INSTAGRAM’S ALGORITHM: THE FACTS ABOVE THE CONVENIENT FICTION
The questions around Instagram’s support of influencers’ content are constant. Similarly, there is always a stream of defiant, disappointed influencers who feel personally victimised by the channel. Not helping this are enraged streams of content from these influencers who attempt to explain their poor engagement with their own take on why this is happening.
Sadly 99.9% of those projecting their opinions are wrong, and the answer is much simpler; their content is no longer good enough to keep up with the increasing demands followers have for an influencer to earn their engagement. It is, of course, much easier to blame somebody else than to blame themselves and reality is that the more an influencer raises it on their channel, the more obvious it is to brands and agencies that something is not well on their account (so we really advise against openly asking audiences for engagement as this is red flag numero uno).
However, what is most definitely happening is Instagram’s initiative to tackle the increase in faux engagement. To explain, unfortunately, with follower drop off and account growth stalling for the majority of influencers, we’re seeing an increase in insincere or illicit engagement (meaning influencers either manually shell out comments or engagement on other accounts or use a tool to do so) in the hope of accruing new followers. We’re seeing a surge in influencers seemingly innocently recommending other accounts to their audience, when the reality is they’re hoping their endorsement will be reposted on the recommended channel’s account, gaining the endorser some new followers.
Account Growth in 2020
Maintaining an audience is hard enough, in fact only 50% of accounts on Instagram are increasing in follower size – the rest are all stagnant or decreasing. Influencers who have not kept an ear to the ground and listened to what their audience want to see are falling by the wayside, and newer influencers with a better connection to their followers are overtaking them.
As we said before we err on the side of caution before suggesting that Instagram’s algorithm is the problem. More often than not, the issue is something the influencer themselves needs to take accountability for. An influencers’ following is not owed to them and is entirely a reflection of how their content is received by the wider community.
Put simply; if you are not producing content your audience wants to see they will not engage with it. Not engaging with your content results in Instagram reading that behaviour and downgrading your future content – meaning it either won’t show up in a follower’s feed or will be further down the feed. This is Instagram doing what it should; ensuring audiences see the content they want to. So, put simply, it’s down to the influencer to ensure that the content consistently hits the spot and is enjoyed by their community.
Furthermore, please consider how transparent your content is. Brands are moving away from using the “surface” level engagement statistic as an indication of peformance. Why? Because it cannot be trusted. Too many influencers rely on their own peers “supporting” them with comments and engagement, meaning very little of the engagement is a true reflection of customer perception. Instead brands and agencies “manually” go through your content - so if it’s all your mates commenting, it doesn’t reflect well on you.
We’re being bold here and forgive the bluntness but it’s very simple; if you are not increasing following or getting the engagement you want to then it’s because your content doesn’t meet the requirements of your audience. It is your responsibility to change this, not Instagram’s. If you are posting at times you believe are your best for your audience, consider whether your key times are the same as the majority - so you probably post at the same time as everyone else (meaning if your engagement hasn’t been good leading up to that post, it’ll be buried under other influencers’ content). That said, if your strategy is to dedicate more time to the platform and better engage with your community, read on to see where Instagram views the line between positive engagement and spam activity:
Instagram’s Spam Filters
Instagram is not out to get you; if you are producing meaningful content you will be promoted both to your loyal following and beyond via the Explore page. There is also no doubt that a commitment to engaging with content in your community, rather than merely expecting engagement on your own content, is a necessary aspect to maintaining (and increasing) your following and engagement.
However, this needs to be balanced by Instagram with the problem that many try and hack their way to success, whether that’s using third party tools or spending a huge amount of time on the platform every day. Therefore, Instagram have brought in the following limits on engagement. Exceeding these will result in usage bans, shadow-banning or at the very least; becoming a less trusted account on the platform. None of these options spell out success, in our opinion.
You can like and follow a maximum of 1000 accounts a day (less for new accounts, to make sure you are not a bot)
This engagement can happen at a maximum of 28 to 36 seconds apart
You can comment a maximum of 12 to 14 times in an hour, a minimum of 350 to 400 seconds apart
As James Nord of Fohr says in his “Drink With James” YouTube series we would “have a hard time believing that you aren’t using the platform to hack your own growth” if you are exceeding Instagram’s limits on engagement. If any of this happens to you, you probably won’t be notified and there isn’t a definite time period that you’ll suffer the effects of your over-engagement. Furthermore, there is no defined action by Instagram – but its more than likely your own engagement will be the first affected.
Our Advice
In short, consider how you have built your following and be ready to have to adapt to your followers’ needs rather than expect them to support yours. Are you the same person, offering the same content, as when they started following you? Did they come to you through a giveaway? If so, will they continue to follow you if you don’t offer them further competitions?
Being unique is key; the trend of mirroring each other’s content ideas are over. You want to be the influencer that an audience has a specific reason to follow and recommend to their peers. Be prepared to make changes if you want to continue to grow – your content strategy should be a malleable thing. Or, understand that as you move away or change your narrative, you’ll inevitably see a drop off.