Expect posts that draw no response to sink. Skip the requests to turn on notifications; post things your customers actually respond to, reply to every comment, and post less often but better.

The feed will not be in order

Instagram announced yesterday that, in the coming months, its feed will stop showing posts newest first.

Instead it will put first the posts it expects each person to care about most, based on how likely they are to be interested, their relationship with the account posting and how recent the post is.

Instagram says nothing will be removed. The same posts will be there, in a different order.

For a business account, the different order is the whole story. A post that used to sit at the top for an hour may now sit below a dozen others, and most people stop scrolling long before the bottom.

What is likely to change for a business

The fourth matters most to accounts built on follower counts. Followers gathered through contests or bought in bulk rarely respond, and an account full of them is likely to see its posts shown to fewer people.

Facebook went this way years ago

Instagram belongs to Facebook, and Facebook's News Feed has worked like this for years. Pages that posted often and heard little back saw their posts reach fewer and fewer of their own followers.

The pages that kept their reach were the ones people talked to, with comments, replies and shares.

There is little reason to expect Instagram to reward anything different.

The notifications request

Expect a wave of posts asking followers to turn on notifications, so that their phones alert them every time the account posts.

It is an understandable reaction and a poor answer. People turn on notifications for a handful of accounts they care about, and a phone that buzzes for every business someone follows is soon silenced.

The followers most likely to agree are the ones who already like and comment, which means the new order would have shown them your posts anyway.

And a post asking for attention gives the reader nothing. It is exactly the kind of post the change is likely to push down.

What people respond to

On a business account, the posts that draw comments are rarely the polished ones. They are the ones about people and things the follower recognises.

Real customers, with their permission. The staff, the workshop, the work in progress, the finished job. A question someone actually wants to answer.

Promotional graphics, stock photos and text-heavy announcements tend to be scrolled past. Under the new order, scrolled past will also mean shown less.

A worked example

A cat boarding business with twenty suites in a converted house on the edge of a suburb had been posting three times a day, mostly booking reminders, graphics of its rates and cartoons about cats.

Responses were thin, except on the occasional photograph of a guest. Those drew comments from the cat's owners, their friends and other customers who recognised the suite.

The reason is simple. People respond to their own cat, and to cats they know.

The business now asks at check-in whether a cat may be photographed and named. It posts one guest a day, with a short caption about the stay, and replies to every comment.

Booking reminders appear twice a season, as a photograph of a real suite with the dates in the caption.

Replies are part of the post

The announcement names the relationship between a person and an account as one of the things that will decide the order.

The plainest way to build one is to answer people. Reply to comments by name, the same day, and answer questions in full rather than telling people to call.

A comment that gets a reply tends to get another, and a conversation under a post is the clearest sign that people care about it.

Fewer, better posts

When the order was by time, posting often kept an account near the top. When it is by interest, a run of weak posts is more likely to teach the feed that your account can be skipped.

One good photograph a day, or even a few a week, is likely to serve a small business better than three filler posts.

Keep a list of the posts that drew comments, and make more like them.

Measuring without business tools

For posts that are not ads, Instagram offers no reports beyond the likes and comments under each one. That is enough to work with.

Once a week, note each post's likes and comments in a simple spreadsheet, with a word about what it showed. After a month the pattern is usually obvious.

Follower count belongs at the bottom of that sheet. Under the new order, how many people respond matters more than how many follow.

What the change does not touch

Hashtag and location pages, where people browse posts from accounts they do not follow, sit outside the feed. A relevant local hashtag or a location on each post still puts it in front of new people.

Paid posts are separate too. An ad bought through Facebook's advertising tools is placed by budget and targeting rather than by the new order, which makes it the dependable option for a seasonal push.

The counter-case

The change has not happened yet, and Instagram says it will arrive over the coming months. The details may shift before it reaches every account.

An account with a small, loyal following that already comments may notice little difference. A business whose customers are not on Instagram should not start chasing it because of this news.

And Instagram remains someone else's platform, with rules that change, which is why your website should hold the information customers need.

For a business account that matters to you, though, the response is the same: post things people respond to, and answer them.

Before the change arrives

  1. Look back at your last thirty posts.
  2. Mark the ones that drew comments.
  3. Drop the post types nobody answered.
  4. Reply to every comment the same day.
  5. Ask customers' permission before photographing them.
  6. Post less often, with better photographs.
  7. Skip the notifications request entirely.

Step four is the one most business accounts neglect. Replies build the relationship the new order is said to weigh, and they cost nothing but a few minutes a day.

Reading responses rather than counting them is the same idea as in Facebook reactions on a business page.

Frequently asked questions

What did Instagram announce?

That in the coming months the feed will be ordered by likely interest, the relationship with the account posting and recency, instead of newest first. No posts will be removed.

Will my posts reach fewer followers?

Posts that draw no likes or comments are likely to sit lower and be seen less. Posts people respond to should hold their place or rise.

Should I ask followers to turn on notifications?

No. People turn them on for a few accounts they care about, the followers who agree already engage, and a request post gives the reader nothing.

What kind of posts work best?

Real people with their permission, the work, the workplace and things followers recognise. Promotional graphics and stock photos tend to be scrolled past.

How often should a business post?

Less often and better. One good photograph a day, or a few a week, is likely to serve a small business better than several filler posts.

How can I measure what works?

Note each post's likes and comments weekly in a spreadsheet, with a word about its subject. After a month the pattern is usually clear.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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