Uncover The Mystery Behind Instagram’s Reels Algorithm

Summary

There are many ways to  understand the Instagram Reels Algorithm. You need to measure four factors: relationships, timeliness, relevance, and popularity. There are seven says to get your Instagram Reels Content shown in feeds: 

1] Write catchy captions 

2] Use trending music 

3] Focus on niche-specific content 

4] Use the correct hashtags 

5] Create a visual appeal 

6] Share consistently 

7] Grab their attention fast 

Using Instagram Reels effectively can help you reach new audiences and expand your reach. Though what does and doesn’t go viral on Instagram Reels must seem mysterious, there are specific methods that can be categorized into achievable steps.

Keep reading to understand how Instagram’s Reels algorithm works, and how to improve your reach. 

How To Understand the Instagram Reels Algorithm?

The Reels algorithm ideally measures four different factors: relationships, timeliness, relevance, and popularity.

Relationships

When we say relationships, we mean how you interact with other users and vice versa, do people look for you or search for you by name? Do you comment on other Instagram account posts, and do users or followers comment on yours? 

The more someone interacts with your profile, the higher the chance of your Reel appearing on their page. That means you need to up your engagement game if your goal is to grow your audience using Instagram Reels. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean new accounts or new people can’t discover you. There are other metrics too. 

Timeliness

Instagram’s Reels algorithm prioritizes new content over old content. What’s old and new? Roughly week-old to month-old content and older is termed old. This is the reason why timing your content posts is crucial.  By doing so, you can get the most eyes on your content, resulting in the most engagement. 

Relevance

Instagram usually intends to cater to each profile’s interests. In short, they want your content to feel relevant to each profile. How does the Reels algorithm determine relevance? By observing and analyzing what a profile user has previously engaged with. If your content is way outside a profile user’s interest, Instagram won’t show it to the user.

This works in your favor because you want people to engage with your content (as opposed to scrolling past it).

Popularity

Instagram also searches for popular posts, i.e., measuring engagement by shares, likes, comments, etc. 

Understanding Engagement Metrics

Speaking of engagement, Instagram’s Reels algorithm measures engagement in five core ways: 

Accounts Reached

Accounts Reached simply shows the number of unique Instagram users engaging with your Reel. This metric aims to display the potential of your Reel’s reach across different audiences. 

If you notice your account reach is much higher than usual, this can be a sign of minor virality. It could mean Instagram thought your Reel was good enough for the Explore or Top Reels page. 

You should know that the Accounts Reached metric is different from the Impressions metric. The two are often thought of as the same thing, which can hamper your rise to popularity. Reach refers to individuals, while Impressions refer to the number of times your Reel was shown to different accounts. 

Let’s say one person has five different Instagram accounts, and they watch your Reel. You’ll see that your Accounts Reached metric is only showing one account while it has five impressions. This is because your reach indicates the number of unique (or first-timer) people who have seen your content. 

Plays (and Watch Completion)

Plays is the number of times users have played your Reel. If you notice your Plays are higher than your Accounts Reached numbers, that can mean some accounts are watching your Reel multiple times.

Reels are a great platform to showcase certain types of content, and Plays will guide you on how to do this effectively.

Similar to Plays, there’s also a Watch Completion metric, which shows how many people watched your Reel entirely. This is an important distinction from Plays, as Plays can be counted even if a user only watches a few seconds. 

Likes & Comments

Because these metrics are already familiar, we combined them into one section. Likes are, of course, a metric that shows how many people pressed Like on your Reel. It’s a sign of engagement and popularity.

When people leave comments on your Reels, it indicates that your content has encouraged them to react or express their views. Remember, however, that your content may affect some people positively and others negatively. 

A nice byproduct of comments is that they cause your content to appear on other people’s accounts. For example, when an influencer John comments on your Reel, his followers will see your Reel in their feeds and his comment. If John has 1 million followers, your Reel will appear in their feeds. 

Saves

Saves refers to how many times users have saved your Reel to watch later. It is the Instagram version of ‘bookmarked content’. This metric tells Instagram that your content is valuable to the viewer and that it should be shown on more accounts.  

Shares

Your Share metric will show you each time someone shares your Reel. Sharing lets Instagram know your content is interesting enough that a user thinks other people can benefit from it. Eventually, this leads to the platform sharing your content as well. 

7 Ways to Get Your Instagram Reels Content Shown

Here are seven useful tips to expand your Reel’s reach: 

1. Write Catchy Captions

Despite being a visual-centric social media platform, attention-grabbing captions still matter when making Instagram Reels. The best way to get your content or Reel to rank for certain keywords (words people use to search for something) is to write good captions. 

Creating catchy captions requires a balance of art and practicality. Remember that you are writing for real people, not just search algorithms. 

2. Use Trending Music

Take advantage of the fact that Reels are both visual and convey sound by having the latest trending sound clip in the background of your video. Whether it’s part of a song or a funny sound effect, adding popular background noise can bring you closer to the trending page, leading to more followers, comments, and likes. 

3. Focus on Niche-Specific Content

You can’t appeal to everyone—no matter how hard you try, which is why it’s wise to focus on niche-specific content. By narrowing your focus, you can create content that appeals to that niche’s audience and develop a relationship with them.

You’ll also be able to create a solid identity and establish credibility within the niche. Instagram likes to highlight experts, which makes your stuff more likely to be seen. This will lead more people to follow you, thus, expanding your reach. 

4. Use the Correct Hashtags

Hashtags are still the best way for people to discover content on Instagram. Make sure to include quality hashtags in your Reel's caption. The caption should describe your Reel using specific and broad descriptive words. 

Hashtags help the Reels algorithm choose what content goes to which user. So use hashtags well and train the algorithm. On average, 3-5 hashtags work best for Reels, though using more or less may be effective for your content.

5. Create A Visual Appeal

How do you make people want to watch your Instagram Reels? Make it visually appealing and charm Instagram’s Reels algorithm. Simple things like always shooting vertically, ensuring the quality is high, and adding colorful filters can vastly improve your Reel’s reach. 

 Different ways to enhance visual appeal include:

• Cinematic shots

• Filters

• Illustrations

• Captions

• Product shots

Example: Yakima Cleverly Places Products in Reels  Car rack brand Yakima generates Instagram Reels using sports-related content like hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing while placing its products organically in that content.

6. Share Consistently 

Do you want more people to see your Reels?  Have a consistent upload/share schedule and spread your content everywhere. When you share your Reel, it will only be in the Reels feed, but you can spread its reach by sharing it on your main feed and even as an Instagram story. 

Instagram is looking for consistent content and promotes consistent creators. Consistency shows you are reliable and creates curiosity among your audience about the time and type of your posts. This leads them to look you up more often. 

7. Grab Their Attention Fast

Users have a lot to look at on Instagram. You need a hook to make them pause their scrolling. This is called a hook because you want to pull a viewer in (kind of like a fish). 

To hook Instagram users, do the following:

• Using bright visuals

• Attention-grabbing sounds