads us to talk about another social network that is giving it more competitive than it has ever had, TikTok. If we go into detail on recent Instagram changes, the most notorious was the implementation of Reels, (something similar to what happened years ago with Stories), we are seeing the trend of short videos very strong and it is not something that takes a couple of months, TikTok is on the rise and that makes Instagram want to catch up.
So for us as content creators, designers, and marketers, it makes us reconsider the way we have to generate publications because it is not enough to put 1 or 2 posts a day, knowing that it is unlikely to appear in the feed of a new user who has not interacted with our brand, at this point it is necessary to design your content in a short video, which is what is most shown organically, but also taking into account that we must support ourselves with an audio or a sound that also gives us a presence. If you are on social networks, surely you have also been hit by one of those audios that are repeated and repeated, you have to pay attention to them and take advantage of the boom.
After understanding the algorithm a bit, here are some things to consider for your designs:
– Focus on content that lends itself to being interactive and engaging.
– Consider spaces in your canvas to add reaction buttons, and moving phrases, and also that your format can be adjusted to vertical.
– Play with the colors of your branding, with photos and graphics, always loyal to your style, but adapting it, because that is the key. Adapt!
Author: Pamela Garcia
