Hey Team
Due to the ridiculous state of the world, I have no choice but to use Instagram again in order to find paid work. Times are tough. So much for my initial strategy on How to Get Zero Action Blocks & Error Messages Ever…
But I digress.
I’ve had a thought for quite some time as to why our accounts experience significantly reduced reach as a result of automation.
Consider these few general statements which are, for the most part, accurate:
1. People who automate generally receive lower interactions on their posts in the long run.
2. People who automate generally like a combination of irrelevant and relevant posts to their niche.
3. Some people who automate generally like a variety of completely irrelevant posts to their niche.
4. The algorithm determines who sees your posts based on who and what you interact with.
5. The algorithm determines what you are shown in the search and feed, depending on who and what you interact with.
Reduced Reach Due to Automation
Here’s my theory:
Automation results in reduced reach because your account likes a bunch of random posts that are permanently stored in your account history. This influences permanently, what you are shown in your feed, and to whom your own posts are shown, provided you are still liking / saving those posts, no matter how old they are.
I’ve tested this on my own personal account over many years.
I have tens of thousands of posts liked due to automation from years ago and they STILL to this day affect what I’m shown in my feed, even if I like new posts that are in my niche, and even if I continually select ‘not interested in this’ in the feed on posts I’m not interested in. In a matter of hours or days I’m back to square one in the search.
I’ll now be unliking and unsaving everything I’ve ever engaged with over a period of years to check whether or not it restores my account health. It’s a long game, but it could reveal some answers.
It makes sense to me that if I’ve liked a bunch of low quality posts that have nothing to do with music, Instagram isn’t going to show my posts to musicians just because I use music hashtags. It’s a complex algorithm with many strands, and it seems to base things heavily upon your general history of engagement, as far as I can tell.
Has anyone tried completely cleaning an account and starting over from zero likes, saves and follows to see if it improves reach?
Obviously the route to take thereafter would be completely manual action, engaging with the top content in your niche only.
Let me know your thoughts on this.