Contrary to popular belief, Instagram doesn’t have a single algorithm, but a series of ranking systems that incorporate multiple algorithms and classifiers in each section of the app.

Understanding how the app and its ranking systems work together to elevate relevant content to its viewers is vital to taking advantage of the social media platform’s powerful organic functionalities and massive user base. According to a report by Statista, Instagram had over 2 billion monthly active users in 2024.

How Instagram Determines Relevancy and Rank for the Content It Delivers on the App

Instagram’s Creator website outlines the app’s five primary sections, each with its own purpose and ranking system for delivering content to viewers. Each section utilizes a ranking system independent of the others, which means relevancy for content populated in the Feed doesn’t necessarily apply to the rules that dictate content population within Reels. 

According to an in-depth blog post in May 2023 about Instagram’s ranking systems, authored by the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, each activity a user executes on the app is considered a “signal” of which there are dozens or thousands depending upon which section of the app a user engages. A signal can include when a post was shared, the type of device you’re using, preferred post format, accounts followed, and topics of interest, among others.

You can probably imagine the endless permutation possibilities produced by Instagram’s ranking systems. Relevant content is populated based on activity signals, but when multiplied by the number of sections within the app that utilize these ranking systems, each user is presented with a completely different in-app experience.

The five primary sections of Instagram and the content delivered:

• Feed | Photo and video content from accounts you follow and content from recommended accounts. 
• Stories | Video content from accounts you follow.
• Explore | Video and photo content from accounts you do not follow.
• Reels | Video content from accounts you do not follow.
• Search | Accounts or content populated based on a keyword, hashtag, or name typed into the search feature.

You might think that to succeed on Instagram, you must generate the highest number of followers. In actuality, Instagram ranks the relevance of your content by assessing how many of your followers engage with your content. In other words, how well you cater to the audience you have. Followership without engagement does not benefit you on Instagram. 

Instagram delivers photo and video content within the Feed section from accounts that are closely related to the user or the likelihood of a close relationship with the user, such as the account of a family member or a friend. The app is so personalized that users are delivered content based on the format (photo vs. video). This personalization factor is true for Stories as well.

Within the Explore section of Instagram, users are delivered content based on post or video engagement, including how many likes, shares, and comments a post received, and the relationship your account has to the person searching.

When populating video content in Reels, Instagram takes into consideration the type of video content you engage with, the content itself, and the account’s followership and engagement. Video content criteria included in the ranking system within Reels comprises any audio, captions, or visuals used.

The good news is that Instagram now prioritizes original content, as opposed to shared or reposted content. In an April 2024 blog post, the Instagram team outlined a series of app updates that included sharing original content to a more expansive list of non-followers, a labeling method to identify original content, and the removal of aggregator content from recommended accounts.

As a result of this hyper-personalized social media experience, it is difficult to assess who your prospective customers engage with on Instagram. To get around this challenge, you must be savvy in understanding where your customers find information, their demographics, interests, preferred search terms, followed publications, favorite artists, performers, and brands.

With a clear understanding of your target market (produced from thorough market research), you can start to engage with the content likely to be seen by prospective customers. Eventually, accounts that fall within your ideal customer profile should start appearing in your Feed as recommended accounts–an indication that your research was well-founded.

Showing Up in Instagram’s Search Feature and as a Recommended Account

Appearing as a recommended account is vital to gathering new followers and growing your Instagram community. This all centers around Instagram’s Account Center, accessible only to professional accounts.

According to Instagram’s Help Center, professional accounts are classified as Business or Creator. These account types are eligible to be recommended or show up on Reels, Feed, Explore, Search, or Suggested Accounts to non-followers.

Once you upgrade your account to Creator or Business, check your account status using the instructions below to see if you’re ineligible to be recommended because something in your profile or posts can’t be shared.

Before its sophisticated ranking systems, Instagram used to prioritize content based on follower count. This led to poor social media practices such as “purchasing likes” or “follower farming” which Instagram now clearly outlines as a factor in their Recommendation Guidelines.

Before Creating an Instagram Account: A Quick Checklist for the Small Business Owner 

Before you jump into the deep end, you need to be able to definitively provide the following critical components of an effective marketing strategy.

Identify your primary social media marketing goal(s). 

If you would like to explore how Instagram can support your brand reach, awareness, or sales, ask yourself–what are your primary goal(s) for the platform? 

Awareness: Build your brand’s online presence through Instagram’s powerful ranking systems to appear in front of relevant users.

Reach: Drive increased click-through traffic to your site by boosting Instagram posts or stories to select audiences. 

Research: Better understand where your audience lives and what they search for within Instagram’s search feature. 

Sales: Increase revenue with sales for your e-commerce business on Instagram Shopping. 

Identify your available resources (time).

As you’ve probably heard from multiple Instagram creators, “posting every day is not a social media strategy.” While you should not assume daily posts or video content is necessary, there is a requirement to post.

Like any social media platform, inattentive social profiles give a poor first impression to prospective customers who actively look at a small business’s online presence to get a sense of its offerings, reviews, and availability. Be sure to post content you believe is going to be relevant to your target customers. The actual content of your video, its relevance to targeted accounts, and how engaged your current followers are to your other posts and videos will determine whether Instagram will recommend your content to new audiences.

Establish how you will track your progress. 

Creating and publishing content is only half of content marketing. The crux of your hard work comes in the form of reviewing your post performance. Instagram’s Insights are available on Creator and Business Accounts and do a great job of showing how many Views and Interactions you have broken down by followers and non-followers. 

Non-follower activity is an important metric to track because of how Instagram ranks your content in Reels and Explore. If you’re seeing a healthy increase in views and interactions with non-followers over time, that means your content is proving relevant and Instagram is continuously recommending your posts.

Before you begin posting, be sure to read Instagram’s Community Guidelines which outline how they prioritize intellectual property, banned connect, and best practices for engaging with the Instagram community. 

Far from its early days when Instagram was a database of beautifully filtered pictures of everyone’s meals, the social media platform evolved into a collaboration hub for content creators, marketers, business owners, and brands. Nowadays, Instagram is its own economic engine wherein content creators with followers in the hundreds of thousands can find monetization options from their fans, brands, or Meta. 

Start Leveraging the Instagram’s Ranking to Grow Your Business

If you’re looking for a digital marketing expert to help you build a new Instagram account or grow an existing one, schedule an initial consultation with me to evaluate which social media platforms are best suited for your business. Following our initial call, we’ll review your available resources and develop a custom small business social media marketing strategy. 

If you’re a small business owner who wants to leverage your own robust profile to support traffic to your website, we can discuss profile optimization and take advantage of your existing network.  

Deliver strong digital marketing through social media.

Source List

• Statista. (July 10, 2024). Most popular social networks worldwide as of April 2024, by number of monthly active users. Social Media & User-Generated Content. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
• Instagram. (2024). Formats and Tools. Website. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
• Adam Mosseri. (May 31, 2023). Instagram Ranking Explained. Instagram Blog. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
• Instagram. (April 30, 2024). Helping Creators Find New Audiences. Creators Blog. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
• Instagram. (2024). About professional accounts on Instagram. Instagram Help Center. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
• Instagram. (2024). Recommendations on Instagram. Instagram Help Center. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
• Instagram. (2024). Community Guidelines. Instagram Help Center. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
• Instagram. (2024). Each Cash Making What You Love. Website. Retrieved October 22, 2024.