Instagram is a social media mountain to climb- a huge mountain actually. Its new algorithm is useless for the casual Instagram user, and favors those who interact constantly with their followers and consistently post well rounded and solid content. One way to start climbing the mountain is to begin utilizing locations. If the following adds to your long laundry list of things to keep in  mind when managing your social media account, Responsival can help you manage all of these, too!

Locations are linked to your physical locations and add it to a collection of photos that  have the same location. When people search that location, your photo will appear with the others that added the same location. With this new algorithm, posts with a location result in 79% more engagement… need we say more?

How to Use Locations

Locations are extremely simple to add and they do so much to increase your posts’ engagement and transparency. There are two ways to use locations on Instagram, both are essential for increasing your rankings.

Posts

The most common way to use locations is to link them to your posts. This connects your physical location with stores, events, cities, etc. These locations are generated through Facebook. By doing this, people searching for the location will see your post.

Stories

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The other, more recent, method is on your Instagram stories. Instagram stories have tremendously grown in popularity the past few months and are extremely important to keep up to date.  By adding a location tag, people can see your location when they see your story. Pretty basic, and super easy to add to your posts!

Why to Use Locations

Adding locations to your Instagram routine can only help your brand and your ranking with the Instagram algorithm. Let’s get into the meat as to why and how it is so important  keeping your location consistently posted on your posts!

The Algorithm

With this new algorithm, the longer people spend looking and interacting with your post, the higher the ranking it earns. One way to increase time spent on your post is by adding a location. People will be more inclined to click on the location tag and on your profile, exploring more of your pictures. By increasing your interactions with your followers, the algorithm will place your pictures higher in your follower’s feed and more frequently  on the explore page.  

The algorithm also rewards people who use all of its magic tricks. Accounts who utilize all of Instagram’s capabilities are ranked higher,  thus benefiting from the algorithm more. By adding the location services to your posts, you are upping your chances of being at the top of your followers’ feeds and story line up.

Increases Engagement

Social media works best when you do exactly that… be social. With that said, increasing your social engagements with your followers not only gets your brand out there, but also increases the likelihood that your pictures will show up on the explore page and be first in people’s timelines. Adding a location enables your followers to start a conversation with your posts easier. People can comment that they love your location, and it more readily starts a dialogue.

The Explore Page

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On the explore page, you may have noticed that you can now check out stories and posts from locations near you. This is huge for location tagging. Now, people who are near your tagged location will automatically see your post if they are checking out that story. This is perfect for increasing post views, which will ideally bring in more business as well as increase your rankings on Instagram.

A little tip from The Later, tag popular destinations like cities, monuments, parks, etc. The more people look at these location tags, the more likely they are to see your post then! Not only will this bring in more likes for your picture, but it will increase how many people simply interact with- and see- your post.

Searching for Places

People these days are starting to use Instagram as a search engine. So what does that mean for your business then? People will search for types of restaurants or different stores based through Instagram locations. For example, if I was craving some Chinese food near me, I could search for Chinese food in the Instagram search bar. Places near me that have been tagged using the locations services will come up. I will  be likely to choose one of these places, especially if their tagged pictures look really good. This is so important for restaurants especially, because people these days love to see the beautiful food that people eat. I don’t know about you, but I am definitely more likely to go somewhere if I can see how delicious a restaurant’s food looks.

To sum things up, adding locations to your Instagram posts can only help your social media presence.  By adding locations, your  prompting your followers to tag your business. This only spreads the word on who you are and links you with your customers. If you are unable to add a location, check out Facebook and add the location on there! You will then be able to use your company’s location, and watch your followers and social media engagement grow.

If you are still overwhelmed by all of these Instagram changes and aspects to consider, don’t fret! Look no further - Responsival can help with all of your content creation needs and qualms! Check out our past work and contact us regarding any questions!