Are you a brand that likes to show off visually? Chances are you’re using Instagram quite a bit. If so, chances are you’ve experienced a drop in your engagement in past few months. It’s a distressing and worrisome sight to see… but it’s probably not your fault! In fact, quite a few brands and individuals have reported such a drop. That’s right: you’re not alone if it happened to you. Instagram engagement is declining for everybody.
What exactly happened? Sadly, nobody’s figured out why.
The decline has been a little sharp since May. In April, it was 1.54%. In May, it dropped to 0.9%. Earlier in the year, it was 1.1%. Fashion influencers took a hefty hit, going from 4.3% in February to 2.4% in June. Instagram users and marketing agencies have taken notice and voiced their concerns. See the data on fashion influencers below:
Alex Micu, a marketing professional behind the famous Instagram Egg, started a Twitter discussion on this topic on May 31. He stated, “My feeling is they are completely culling organic reach and pushing their ads.”
The current #Instagram algorithm (as of summer 2019) is set to prioritize what posts seem most important to you. If you’re constantly liking pictures of cute kittens, Instagram will pick up on your adorable interest. #smm Click To Tweet
He was met with similar sentiments. Other users voiced noticing a cut in their likes and pondered what could be behind it.
Instagram Algorithm Change?
It seems reasonable to ascribe this to an algorithm change. However, Instagram has denied changing anything in this time period, as reported by The Drum. They haven’t been able to explain the distressing engagement drop.
Instagram also stated that users should be able to see 90% of their friends posts. That’s a much higher rate than when the feed was chronological. Here’s what they posted on their official Twitter:
The current Instagram algorithm (as of summer 2019) is set to prioritize what posts seem most important to you. If you’re constantly liking pictures of cute kittens, Instagram will pick up on your adorable interest. Every time you open the app, it’s likely that a newly posted cute kitty will be rolling around right at the top so you don’t miss it. Cute kittens and similar content will also be littered across your Explore page among other photos of content you’ve liked in the past.
What’s prioritized depends on your activity, not on the account type. That means you won’t be seeing a mega-influencer at the top of your feed a disproportionate amount of times. They’re not automatically favored just because of their fame and striking looks. Unless you’re liking every other picture they post, of course.
Have you noticed a your Instagram engagement declining? Maybe our social media strategists can help. Let us know what you need to counter this drop!
Who knows, maybe one day we’ll find out what happened. Until then, we can only try our best to create an awesome feed.
