If you’re thinking about what type of content you need to be posting to get more traction on Instagram for 2023, you’ll want to continue making Reels (videos), but you’ll be happy to know that photos which took a backseat last year, are getting some love from the app again.
As reported on by The Verge, Chief, Adam Mosseri went on record in January to state that they’d made a mistake. “I think we were overfocused on video in 2022 and pushed ranking too far and basically showed too many videos and not enough photos.”
It’s nice that they realized the error of their ways – or maybe as written about in this article by Vox, they were finally listening to users’ complaints.
Whatever the case, no one likes a copycat – those that are successful are for the most part 100% themselves – after all you can’t be anyone but you and if you try to be someone else, you’re nothing but a cheap imitator that can’t come close to the original. Some copying is fine, but when you go too far, you’re no longer you and you’ll never be as good as the one you’re imitating.
And this is what happened to Instagram last year – they became a watered-down version of TikTok and pissed off a lot of people in the process.
Don’t get too excited though, the platform isn’t going to stop pushing videos, but at least they’ve already made changes and their metrics are telling them it’s successful: “Things like how often someone likes photos versus videos and how often someone comments on photos versus videos are roughly equal, which is a good sign that things are balanced,” Mosseri said. “To the degree that there is more video on Instagram over time, it’s going to be because that’s what’s driving overall engagement more. But photos are always going to be an important part of what we do.”
This means you can return to making photos a part of your content focus instead of having to constantly be churning out videos. This is good news for cammers because creating quality videos is a lot more expensive and time consuming than snapping some pics.
Vox interviewed Annie Rauwerda the college student behind the 1.1. million follower account – Depths of Wikipedia – and she said it best: “I hate making videos… it takes 20x longer to make a video.” Sure, professional shoots can cost money, but off-the-cuff photos and selfies can get just as many likes, love and interest as expensive shoots.
So, get snapping!
Photo credit: iStock.com/hapabapa
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Alyssa Collins hails from Minnesota, where snowy days were the perfect excuse to stay warm inside and write. Over the years, she turned that joy into a career and has authored numerous articles for various publications (under pen names). Email Alyssa via alyssa@ynot.com.
