Instagram Algorithm: How Marketers Should Alter Their Strategy

Do you use Instagram to showcase your business?

Have you heard about the new algorithm and other changes?

Sue B. Zimmerman joins us to explore the latest Instagram updates.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode I interview Sue B. Zimmerman, the Instagram Gal. She's the author of the ebook, Instagram Basics for Your Business, and has taught Instagram marketing for small businesses on CreativeLive. Sue helps businesses leverage the power of Instagram.

Sue explores the latest Instagram features, and you'll discover how marketers should respond to the Instagram algorithm changes.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Instagram Algorithm
How Sue got started with Instagram

Sue is an artist at heart and says she's wired for visuals. She discovered the power of Instagram at her Cape Cod retail store, which she ran for six years. After she started using Instagram, her sales increased significantly, and she realized she needed to teach other business owners how to have that kind of success. Last summer, she closed the store to focus on growing her online business.

Sue first discovered Instagram through her twin daughters. They were scrolling through Instagram one day and not paying attention to her, so she asked what they were up to. They said, "Mom, we're on Instagram. Don't get on it, because then you're going to start teaching it."

Pay attention to your teenagers, Sue adds, because they're setting the next mobile trend.

Instagram is growing very quickly. At the time of this recording, it has 400 million users and Sue believes they'll soon announce they're at 500 million active users. They project it to be one billion in three years.

Listen to the show to learn more about Sue's retail store on Cape Cod.

What's new with Instagram

Sue explains several new Instagram features.

First, you can now send direct messages from an Instagram comment via mobile. When you open up Instagram and see a post you want to send privately to your team, just click on the arrow to the left of the comment and send it as a direct message. All you have to do is @mention the person you want to see it.

Direct messaging is one of the most underutilized features of Instagram, Sue believes. A lot of people don't use direct messaging for their business. For example, when you see something that reminds you of a client or someone you want to collaborate with, you can easily send it to them as an idea without having to publicly post on that feed.

In addition, the desktop has had a lot of great updates.

Looking at the desktop version of Instagram, you'll see three icons on the right-hand side. Click on the explore button that looks like a compass, and Instagram suggests people for you to discover, based on your activity. In the middle, click on the heart icon to see notifications. The icon on the far right goes to your profile.

Plus you can now comment from the desktop, which is something people have wanted to do for a very long time.

On the far left, clicking on "Instagram" takes you to the home feed, so you can easily scroll through it on your desktop. Sue says she doesn't use the desktop much, unless she's using Iconosquare. Additionally, she notes that you can't upload photos from your desktop unless you use an app like Later.

Sue also shares a couple of things people need to know about video.

First, video on Instagram is now up to 60 seconds, which is great for people who really want to give demonstrations, do behind-the-scenes content, or announce their podcasts with video teasers.