Instagram Changes Your Greenhouse Needs to Know About

Social media platform algorithms are constantly changing, so your strategies must change with them. We know that we serve small businesses whose owners are managing their own marketing while maintaining every thing else. (Eg. business finances, choosing which products to sell, repairing system issues, growing the plants…) There have recenlty been some Instagram changes — so we’re here to keep you up to date with what’s going on!

A few months ago, Instagram changed its algorithm and began favoring reels, carousels, and accounts that post stories consistently. These changes presented our marketing department with a learning curve, so we hope to make the change easier for you by sharing what we’ve learned.

First, let’s define the terms we’re using:

Instagram Post: A single image posted to your Instagram profile that appears in your follower’s feed.

Instagram Reel– A video shared to Instagram, often containing sound bits or music and limited to 90 seconds long.

Instagram Carousel- An Instagram post consisting of multiple images, shared in a way that customers swipe to the left or right to see all images in the post.

Instagram Story– A post shared temporarily in the “story” section of your profile. These posts stay on your profile for 24 hours.

Instagram Algorithm– How social media platforms choose to sort posts on user’s feeds. A “feed” is a list of new content (usually posted by the accounts you follow) that you see when you first log on.

In the past, Instagram was for posting aesthetically pleasing images. The main rule of thumb you were to keep with Instagram was just posting consistently. While this rule of thumb remains, image posts are not enough to keep you at the top of your customer’s feed. Thanks to the new Instagram changes, Instagram now wants to see you posting stories and reels to interact with different functions of the platform while continuing to post consistently. This is a lot of content creation, so here is our strategy to make things easier while still appeasing Instagram.

Schedule it Out

We continue to post daily, Monday through Friday. That is five posts a week. At least one post a week is a reel and one post a week is a carousel. The other three posts typically are single-image posts. This allows us to post at least one reel a week without having to produce extra content. 

On top of this, we post two stories a week. We are producing weekly videos and blogs that we want to share on our stories, but if you don’t have the extra content, stories are a great opportunity for behind-the-scenes posts about what is going on in your greenhouse that day!

Instagram Changes: Extra Tips

• When you’re posting a reel, check out the sound bits Instagram provides. There are trending bits that will get your post in front of people’s eyes when you use them.
• Reels don’t have to be a fully edited video. They can be a slideshow of images highlighting products or events at your location. As long as it moves in some way, it can grab attention. Instagram’s integrated reel builder can help you put together a good post.
• Interaction with your customers is important. Make sure you are liking and responding to any comments on your page, and like and comment on other posts when you have the chance. Always like posts that customers created about you or shared from your feed!

These Instagram changes will be affecting our posting strategy for a while. But we’re sure things will change again. When they do, we’ll be here to keep you udated on the latest strategies.