How Instagram’s Algorithm Works

Instagram’s Algorithm

Instagram’s algorithm has been a hot topic of discussion this past 2 years since they moved away from the reverse chronological “Explore” feed. Instagram has been very tight lipped about the details of the algorithm until a recent release to reporters at their new San Francisco office. Here are the main bullet points extracted from Tech Crunch’s write-up (full article here):

Interest: How much Instagram predicts you’ll care about a post, with higher ranking for what matters to you, determined by past behavior on similar content and potentially machine vision analyzing the actual content of the post.

Recency: How recently the post was shared, with prioritization for timely posts over weeks-old ones.

Relationship: How close you are to the person who shared it, with higher ranking for people you’ve interacted with a lot in the past on Instagram, such as by commenting on their posts or being tagged together in photos.

Beyond those core factors, three additional signals that influence rankings are:

Frequency: How often you open Instagram, as it will try to show you the best posts since your last visit.
Following: If you follow a lot of people, Instagram will be picking from a wider breadth of authors so you might see less of any specific person.
Usage: How long you spend on Instagram determines if you’re just seeing the best posts during short sessions, or it’s digging deeper into its catalog if you spend more total time browsing.

Instagram Myths Busted

(continued from Tech Crunch)

Instagram’s team also responded to many of the most common questions and conspiracy theories about how its feed works. TechCrunch can’t verify the accuracy of these claims, but this is what Instagram’s team told us:

Instagram is not at this time considering an option to see the old reverse chronological feed because it doesn’t want to add more complexity (users might forget what feed they’re set to), but it is listening to users who dislike the algorithm.
Instagram does not hide posts in the feed, and you’ll see everything posted by everyone you follow if you keep scrolling.
Feed ranking does not favor the photo or video format universally, but people’s feeds are tuned based on what kind of content they engage with, so if you never stop to watch videos you might see fewer of them.
Instagram’s feed doesn’t favor users who use Stories, Live, or other special features of the app.
Instagram doesn’t downrank users for posting too frequently or for other specific behaviors, but it might swap in other content in between someone’s if they rapid-fire separate posts.
Instagram doesn’t give extra feed presence to personal accounts or business accounts, so switching won’t help your reach.
Shadowbanning is not a real thing, and Instagram says it doesn’t hide people’s content for posting too many hashtags or taking other actions.

This is all great information to keep in mind as you leverage Instagram in your marketing efforts. See the full article at Tech Crunch.

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February 15, 2018

Want to show up more often in our “EXPLORE” tab?

We’ve been getting some great questions on how to have your profile show up more in the “EXPLORE” tab, so here are some tips and things to keep in mind that affect the relevance of your profile:

REVIEWS– Both the average star rating and number of reviews.
ACTIVITY– Be active on the app and don’t let weeks go by without collaborating. Most importantly, if you have active collabs, don’t leave them hanging. Stay in contact!
PROFILE– Having a completed profile (including fresh photos, bio with keywords, multiple social accounts, etc.).
WEBSITE– Make sure a website is added to your profile. If you don’t have a website, you can create a “LYNX in Bio” url and add your various social media accounts, portfolio, etc. all within the LYNX. Get Lynx for free HERE.
COLLAB FULFILLMENT– Completing collaborations on time, in full, and as agreed upon in Collab Details. Don’t forget to leave a review because the collab is not 100% finished until you have done so.

If you have any questions about these tips, please feel free to reach out to us. Thanks!

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January 23, 2017January 23, 2017

How to Maximize your Collabor8 Experience

Now that we have a larger number of users on the app, it is important that you are doing the following in order to make sure that your profile is being seen and showing up in search results:

Complete all aspects of your profile. This includes a bio about yourself or company, location, social media integrations, interests (we recommend top 3), rate information, and payment information.
Portfolio photos. Make sure you have 5-10 photos where you can showcase your style, aesthetic, personality, etc.
Make sure to “complete” each collab that you execute! This is such an important part of the Collab process because it allows you to rate and be rated by whoever you are collaborating with. Completed Collabs and your Ratings are the 2 biggest components of the EXPLORE tab algorithm. We give priority to the most active profiles and new profiles!
Send/receive collab payments securely within Collabor8 (Stripe). Payments done outside the app are not backed/protected by Collabor8 because we have no control nor visibility. Make payments through the “Collab Details” page of your collab so we can help with anything as needed. It also allows you to complete the paid collab and get the benefits of bullet point #3.
Tag @collabor8app #collabor8app in your posts and we’ll use them for reposts, newsletters, blog posts, website, etc. and tag you and/or give you photo credit.
Request to work with smaller brands/influencers to boost reviews and completed collabs.

Other Ways to Grow your Influence

Visit our website to see some of the other tools that have been recommended by Collabor8 users. If you have any other suggestions for tools you enjoy, please let us know!

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February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

7 Tips to Optimize Your Collabor8 App Experience

Good afternoon Collabor8ers!

Many of you are new to the app and are just getting familiar with the platform. Others have been on for a couple weeks now and may have already started working on collabs. Either way, we have compiled 7 tips for you to optimize your profile so that you are pleasing to the eye AND the brain.

Profile Photos – When you first create an account, Collabor8 will automatically pull in your most recent Instagram photo and use it as your profile image. This is to avoid blank profiles and help beautify the EXPLORE page. We recommend that you add additional photos by clicking the “PHOTOS” button in the upper-left corner and selecting Instagram as the source. It will allow you to bring in as many photos from your Instagram feed as you want. After doing so, decide which image you want to be on the cover of your profile and hit the “PROFILE” button in the upper-right corner of your screen. If you want to see some great examples of profile photos, check out Gigi Pip (brand) or Salome Brimhall (Influencer) inside the app.
Location and Bio – Many brands and influencers are trying to get word out to new geographical areas, so it is important that you specify where you are located, or where most of your followers are located. (NOTE: This will soon be a “smart” location that will allow you to select your geo location and then be able to search by area, radius, etc.). Your Bio gives you a unique opportunity to tell others about yourself and what may set you apart from others. In today’s world, we are dying to “connect” with others on a new level. This might be through a style of photography, a charitable cause, a life story, etc. Let others get to know you! After all, they need to trust who they are working with and a bio definitely helps. Check out Chelsey Hale (Influencer) or Halftee (Brand) to get an idea of a good bio. Short and sweet is OK!
Link Social Media Accounts – Collabor8 populates a “Total Reach” that accounts for all of your social media followings. It is important to add each outlet you have because some brands are looking to grow a specific platform. For example, “Brand A” might have a huge Instagram following but they really want to get more exposure to their Periscope account. So they might pass on somebody with a big Instagram for someone with a smaller Periscope following, because they are new Periscope. You never know what will pique their interest! Jane.com has done a great job at completely filling out their social media.As a side note, some of you have asked about the difference between VERIFIED and UNVERIFIED social accounts. VERIFIED means that we currently have an api connection that allows us to automatically tap into Instagram and Twitter (Facebook pages soon) and update the follower counts. The UNVERIFIED accounts do not currently have api connections so you must enter the number of followers that you have manually. However they do still contribute to your Total Reach.
Respond to Requests ASAP – When somebody sends you a request, think of it as an opportunity to reach a new pool of people and get new content for your account. If they are a good fit, accept quickly and spark up a conversation. There are no rules on who needs to begin the chat! Feel free to send a message right away and break the ice. They are likely just as eager to work with you as you are with them. On the other hand, if they are not a good fit at the moment, click the “x” on their request sooner rather than later so they can move on as well. COMMUNICATION IS KEY!
- Quick side note: If you get a “POSTPONED” message back from an account that you have requested, this could mean a few different things. For example, it could mean that they are currently booked for collabs, they have surpassed their collab budget for a given time frame, or they’d like to revisit the opportunity after 30-60 days. Do not feel like they have denied you. Timing is everything 🙂
Keep up on collabs – On the detail screen (the blue circle with 3 lines) within each collaboration, there is a progress bar that shows how the collaboration is moving along. You can click the bar and it will open a flyout window that shows the progress in more detail. One of the BIGGEST concerns we have heard about is people who are not responded to chat messages in a timely manner. We understand that you are busy, but try your best to be as prompt as possible. See below for a graphic:
Keep your app updated to the most current version!! – This is unique situation for you guys as beta testers because we publish updates quite often (every 1-2 weeks) and they typically have significant changes to them. Although you can’t always see the changes, we are squashing bugs, fixing crashes and making the app faster. If you don’t update your app, the platform will be slower for you AND possibly cause issues for those that you collaborate with. So please update your app as soon as you recieve the TestFlight email notification that there is a new version. You can also open your TestFlight app at any time to see if there is an update available. NOTE: To avoid bugs being carried over to the new version, try to delete the current app on your phone first and then update to the new version via TestFlight.
Curate an AMAZING platform of Collabor8ers – We want to have the best brands and the best influencers on this app so we can all work together seamlessly. If there are brands or influencers that you have wanted to work with and are not currently on the app, please let us know and we will reach out them personally to invite them to the platform. We are at your service in this regard and want Collabor8 to be a 1-stop-shop for you and your business. We are actively inactivating accounts that are stagnant to make room for people who are truly wanting to be part of this family!

We are so pumped that so many of you are loving the app and we hope to only make it better for you. We have some rad updates in the works and we hope you are excited 🙂

Have a great weekend!

-Collabor8

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