As most of us know, Instagram decided to get real fancy with us. Instead of seeing our posts in a chronological order of when they were posted, we are seeing our posts in the order the Instagram algorithm determines. Instagram says the algorithm is ‘based on the user’, but how many of you have gotten frustrated from not seeing the content you want to see? Don’t worry, I’ve been there too.  

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 As soon as an Instagram account posts content, the post that gets the most likes, comments, shares and saves are thought of as having the most engagement. Which is the content that Instagram displays in our feed, rather than what was chronologically posted. 

It can seem unfair that Instagram does not show our posts to all of our hard-earned followers, but don’t worry I have discovered the secret to beating Instagram’s algorithm to ensure that your posts are getting the exposure and engagement they need! 

The Instagram algorithm allows for posts with more engagement to be pushed to more audiences, making it easier to go “viral,” which, according to The Great Green Wedding simply means “your piece of content is reaching more people than it normally does.”

This is why engagement on Instagram is so important! We obviously want to be seen by as many people as possible, but in order to do that we also have to engage with as many people as possible. Are you engaging as much as possible? I bet you like, comment and share, but do you save others posts to increase engagement? Let’s talk about

How Saved Posts Help Beat The Instagram Algorithm 

According to the Instagram gurus, saving posts is the holy grail of engagement. When people start saving your post, that really shows Instagram, wow, this one's good. And that makes complete sense. If someone saves it to their account, then they really think it's valuable. Why else would they save it? 

 One, they want to share it with their own followers or friends. Two, they enjoyed it so much that they just want to see it again. Or three, maybe they really learned something from it and they want to come back to it so they can remember what they learned. 

Inside the “Insights” of your Instagram professional account (“Business” or “Creator” accounts)  you can see how many times your posts have been saved and monitor the success of your marketing efforts.

In these Insights, you may also notice that your photo was saved by people who don’t even follow your account. That means that Instagram started showing this to more and more people because it was getting great engagement. Good news for you! 

If you look at any photo on your Instagram professional account, you can see how many people saved your post and the percent of people who weren’t following you that saved your post. You can also see how accounts found you, which can be very beneficial with how you are targeting your ICA. 

Posts are deemed ‘save-worthy’ when the post brings value that your ICA  wants to learn from or share later on. There are three things that can be deemed ‘save-worthy’. There are tutorials, inspirational posts  and educational posts.

• Tutorials teach someone how to do things.  
• Inspiration can be in the form of beautiful photos for your ICA, to draw ideas from, or even an inspirational quote that resonates.
• Educational posts are saved when people want to learn more about something, whether it’s trending or it has been on their mind for a while. So they save it, and then they might want to come back and read about it later. 

PRO-TIP: When you’ve created a “save-worthy” posts TELL the viewers to SAVE IT! i.e. in your caption write “save this post.”

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Getting more saves, something that your ICA can easily revert back to, is key to increasing your engagement and in turn beating the Instagram algorithm. Which will lead to more followers, and it will help you turn your followers into customers because in the end, when we start engaging with our clients and giving them saveable content, for instance, then they start thinking of us as a great resource and they want to work with us. 

So next time you are engaging on Instagram, like, comment, share AND save! This can increase someone else’s engagement! When creating your own content, make sure these actions are being taken as well.

If you need help with creating an authentic post that increases your engagement, head to my blog that gives 5 Hacks to Create an Authentic Instagram post. 

Let’s beat this dang algorithm, one save at a time!