Instagram has finally brought out the update that we’ve all been waiting for, a chronological feed! While this is exciting news, the consequence is that it’s going to impact your account‘s reach.
Chronological feeds don’t have any ads or suggestions of posts you might like. This means that there is a decreased chance that your content will be seen by a new audience.
So, what’s important now when it comes to getting reach on Instagram now? Here are the top four things I’m predicting that will become more important on Instagram with the new chronological feed.
Analytics
Analytics have and should play an important part in any digital marketing strategy. With the new feed, I think there will be a stronger emphasis on posting at the best time according to your analytics.
You want to post when your followers are most active (or starting to become active). The “golden hour” has always been important for engagement rates. However, now you want to appear at the top of your followers’ chronological feed when they first open it.
To find when your followers are most active, go to your profile -> insights -> total followers, then scroll to the bottom to view “most active times”. As you can see on my personal account, 3am on Mondays is technically the best time to post. However, I normally post just after 6pm as that’s when my followers start to become active. It’s also a good time to capture both my Australian and USA followers, so be conscious of what time zone your followers are in.
Collaboration
Collaboration is a recent Instagram update. It’s similar to a tag but in this case, when someone is a collaborator, it appears on their grid as well.
If you collaborate with an account that has followers who have interests that align with your account, then this type of post/reel is not just going to increase your reach but also, hopefully, your follower count too.
The reason collaboration posts are more important now is because they’ll appear on the chronological feed just like a normal post, but your post (if you’re the one tagging the collaborator) will appear in front of an entirely new audience. You don’t have to rely on Instagram pushing it out as a “post you might like”.
Find accounts that you could collaborate with by searching hashtags that are relevant to your audience/followers.
Reels
There’s no doubt that Instagram is prioritising video content, which in its case, is reels. While reels will appear in chronological feeds and they’re prioritised by Instagram, that isn’t what makes them powerful, though this is all a bonus. It’s the fact that they have their own dedicated tab on the app (similar to shop).
The explore page does show posts, however, people often don’t deliberately scroll through that and they just land on it when they go to search for something. On the other hand, people browse reels looking for inspiration or entertainment. Reels in this tab are often shown to people outside of your current audience, making them perfect to reach new followers.
Similar to the “posts you might like”, the critical part is getting that engagement in the first hour or so. Instagram’s algorithm, therefore, thinks people like your content and they’re more likely to push it via the reels tab.
Paid story ads
Instagram users will absolutely love that the chronological feed doesn’t include ads, but this makes it harder for companies to get their message out there through paid advertising. So, besides a push for more organic content with greater engagement, I think more companies will turn towards story ads, as there isn’t currently a way to filter them out.
If you do story ads, this does mean more competition though, so you might have to get a little bit creative to cut through the noise.
Still confused on what these Instagram updates mean for you and your account? Get in touch today to see how LBD Digital can help!
