Option for chronological Instagram feed hopes to increase views for businesses

Brent Ireland, Collab Digital strategy director. Photo / Supplied

There's new hope for businesses that rely on Instagram marketing, with the social media platform's announcement that it will bring back the option for a chronological feed.

With more posting but fewer views, businesses can struggle with Instagram's current algorithm based on relevancy.

On December 9, Instagram Comms on Twitter announced that it is working on an option for chronologically ordered feeds with more information coming early 2022.

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 in its Tweet that it was providing people with choices to work for them but was not switching everyone to a chronological feed.

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 co-founder Keith Kolver. Photo / Supplied

Secret Spot had to increase the volume of Instagram posts due to 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.

"It's a better experience for the customer because they're seeing what's new and relevant continually rather than the filters that are imposed, 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 gives people a choice of how they want to engage.

"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."

Regardless of which algorithm followers chose, Kolver said, "It's about frequency and content is king ... if you don't tell the world your story well then they don't get to hear about your story."

Tauranga's Collab Digital strategy director Brent 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 that 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."

Brent Ireland, Collab Digital strategy director. Photo / Supplied

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 the problem with the current algorithm was if someone was often engaging with negative content the algorithm would recognise that activity and show you more similar content.

Ireland said the chronological option is "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".

He 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, quality content and frequently posting were still the big deciders of how often you were seen, Ireland said.

"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."

A spokeswoman for Pig and Whistle marketing said the relevancy based algorithm "certainly plays a role in reaching Rotorua locals as well as tourists".

"Timing makes a large difference ... if we can nail the timing of when our users are online, I'd love to hope that it [chronological feeds] would affect us positively and allow us to spread the community focus, seasonal menus, live music and all other exciting updates to users."

The spokeswoman said its posts were likely to get lost with the current algorithm due to the habits of users and thought they may pick up more traction once they're in chronological order.

In terms of a relevancy based feed, she said: "From a business perspective it makes it difficult to reach targeted users when you are so far down the scrolling rabbit hole."

Mount Maunganui ethical fashion brand, Written In Sunlight owner Adria Oelofse is currently having a lot of issues with the algorithm: "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 in order for their content to get seen. It's unrealistic for me in particular because managing our social media is one of the many things I have to allocate my time to.

Written In Sunlight owner Adria Oelofse. Photo / Supplied

"Having a chronological feed again will allow me to spend less time on social media while still ensuring that my content is viewed.

"Because of the chronological feed, the most active period of day when my followers are on the platform, will actually be relevant."

Oelofse wasn't sure how she would manage an audience with different feed algorithms: "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."