In 2019, Instagram is an undeniably powerful marketing tool -- in fact, it now has over one billion active users, making it one of the top social media platforms.
For many marketers, Instagram is a critical component of their marketing strategy. There are 25 million business profiles on Instagram, and 60% of Instagram users say they've learned of a product or service through the platform.
However, the popularity of the platform makes it difficult for brands to stand out and attract a large audience. Fortunately, there is an opportunity for you to reach a new audience quickly -- Instagram's Explore Page.
Here, we'll dive into what exactly the Explore Page is, as well as six tricks you can use to get your posts and Stories featured on the page for maximum exposure.
Embed videos and music
Create galleries to showcase a media collection
Customize the look of your media by making it widescreen or small and easily align media inside your posts.
What is the Instagram Explore Page?
In a 2019 press release, Instagram's Explore Page is described like this --"People turn to Explore when they want to branch out from the accounts they already follow on Instagram."
You'll find the Explore page in the search section of Instagram (by clicking the magnifying glass logo):
Instagram continues to make updates and changes to its Explore page. Now you can find both IGTV and Shopping shortcuts within the Explore Page, topic channels that make it easier to browse posts, and Stories -- all on one page.
As previously mentioned, this page is tailored to a user's estimated preferences, based on previous activity on Instagram -- my Explore Page, for instance, has a suspicious amount of cute cat-related posts.
Additionally -- and most importantly for brands -- the posts I see in the Explore Page aren't from accounts I already follow. They're all from new ones.
Instagram Explore Page Algorithm
The Explore Page uses a special algorithm to select which posts get featured. It takes into consideration a variety of factors that allow your content to get selected by monitoring engagement with your posts and the niche categories that your posts fall under.
From what we can observe about the algorithm, here are some of the top conclusions we can draw about it:
1. The top input for the algorithm is based on the content the viewer already follows and engages with in their personal feed. The app takes note of these interests and tries to provide similar content that would match or expand on these interests. This means that if someone likes a post from a brand with similar content to yours, you might also begin to show up in their Explore section.
For instance, I recently took a look at HelloFresh on Instagram. When I perused my Explore Page a few days later, I saw posts from competitive accounts like Blue Apron and Home Chef.
2. Instagram is moving in a more video-oriented direction, so it appears that videos tend to rank higher in the Explore algorithm. The auto-play feature on the videos also means they draw more attention than still pictures, increasing the likelihood of interaction and bumping them up in the input.
3. Other key factors in boosting a post's likelihood of showing up in the algorithm include stories that focus on visuals over text, and content that is most closely related to the main focus of your account.
4. Reposts don't do as well as they are usually not picked up by the algorithm.
Once you understand these key aspects of the algorithm, you can use them to help generate the highest quality content possible to best ensure that you'll end up on Explore Pages everywhere.
How to Get on Instagram's Explore Page
Use hashtagsTag people or brands
Follow viral trends
Use calls-to-action
Don't repost
Focus on video content, or add motion to still content
Contact us to and let's chat about your company's IG strategy.