Instagram deploys an algorithm to determine the Posts, Stories, IGTVs, and Reels its users see in their respective feeds. That algorithm, in general, considers the following factors:

1️⃣ Historical Relationship: IG personalizes your feed based on your past interactions w/ other IG users: Likes, Saves, Comments, Shares, Views, Swipes, Messages, etc.

2️⃣ Interest & Format Preferences: IG monitors the subjects (e.g. sports, humor, etc.) that commonly elicit your reactions (e.g. likes, saves, etc.) as well as the types of posts (e.g. stories, carousels, short, or long vids, etc.) w/ which you most frequently engage.

3️⃣ Timeliness/Recency: recently published posts and/or stories always get an extra lift—algorithmically speaking.

4️⃣ Post Popularity: posts/stories with more engagement (e.g. likes, comments, etc.) are awarded higher algorithmic priority—duh! 🙄.

Technically, IG applies different algorithms on each of its different feeds: Home, Stories, Reels, and Explore. The Reels and Explore feeds are much more interest-based. So think hashtags and location-tags by which users can discover content they care about.

The Home and Stories feeds tend to be more relationship-dependent. So here’s the simple tip: if you wanna prime your followers to see your posts/stories in their respective feeds—be the first to engage!

Go on the offense and DM them, view their stories, comment, save, like, and share their posts! Remember, reciprocity is human nature. They’ll reply to your comments, they’ll DM you back—and when they do—Instagram’s gonna prioritize your content.

Resolve to become a conversation starters and the algorithm will essentially hand you a mic 🎤 For example…

A. Reply to EVERY comment (ASAP)
B. Initiate 10+ comments a day AND share someone else’s post to your stories
C. DM-reply a “thanks for sharing!” message to anyone/everyone who shared your post to their stories.
D. Send a DM reply to anyone who interacts with a story sticker (e.g. polls, quizzes, countdowns, etc.)