It will come as no surprise that instagram’s algorithm sometimes makes … absolutely no sense. Everyone knows that feeling when you spend hours planning, filming and editing a reel only for it to flop. There are literally instagram pages and blogs dedicated to trying to crack the algorithm and share whatever valuable knowledge possible to creators because the truth is nobody knows!

From having a business instagram account for over a year and a half, Sweeter Social has tried and tested a huge range of different methods and plans – here’s what you need to know from our experience:

1 – Spend 15 minutes before and after posting to like and comment on other pages and relevant posts. No, we don’t just mean spam every account with a love heart emoji … offer meaningful comments that will create a connection and actually start a conversation. 

2 – Share your post or reel to your story to entice people. Depending what your post is about, identify a related problem and then share your post as the solution. For example, create a story saying “Are you struggling with creating relevant content that hooks your potential client? Do I have a tip or two for you!” and then share your post. This instantly hooks your audience, encouraging them to want to learn more. 

3 – For the first 30 minutes once you have posted, spend some time replying to everyone’s comments. This helps build traction and encourage the algorithm to show your post to others – the more likes, comments, saves and shares in that time, the better the algorithm should respond! You can literally do this on the couch watching Netflix – create a system that is sustainable and works for you.

Just remember when posting, the algorithm typically takes these three key factors into consideration and prioritises accordingly: time spent looking and reading, likes, comments, saves and profile taps. 

Put yourself in the viewers shoes – would you spend time reading, liking, commenting, saving or learning more about the profile?