It has become increasingly difficult for social media marketers and aspiring influencers to gain traction on their respective networks, specifically Instagram. The reality of this situation is that the algorithms have changed. Getting likes on Instagram is becoming less of a priority to these platforms as they now heavily focus on your followers and the quality of your content. Instagram’s new algorithm changes have been designed to increase engagement by pushing posts with more likes and comments higher in the feed – meaning that buy Instagram likes will be even more difficult if you want it ranked high.
Instagram’s New Algorithm
To understand how the algorithm works, we first have to look at what caused the change. The updates were intended to improve the quality of Instagram posts and make it easier for users to discover new content from their favourite brands. This way, businesses will be more likely to use Instagram as a marketing tool than an advertising platform. Now let’s take a look at how the new algorithm affects your chances of getting likes on Instagram.
Removing the Popular Page
This is the most significant change that Instagram has made to its algorithm (other than those made in 2014 and 2016, which you can read about here and here). Since the popular page was removed, we can only assume that Instagram doesn’t want users to find content based on how many likes it has received. It’s important to note that this change was implemented with absolutely no warning, leaving influencers and businesses alike scrambling to figure out how their Instagram accounts were going to be affected.
Structured Data
The new algorithm looks at instagram likes, comments and engagement to determine the relevance of your posts. This is the core motivation behind why it’s getting harder to get likes on Instagram. The more engagement your posts have, the higher it will rank in the feed. Engagement rate is important because it tells Instagram how relevant people think your content is. If there are a lot of organic likes and comments, then that means that people are actually engaged with your content.
Curation
This feature is also aimed at improving the experience for users on Instagram. Essentially, this means that people will see posts that increase engagement and start engaging more with these posts themselves. As a result, Instagram will push these posts to the top of the feed – even if they don’t have many likes or comments. This should improve the quality of time spent on Instagram by encouraging users to follow more accounts that they genuinely enjoy and make their experience more enjoyable.