Social media has become an integral part of many businesses due to the value it adds to them. Social media has shaped how customers interact with businesses without necessarily having face-to-face meetings, while allowing businesses to really enhance their brand's visibility.
Businesses that use social media have an opportunity to showcase their best elements with just one click. To build brand awareness through social media, businesses must determine and understand the information that both existing and potential customers are looking for.
Social media statistics from 2019 show that there are 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, and this number is only growing. That equates to about 45% of the current population (Emarsys, 2019). It's also found that 90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business online and 82% read online reviews (Brightlocal, 2020). I don't know about you, but before I go anywhere now I look up the business online. If they don't have updated images, content, or their website simply looks like it's not a real company, then I don't even bother going or ordering their products online.
Today, I want to talk a little more about Instagram. Instagram is one of the many social media platforms that have taken businesses by storm. It offers an array of marketing features such as stories, notifications, exploring pages, as well as letting your customers interact with you through comments and likes. There are thousands of photos, videos, and posts being uploaded on Instagram every minute, so Instagram uses algorithms to sort through the posts and display those that are relevant to users based on their search history.
Instagram's algorithms use machine learning to determine trends and user behavior. Here are three ways the Instagram algorithms help businesses get more customers online:
1. Building relationships with followers:
Instagram algorithms prioritize posts from accounts that you really care about. This means that the algorithm reads your interactions with the people you are close to and displays those first. There are several ways that the algorithm is able to tell interactions that are important to you. For instance, the algorithm picks people that you send direct messages to, search for, interact with in real life, and those whose videos and stories you like. To ensure your posts are constantly viewed by your followers, post consistently, respond to comments, and use Social Media tools like Later, Buffer or even the Cloud Campaign. It's simply the matter of finding the right tools for YOU and your company.
2. Ranking feeds based on activity:
Instagram algorithms do not just use the people you follow to generate feeds, they also use your likes. The algorithms track your past behavior with content and use machine learning to predict posts that you would like so that such posts rank highly on your feeds. As such, the posts that appear on your feed are a reflection of your combined Instagram behavior including the stories you watch, people you interact with, posts you comment on and like, and followers who tagged you in photos. It's important to note that Instagram gives priority to content that has the highest engagement in terms of likes, comments, shares, and views. To succeed on Instagram, businesses should ensure that their content ranks highly on their follower's feeds so it is appealing enough to warrant their engagement.
3. Prioritizing recent posts:
In addition to engagement, Instagram algorithms prioritize recent posts over those that were posted earlier in their ranking. The focus on timeliness is informed by the need to provide users with the latest interesting posts. This means that businesses that want to succeed on Instagram have to identify the most ideal time to put their Instagram posts up in order to attract more followers and get more likes. To ensure that your Instagram posts reach as many people as possible, consider posting when the majority of your followers are online. Using the activity metrics in your Instagram Insights will help you determine the time your audience is active online.
Note: You must have a business account to view Instagram Insights!
Set up your business account by:
Go to your profile and tap the menu icon on the top right corner.
Tap Settings.Tap Account.
Tap Switch to Business Account.
Lastly, connect your business account to a Facebook Page that is associated with your business.
Instagram is one of the best social media platforms to help grow business brands. It's important for business to realize their goals and understand where their target audience is located.
We hope this helped you!! Stay tuned for our next month's post regarding how many characters and how long you should make your social media posts!!
-Cheers, From the Creative Dynamics Team!