The basic expectation from social media marketing is to appear to the eyeballs with similar interests. But, what is the use if you consistently post content on top social media platforms and yet are unable to reach destined viewers?
Social media like Instagram come with a sophisticated algorithm that filters out irrelevant posts and shows up the content similar to their interests and searches. Today, Instagram is one of the efficacious ways for marketers to connect with their audiences and reach new ones by optimizing the Instagram Explore feed.
In online marketing, posting about your product or services on the profile is not enough. There is a lot more than that. In this article, you will walk through how to optimize your account and content to appear on Instagram search.
Before hopping, let us dig a bit more into essential aspects of the Instagram algorithm of being visible on search.
Instagram Algorithm
Search is built to help users find accounts or official profiles of brands and other topics of their interest. It is different from Feed, Stories, Reels, and Explore, as here, the entered input helps the algorithm filter the stuff and figure out what to show.
Why is it different from the Explore page algorithm?
While often referred to as a single feature, Explore and Search represent two different functionalities for the users to find your brand on the platform.
Search on Instagram is equivalent to the SERPs that allows users to search for information using the built-in search function on the platform. The search option also provides users to search for profiles based on different categories. It helps the users to search with standalone keywords, search for top posts, people (@account_name), tags (#hashtag), and places (location tags).
Instagram Explore can be termed as the discovery engine of the platform designed to serve up curated content such as new topics, shoppable posts, and IGTV recommendations based on viewers’ interests, connections, and engagement history.
The Benefits of Appearing in Instagram’s Search Features
The suggested accounts after clicking on the search, are based on several criteria, and some of them are:
- The search history of the user. Probably the top three accounts would be according to the recent search.
- Similars — If a person hunts for a relevant keyword.
- Location — It also depends on the area to which the person belongs.
Being featured on the Instagram search results is a free yet great way to expand your brand’s reach to people outside your existing follower base.
Brands have an opportunity to drive engagement and growth among users with interests in common with their current followers as Instagram’s algorithm is designed to serve its users with content that aligns with their interests.
Here are the key parameters for brands to make themselves visible in the search region:
- Use accurate profile name - Instagram's search results are predominantly matched by text. Using a handle or profile name related to the content of your posts is best for showing up in relevant searches. Instagram also advises that if your fans or clients know you by a particular name or by your famous product, include that in your username or profile so that you show up when they search for you. It makes it easier for people to land your page without ending up clicking your competitors’ accounts.
- Include relevant keywords and locations in your bio - Ensure that your bio includes keywords about who you are and what your profile is about, which will also help improve your discovery potential.
- Use relevant keywords and hashtags in your captions - For a post to be found in Search, put specific keywords and relevant hashtags in the caption, not in the comments.
To guide you more, we have enlisted a few common mistakes commonly done by the marketers in terms of what Instagram looks to downrank in search matches.
- Using content that depicts cosmetic procedures
- Content with exaggerated health claims.
- Content that attempts to sell products or services based on health-related claims, such as promoting supplements to help a person in bodybuilding, increasing stamina, and so.
- Posts that promote misleading business models that include payday loans or risk-free investments
- Posts consist of sexually explicit or suggestive content on your account, such as pictures of people in see-through clothing.
- Promoting products in your posts like tobacco, vaping products, adult products, or pharmaceutical drugs
- Using unoriginal content without the owner’s consent
- Content that promotes giveaways or any such contest
Wrapping Words
With the vast reach of Instagram, marketers seek to approach the audience by hook or crook, and here they end up digging a grave for themselves. We hope from this article that you avoid such errors and create optimized content that will lead you to show up on an Instagram search.
