Replying to Posts on Instagram (And a Bonus Tip)
The next tab we will look at is the search tab. I know it’s not really its own tab but it will become its own tab when you search. The search tab can be used in a few different ways.
First let’s talk about what you will see when you search something. On the first screen you will see top results, which is a mix of the most popular people, and tags. If you haven’t typed anything into search it will show you your previous searches. In the next 3 columns you will see people, tags, and places. Do a quick look at the order of people and tags, you may not notice something strange about it. It is not in alphabetical order, in order of the newest post, or in order of popularity.
So what is the order based on? Remember, we said yesterday that the discover page is based on things you specifically are interested. I had a feeling that search was based on the same algorithm, then I found this article, which says exactly that, Instagram uses Facebook graph search to pull up results within search. So you need to keep this in mind, that just because you see a result first, doesn’t mean that someone else will see that same result on top.
At the same time, you should keep in mind that if you are using Instagram like your potential followers are, following the right people, then there is a good chance you will have things placed in a somewhat similar order to them. So, if you notice hashtags not in popularity order this is probably out of order for your potential customers as well, and even though a specific hashtag is used more it doesn’t mean that it will rank higher, and therefore searched more by a customer. To give a real life example, I searched business into tags and the first seven results were:
#business 8,169,143
#businessman 540,608
#businessowner 394,418
#businesscasual 87,705
#businesses 51,699
#businesswoman 704,046
#businessclass 173,584
Isn’t it weird that #businesscasual showed up so high on the list? I took a look at #businesswoman and most of the posts are businesses using the hashtag to get people to notice the hashtag, while #businesscasual is mostly people using the hashtag showing off their work clothes. Instagram knows the difference, and so will actual people. Use this to your advantage. Post pictures that are less sales pitches, more casual postings, like a normal person would, and your posts will go farther, getting you more reach, more followers, and more brand awareness.
My next tip (on Sunday) is going to be a groundbreaking tip, different than what you have heard from most marketing gurus. Prepare to be shocked.
Also, I am actually curious to know, for people that use Instagram casually can you answer these questions:
- Do you use hashtags in your posts?
- If yes, how many?
- Do you use search to look up hashtags?
- Do you actually click on hashtags in other people’s posts?
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