Is the Instagram Algorithm Against You? Here's the Real Secret (It's Not What You Think)

Are you tired of pouring your heart and soul into Instagram content only to feel like the algorithm is working against you? 

Do you struggle to get the results you want from your posts, despite putting in so much effort? 

In this episode of Mompreneur Mastery, I dive into the ins and outs of the infamous Instagram algorithm and how you can strategically optimize your content to get the reach, engagement, and leads you desire for your business. 

As a busy mom and business owner, I understand the frustration of feeling like your efforts are not paying off. That's why I've broken down the algorithm to help you make the most of your Instagram marketing efforts.

Key Takeaways:

• Understanding how the Instagram algorithm works and how to optimize your content for it.
• Utilizing peak active hours and engagement metrics to maximize post visibility and reach.
• Focusing on generating comments to foster connections with your audience and increase post visibility.
• The importance of creating content that resonates with your target audience to attract qualified leads.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Metricool (affiliate link)

Find And Fix The Gaps In Your Instagram Strategy Quiz

Join Post With Purpose and get weekly post prompts so you always have a strategized content plan. Price increases 11/8/24

Music courtesy of Pixabay

Transcript

0:49

Welcome back to another episode of Mompreneur Mastery, simple Instagram strategy for busy moms. Today, I wanna talk about the infamous algorithm. I have been seeing a lot of posts and stories, people talking about how they pour their heart and soul into Instagram content, but they feel like it's being blocked or hidden or the algorithm is punishing them somehow because it's not getting the results that they want. So I wanna break down what the algorithm actually does so that you know what to post to be able to make the most of it and use Instagram to market your business and actually get the leads and the paying clients that you want. Welcome to the Mompreneur Mastery Podcast, where we share actual Instagram strategies that fit into a busy mom's schedule so that you can get sacrificing quality time with my family and only working 2 hours a day. I love helping other mom business owners find that seemingly impossible mom work life balance instead of spending too much time creating content that isn't getting them the results they want. If you're an overwhelmed but very ambitious business owner and you wanna strategize the heck out of your Instagram account so that you can save time and make more sales, you're in the right place. So I wanna start by saying I totally get that it is super rough out there for small accounts, for mompreneurs who don't have the means to completely outsource their social media, for mompreneurs who don't have the time or brain space to take, like, a really extensive course on Instagram strategy, it's it's hard to be able to use it and craft your posts in just the right way to actually get those results that you want. Get the comments, get the follows, get the leads, get the sales. Right? So I get that it's super frustrating to put all of your super limited time and effort into something and have it not get those results that we want. It's something we also experience in parenting a lot. Right? I don't know about you, but this is basically me making my kids dinner. Even if it's a super specific meal that they requested. And I go and I buy all the ingredients, and I make it exactly how they normally like it, which is like a slightly different way for each of them. And they just don't eat it. It's beyond frustrating. It's super discouraging, especially when it happens again and again and again. And it gets to this point where you just you don't wanna do it anymore. You're burnt out. It's super similar for Instagram content. You know, you spend all this time creating content again and again and again, and it doesn't get those results consistently or even at all. And I don't want you to experience that. Life is hard enough. You have enough on your plate. And it's not that your content is bad. It's not that the work you're doing, you're putting into it is bad. It's just that your post might not be strategized. They might not be optimized for the infamous algorithm. Okay. So let's talk about how the algorithm actually works so that you can optimize your content and actually get those results that are going to help your online business. Alright. So it starts with you getting a great post idea. Right? You create this super cute graphic or you have or take the perfect photo. You film just such an awesome reel. You write just a badass caption, and then you hit share. This is where the algorithm comes into play. Because from here, it shows your post to your most engaged followers that are active at that time. So it's not all your followers that are active at that time. I wanna stress that. Not all of your followers see all of your posts. Okay? So that's why repeating things in new ways and repurposing things is always a great idea. But it's also something to consider when you're scheduling your content and making sure that you are posting them at your peak hours. Instagram insights can show you this. It gives you, like, 3 hour time chunks. I use a scheduler called Metricool, and they show it in a much easier to understand way with, like, a really great breakdown of percentages that go hour by hour. So you can make sure it's just even more on the nose. Okay. And from there, if your post is a static image or images, so whether it's a single image or a carousel, Instagram is going to track how much engagement that post is getting from those first viewers. Those viewers, the ones that are your biggest fans that are active at the time you post. And if they engage with your content, the algorithm will show that post to more of your followers and more non followers. Okay? But not just any non followers. They will be non followers that have similar interests as the accounts that interacted with your post. So this is gonna make sure that any new followers you get are in your target audience, making them more of a qualified lead for you. So making sure that your content is super, super relevant is super, super important here to make sure that your followers are the people who are most likely to actually buy from you. Otherwise, what is the point? Right? The whole reason we're here is to sell our stuff on Instagram. Now, if your post is not a static image or images, if your post is a Reel, the biggest factor in getting more reach outside of those initial few is going to be watch time. If you haven't heard that term before, it is just the length of time that someone spends watching your reel. It is the combination of that and engagement just like static images, but watch time is a huge, huge factor for reels. That is why you will see a bunch of, like, looping reels where you can't tell where it starts and ends because they're trying to increase that watch time to get more views. Or super short reels always do well because of the longer watch time. Right? So, again, that is a big, big factor. And this is a metric that you can see in your Reel insights. If you go to a single Reel and tap view insights, it'll show you both your total watch time, the total amount of time people have spent watching your reel, and the average watch time. It'll show you where the drop off is where most people stop watching and keep scrolling. So the more times people spend watching your reel, the more people the algorithm will show it to. And like I said, engagement counts as well. And there's more than one type of engagement. Right? You get likes, comments, saves, shares. They all tell you different things about your content, but we'll get into that in another episode. I really wanna focus on comments. That is the biggest factor for getting more reach and for making it so it doesn't feel like your posts are being hidden by the algorithm as a personal slight to you. And it seems like such an easy thing to get, like, having someone just comment on a post. But when everyone has such short attention spans and they're just being bombarded by content all over, it can be pretty difficult to get them to take the time to actually type something out and comment on your post. But like I said, it's not only important for Veatch and work in that algorithm. It's also super important for connecting with your audience, fostering that sense of community that makes it so you are nurturing your followers into leads and then into paying clients for your online business. You need those conversations. You need that connection to make sure that your Instagram account is supporting your online business and actually making you money. So rather than be overwhelmed with all the different types of engagement, I want you to focus on sharing posts that get comments so you can get more reach from understanding the algorithm and using that to your advantage and also connecting with your audience so that you can get more leads and more sales. So just to recap, the algorithm is not your enemy. It is an engagement rewarding system. And engagement and watch time are what are gonna get you reach to get you new followers that are actually in your target audience and get you connection to make sure that those followers convert into leads and clients. And make sure that your Instagram content is helping your online business. Make sure that you're posting at your peak active hours to maximize that. And again, you can check it in Instagram insights or you can check your own scheduler or get Metricool. I really like how they break it down for you. It's a much more detailed and then make sure that your content is optimized for more comments, so it's optimized for the algorithm. So you get all of these pieces going for you at once that reach specifically to non followers in your target audience and that connection piece that is going to convert followers into leads than paying clients. Now, if you are not sure what to post to get more comments and what those kinds of posts will look like, you need to grab the what the heck to post content map that gives you 3 months of of comment generating post topics and hooks, along with weekly emails that give you super insider strategies and tactics to optimizing your Instagram content for more engagement and more leads. You can grab the what the heck to post content map at the link in the show notes so you can quickly and easily create algorithm approved Instagram posts. Thank you so much for listening. I can't wait to see what kind of content you create. So go ahead and send it to me on Instagram. My handle is at socially.yours.strategist. Thank you so much for listening to mompreneur mastery, simple Instagram strategy for busy moms. If you were listening to this episode and find yourself nodding along, I would love it. If you would find me on Instagram and send me a message telling me your biggest takeaway. My handle is at socially.yours dot strategist. And don't forget to grab your free 1 month of conversation starters contact calendar so that you know exactly what to post to get more comments about spending hours brainstorming Instagram post ideas. You can get it at socially yours dotbiz slash content calendar, or head to the link in the show notes.