Earlier this year, the social media giant, Instagram introduced an algorithm change that switched users feeds from chronological to 'best posts first'. When it was first announced many people and small businesses, who were already effectively using Instagram, were extremely frustrated with the change. They'd already experienced this type of feed on Facebook (the owner of Instagram) and weren't happy with it. So much so that they even managed to create a petition to keep Instagram chronological which got nearly 400,000 signatures. Now of course this petition did nothing, but they were certainly on the right track - considering the update may be contributing factor to the 33% drop in engagement (that's likes and comments) this year.
Now that we've had over 8 months to learn about and adapt to this change, here are a few things that I feel the algorithm takes into consideration when determining where your post ranks in another user's feed.
Timing
While it may no longer be the number one factor of feed ranking, I think it still plays a major role. Of course the more recent your post, the higher its chance of being put at the top of others news feeds. With older posts tending to fade away.
Previous Interactions
Essentially the more someone has interacted with your account in the past or the more you've interacted with theirs, the more likely your post is to appear at the top of their feed.
Mutual Friends
The algorithm also takes into consideration your following and followers. I've found the more accounts you have in common with another user, the higher your content will rank on their feed and vice versa.
Engagement
Without a doubt in my mind, this is the most important point when it comes to determining a user's post feed. Now the amount of likes, comments and views your post is able to generate is going to servery determine its place in the feed. I've experimented with this theory by buying likes from Gramlike, an Instagram service. I found that the more likes your content is able to generate, the higher it will rank in feeds. As these posts had an increase of natural engagement compared to posts without the extra likes.
However, I believe it also has to do with the percentage of likes to followers. The higher the percentage of followers that like your post, the worthier it seems to Instagram and hence the higher it goes in the feed. I discovered this after ruining one of my old Instagram accounts by buying followers. The added followers of course never engaged with my posts. This lead to less natural engagement because it was placed lower in the feeds due the fact that I had a smaller percentage of followers interacting with my post.
With all being said, knowing a little more about the Instagram feed algorithm can certainly help you increase your engagement on Instagram. However, as it was before the change occurred, the best way to maximize your engagement is to post quality content and to always be engaging with your followers.