Why Can I Not Post Videos on Instagram

How does the Instagram algorithm actually work?

It's a question that's caused a lot of confusion since Instagram moved away from a chronological feed.

In this blog post, we're sharing how the Instagram algorithm works for feed posts, stories, the Explore page, and Instagram Reels.

Plus, discover our top tips to "hack" the Instagram algorithm, so you can get more engagement for your business or brand.

The Instagram Algorithm in 2022

If you've spent any time researching Instagram strategy, you've probably read something about the ever-changing "Instagram algorithm."

However, there are multiple algorithms at play across the app – with each one tailored to deliver content that it believes will be of high-interest to users.

Keeping this in mind, once you understand how the algorithms actually work, you can tailor your content strategy to work alongside it.

We're sharing everything you need to know – but if you're short on time, check out this quick video on how to cheat the Instagram algorithm :

How the Instagram Algorithm Works for Feed Posts (including Video) in 2022

There are four key factors that influence the Instagram algorithm for feed posts — confirmed by Instagram themselves:

Information about the post: Is it a photo or a video? When was it posted? How many likes does it have?
Information about the poster: How interesting are they to you? Are they your friend? How often do people engage with their content?
Your activity: Do you tend to watch a lot of videos? What type of content do you typically engage with?
Your interaction history: Do you typically like or comment on the poster's posts?

Based on this information, Instagram's algorithm calculates how likely someone is to interact with a post, known as a score of interest, which ultimately determines the order in which posts are displayed in their feed.

But that's not all. They also take into consideration the likelihood of five important interactions. These key interactions help the algorithm determine feed ranking:

Time spent: Are you going to spend time on the post?
Likes: How likely are you to like the post?
Comments: How likely are you to comment on the post?
Saves: How likely are you to save the post?
Taps on Profile: How likely are you to tap on the profile after seeing the post?

"The more likely you are to take an action, and the more heavily we weigh that action, the higher up you'll see the post," says Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram.

"We add and remove signals and predictions over time, working to get better at surfacing what you're interested in."

The takeaway? If you create content that your community is likely to engage with, your posts will continue to be prioritized in their feeds.

TIP: Use analytics to see what content works (and doesn't work) and how your community is engaging with your posts over time.

With Later's Instagram Analytics , you can see your best performing content, calculate your engagement rates, and monitor key metrics — right on your desktop.

What Engagements Are Most Important to the Instagram Algorithm?

Engagement is key, especially when it comes to the Instagram algorithm.

But what are the most important metrics of engagement?

As we covered, Instagram considers how likely you are to comment, like, save, spend time, or tap on a profile.

Keeping this in mind, as you plan your content and captions — ask yourself these questions:

Is this post likely to be liked or commented on?
Is this a post someone would save and come back to?
Does this post include a CTA (for example, "Click the link in my bio") that will prompt someone to tap on your profile?

Creating content that will encourage this type of engagement can help you "hack" the Instagram algorithm for your benefit.

How the Instagram Algorithm Works for Instagram Stories in 2022

The Instagram algorithm works fairly similarly for Instagram Stories as it does for the feed.

Typically, Instagram Stories that appear at the start of your feed are from accounts that you engage with the most.

However, stories are designed to be binge-watched, so even if you're not right at the beginning of someone's stories feed, there's still a chance they'll swipe to your content.

With this in mind, it's a good idea to consistently post to Instagram Stories.

By posting to Instagram Stories more often, you have a better chance of reaching viewers as they browse their daily stories — and the more views you gain, the better your ranking will be.

ICYMI: You can schedule Instagram Stories with Later — so you never miss a chance to connect with your audience!

With Later, you can storyboard your content, add captions or links, collaborate with your team, visually plan and schedule Instagram Stories right from your desktop.

NOTE: You'll receive a mobile notification along with your pre-planned images, links, and captions when it's time to post.

Ready to start consistently posting Instagram Stories? Start planning and scheduling your Instagram Stories with Later today.

How the Instagram Algorithm Works for Instagram Reels in 2022

Knowing how to hack the Instagram Reels algorithm can be a huge advantage for anyone looking to grow on Instagram.

According to Instagram, brands and creators should create Reels that are entertaining, inspiring, or experimental and use creative tools like text, camera effects, or filters.

You should also avoid posting Instagram Reels that are low-resolution, too blurry, or are visibly recycled from other apps.

These types of Reels will be deprioritized — meaning they'll be less likely to appear on the Explore Page and Instagram Reels tab.

By following these tips, you'll stand a better chance of hacking the Instagram algorithm and reaching new audiences.

For an additional boost, we recommend sharing your Instagram Reels to your main feed, using hashtags to increase discoverability, and including captions to make your content more accessible.

Ready to level-up your Instagram Reels strategy? Bookmark this post for everything you need to know: The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Reels .

How the Instagram Algorithm Works on the Explore Page in 2022

Overall, the Explore page and the feed algorithm are quite similar — they both deliver content Instagram thinks you'll be most interested in, based on your prior interactions.

However, while your Instagram feed is made up of content from accounts you already follow, the Explore feed consists almost entirely of content from new accounts.

According to Instagram, "the most important actions we predict in Explore include likes, saves, and shares."

And the most important signals for the Explore Page algorithm are:

Information about the post. How popular is a post? How much engagement does it get — and how quickly? If a lot of people are liking, commenting, sharing, and saving a post, it's a huge indicator for the Explore Page's algorithm.
Your history of interacting with the person who posted. Have you interacted with this person or their content in the past (even if you don't follow them)?
Your activity. What type of content do you usually like, save, or share? How do you interact with posts in Explore?
Information about the person who posted. How many people have interacted with this person in the past few weeks?

The Explore page is constantly evolving, with new topic categories and advanced search functionalities being introduced all the time.

For example, you can now search by keywords, as well as hashtags, to discover feeds of relevant content:

This suggests that the Explore page algorithm also considers the actual visual content and words in your caption, rather than just the hashtags you use.

Fortunately, getting your posts onto the Instagram Explore page isn't as hard as you might think.

Remember: the Explore page algorithm is essentially trying to serve people the best, relevant content.

So by continually sharing engaging content with strong captions and niche hashtags, you're optimizing your posts for Explore page potential.

How the Instagram Algorithm Works for Business, Creator, and Personal Accounts in 2022

There have been rumors that the Instagram algorithm better serves certain accounts, with business accounts being favored.

However, it can be officially put to rest as Instagram confirmed in a series of Stories on the @creators account, that all account types are treated equally when it comes to the algorithms.

This means that regardless of whether you have a personal, creator, or business account, it won't make any difference to how the Instagram algorithm ranks your content.

That said, switching to an Instagram business account does come with its own set of perks — including the ability to Auto Publish your posts with Later.

6 Ways to Improve Your Ranking with the Instagram Algorithm in 2022

If you want to improve your ranking with the Instagram algorithm, the best thing you can do is drive as many interactions (likes, comments, saves, and clicks) as possible.

And by building momentum with your existing community, you'll soon find your content surfaced to new audiences.

Here are six ways to improve your algorithmic ranking and reach new audiences:

#1: Consistently Share Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels may be over 12 months old now, but they're still being heavily promoted by Instagram across the entire app experience.

Plus, Reels get twice as much real-estate in the Instagram Explore page – making them a major tactic for discovery and growth.

#2: Encourage More Interactions with Instagram Stories Stickers

Instagram Stories stickers are a great way to encourage audience engagement — and the more engagement your posts get, the higher they'll be boosted by the Instagram algorithm.

There are lots of Instagram stickers, but the best ones for driving engagement are the poll, emoji slider, and question stickers.

Poll and emoji slider stickers are a quick and easy engagement win, and can work for almost any business or brand.

Question stickers may not be as quick to take part in, but they can be just as good at driving genuine engagement with your audience, which is highly valuable for the Instagram algorithm.

TIP: Include a sticker on your first story for an added boost!

#3: Drive Conversations with Engaging Captions and Comments

Instagram has confirmed comments and likes are important when it comes to feed ranking — so it's a great idea to encourage as many as possible for your posts.

One of the best ways to do this? Write good captions that drive engagement.

As entrepreneur Elise Darma mentions in our free How to Write Engaging Instagram Captions workshop, including a call-to-action in your Instagram caption can help drive more interactions.

This could be as simple as asking your followers to share their thoughts, double-tap if they agree, tag a friend in the comments, or click the link in your bio.

Want to write more conversational captions? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Writing Good Instagram Captions .

#4: Optimize Your Hashtag Strategy

Adding hashtags to your posts is an effective way to reach more people on Instagram, which means more "views" for the Instagram algorithm to take into account.

And with a good hashtag strategy, you won't just reach more people — you'll reach people who are relevant to your business, and most likely to engage with your content.

In a recent Later study, we discovered that feed posts with 30 hashtags get the highest level of engagement on average. 30 hashtags may feel like a lot, but one way to discover new hashtags for your brand is by using Later's Hashtag Suggestions feature.

Hashtag Suggestions works by automatically finding relevant hashtags for your posts based on other hashtags you use.

All you have to do is know one relevant hashtag, put it into Hashtag Suggestions, hit "Suggest," and the feature will immediately generate 30 other hashtags, sorted by relevance.

Once you've found the best hashtags for your brand, you can use Later's Saved Captions feature to curate ready-made lists of hashtags that you can add to your post captions in seconds.

When it's time to schedule, simply select one of your Saved Captions to add it to your post.

#5: Cross-Promote Your Instagram Content

If you're looking for a quick and easy engagement win to help boost your algorithm ranking, cross-promoting your Instagram content is a great place to start.

As Instagram has grown, so too has the number of channels that you can share content: feed, stories, Guides, and Instagram Reels.

Instagram Collabs feed posts (with co-shared authorship) are also an incredible new way to reach new audiences.

Thanks to these different publishing channels, you can strategically use them to drive different audiences to your most recent content.

This could be as simple as sharing an enticing preview of a Reel to your feed, or even adding a feed post to Instagram Stories with a "Tap Here" GIF.

#6: Use Instagram Analytics to See What's Working

Tracking and monitoring how your content is performing on Instagram is one of the most reliable ways to take on the Instagram algorithm.

Having a better understanding of what's working (and what isn't) will help you come up with a finely tuned marketing plan, saving you time and effort in the long run.

But diving into your Instagram Analytics means more than just finding out which photo, video, or stories performed best.

Truly understanding how your content performs – by tracking key metrics over time – is vital to knowing what helps improve your ranking.

The easiest way to do this? Later's Analytics feature.

With Later's Instagram Analytics you get a visual overview of how your posts and stories are performing – all in an easy-to-use dashboard.

You'll find all of the must-have analytics from Instagram in a digestible format, as well as several extra data points — including your best time to post (available on all paid plans).

In Summary (Tl;dr)

Unfortunately, there's no surefire way to "beat" the Instagram algorithm in 2022.

However, you can use the tips we've shared in this post to help you create content that will trigger Instagram's signals and key factors.

If you create engaging feed posts, stories, and Reels, the Instagram algorithm will continue to serve your content to the right people.

Being consistent and building a genuine relationship with your followers is the most powerful way to "hack" the Instagram algorithm — and it will work wonders for your brand too.

Ready to plan your Instagram content in advance? Start scheduling with Later , the #1 visual marketing platform – for free !

Why Can I Not Post Videos on Instagram

Source: https://later.com/blog/how-instagram-algorithm-works/

Cook Caminarthe