The Instagram Stories algorithm operates differently from the algorithms used for reels and posts. For companies like casinos, staffing agencies, country clubs, and other service-based businesses, understanding how Instagram Stories are ranked will help improve your reach, boost engagement, and ultimately attract more clients, customers, and leads.
What Influences Instagram Story Placement?
Top 5 Key Ranking Factors
Instagram uses a variety of factors to determine which stories appear at the top of users' feeds. Paying attention to these factors can significantly impact your business’s social media strategy:
Original Content vs. Reposts: Original content is favored by the Instagram Stories algorithm. This means businesses should focus on creating fresh, engaging content rather than relying on reposting from other accounts or simply resharing your feed post to your story.
Type of Media: Instagram evaluates photos and videos differently. While both have value, video content typically performs better, as it’s more engaging. For example, a staffing firm could be utilizing their stories to post behind-the-scenes videos, job tips, or interviews with staff which can humanize their brand and connect with potential candidates.
Face Visibility: Stories that feature someone’s face are more likely to be prioritized. Any service-based business could share personal videos where your team talks directly to your audience to build trust and increase visibility. Showing the real people behind your company helps build authenticity and relatability.
Consistency in Posting: Consistent posting is critical to staying relevant. All service-based businesses should aim to post multiple stories throughout the day to maximize engagement. Spread your posts strategically across different times, such as morning, afternoon, and evening, to ensure you stay at the top of your audience’s feed.
Engagement Stickers: Instagram Stories include interactive stickers like polls, quizzes, and sliders that can drive higher engagement. These features help all types of businesses increase interaction with their followers. Engagement signals to the algorithm that your content is valuable, which in turn increases its visibility.
Use Engagement Stickers to Increase Interaction
Engagement stickers are a simple but powerful tool that will help you drive interaction. Polls, quizzes, sliders, and questions can invite your audience to participate actively and share their thoughts. A lot of businesses skip over this because they think their feed posts are enough, but in reality - people tend to check on stories and then reels before scrolling through the OG post feed (shoutout to those that were on IG when there was only one feed, LOL).
For example:
Polls can ask your audience which service they prefer or need at the moment, which will also give you direct insight into your customer’s preferences.
Sliders can be used for informal feedback, such as gauging interest in specific topics like "How interested are you in learning about the latest [XYZ in your industry]?"
The more engagement you can drive, the algorithm will rank your stories higher on people’s story feeds.
IG Story Views - How To Get Your Content to Show First
The Instagram Stories algorithm prioritizes content from accounts that users have previously interacted with.
By consistently providing valuable and engaging content, you’ll be encouraging your audience to interact with your stories, which increases the chances of your stories being shown to them again at the top of the list.
Taps, replies, shares, and even swipe-aways are all engagement signals that influence how the algorithm ranks your stories.
Freshness: Why Timing Matters
Instagram prioritizes recent stories. Service-based businesses should be posting new content on a daily basis to stay on top of users’ feeds. Remember - stories don’t have to be as over the top or informational as feed posts - they can simply be a snapshot of what you’re working on or something cool you see that can relate back to your business.
Posting at peak times can help your content be seen more - use your analytics tools to see when your followers are most active. Spread story posts out throughout the day to maintain relevance and consistent visibility.
We know it feels like a lot of work to be doing all this for no one else to see the likes someone leaves on your story, but we promise - people ARE paying attention to IG stories and being good about posting them on a regular basis will drive in even more brand awareness and will create a better understanding of who and what’s behind your company.
Engagement Metrics & How To Get Your IG Stories Seen
How to Boost Your IG Story Visibility
Engagement & reach are typically the main social media goals for any business. The more your audience interacts with your IG stories, the more the Instagram algorithm will promote them to those who haven’t seen them yet. High engagement metrics, such as taps, replies, and shares, tell the algorithm that your stories are valuable, which in turn gives your stories a better chance of reaching more users.
Even negative action data, like swipe-aways, can be used to adjust future story strategies. For example, if viewers often swipe away from certain content (like feed reposts), it might indicate that they find it less engaging, prompting you to re-evaluate and adjust your approach.
Reset the Algorithm to Increase IG Story Visibility
If you notice that your story views are dropping, consider taking a short break to reset the algorithm. If you “spam” your stories - AKA post a bunch of things all at once, chances are people don’t have the patience to tap through each and every one. Waiting 24 hours for your current stories to expire before posting new content can help reset your ranking. Make sure that your first post after the break is engaging, such as a poll or an exciting announcement.
Next Steps
Instagram Stories offer a unique opportunity to connect with your audience in a more informal and engaging way. Leveraging the Instagram Stories algorithm can help you increase your reach, boost engagement, and ultimately grow your service-based business through marketing.
Focus on factors like consistency, using engagement stickers, and posting when your audience is active to improve your visibility on the platform.
Don’t have the time to post your own stories? Reach out to us to see how we can build you a strong social media strategy that we’ll execute for you!
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