Written In Sunlight owner Adria Oelofse. Photo / Supplied
Bay of Plenty businesses relying on social media marketing say the return of Instagram's chronological feed could help give them more exposure online.
But they say quality content and frequent posts would still play a big part in how often they were seen on social media.
Instagram Comms last month announced on Twitter it was working on an option for chronologically ordered feeds, with more information coming early this year.
The Tweet read: "We want people to have meaningful control over their experience... we're working on another option to see posts from people you follow in a chronological order."
Instagram Comms clarified on its Twitter post it was providing people with choices to work for them but was not switching everyone to a chronological feed.
Mount Maunganui ethical fashion brand, Written In Sunlight owner Adria Oelofse believed the adjustment would benefit her business, which was heavily marketed through Instagram.
"I'm having a lot of issues with the algorithm, and my most recent posts have reached only 6 per cent of my followers.
"Small company owners are under a lot of pressure to create/publish a lot of content for their content to get seen. It's unrealistic for me because managing our social media is one of the many things I have to allocate my time to.
"Having a chronological feed again will allow me to spend less time on social media while still ensuring that my content is viewed by individuals who prefer to have their feed in this format.
"Because of the chronological feed, the most active period of the day when my followers are on the platform will actually be relevant. Currently, it appears that the time of day I post has no impact on the reach of my posts."
Oelofse said she wasn't sure how she would manage the new alternatives.
"Overall, having at least a few followers on a chronological feed will reduce some of the stress. It means I won't have to worry about the algorithm as much as I do now.
"When this comes into play, the way I manage our social media will undoubtedly have to adapt. I'll have to be more deliberate with what I post to account for individuals that have their feed based on relevancy."
Collab Digital strategy director Brent Ireland said the chronological option was "going to be great for the audience overall".
"It moves to showing you what the people that you are connected with are posting in the order that it's posted."
Ireland said businesses would get higher visibility with more chance for their content to show up and more control in how they reached their audience.
However, he said quality content and frequently posting was still the big decider of how often you were seen.
"The only issue with a chronological feed is that if someone hasn't logged on for a few days, they could log on and then see content that's a few days old."
Ireland said some of his clients were frustrated with the current algorithm causing low visibility, "unless you're paying, it's pretty much a shoo-in that your content probably won't be seen".
He said the current algorithm meant a lot of posts got lost.
"You're not even seeing that content, you're only seeing stuff that you are likely to engage with."
Ireland said Instagram's current algorithm "will serve you a quantity of posts that you know you're interested in" based on historic activity.
He said if someone often engaged with negative content, such as anti-vax, suicide or racism, the current algorithm recognises that activity and shows similar content.
Tauranga art business Drawing the Way co-owner, who only wanted to be named Pilla, said a chronological algorithm gave more control of when to post. "You manage your time and the time you think your audience will be on Instagram.
"But on the other hand, with this algorithm, we personally reached people that were not following us but many that have been with us for years suddenly are not seeing our posts.
"If you are already following someone I imagine that you have any kind of interest in them, even though Instagram decides that you won't be interested."
Co-founder of Rotorua's Secret Spot Keith Kolver said the chronological option would provide a good mix of audience, some with relevancy feeds and some with chronological.
Secret Spot had to increase the volume of Instagram posts because of the relevancy algorithm, "more posts, but each post is getting less awareness, it's just a matter of putting more volume out".
Kolver believed the option for chronological feed would be an improvement.
"They get to see what they want, relevant, timely and have a better experience so hopefully they'll watch the Instagram more," in turn creating more exposure.
"It'll be good having that mix because one way you retain those loyal followers but then, on the other hand, you get to be exposed to more people, it will balance out at the end of the day."