Andrew Hutchinson
Source: www.socialmediatoday.com, July 2024
In case you weren’t clear on Instagram’s new algorithmic emphasis on sends, IG chief Adam Mosseri has once again reiterated that creators should be focusing on how to make their content more shareworthy in his latest advice clip.
As outlined by Mosseri, with more people now engaging within DMs in the app than they are with feed posts, Instagram is now actively seeking to amplify content that prompts more sharing behavior i.e. posts that inspire more users to tap on the “Send” icon and forward it to their friends.
As per Mosseri:
“Don’t force it as a creator, but if you can, when you’re making content, think about making content that people would want to send to a friend, to someone that they care about, and it will help your reach over time.”
Instagram’s also looking to underline this with its new sends display counts in the app, which have been rolling out to more users recently.
Instagram’s been testing this with selected users for almost a year, but it seems to have been expanded recently, with more users noting the share counts on posts in the app.
So, sends is clearly what IG wants creators to focus on, but how exactly do you create content that triggers more DM shares?
According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, which examined social media responses to 65,000 articles on news sites, sparking emotional response with your content is key.
Which likely comes as no surprise, though the specifics here are important.
As per the report:
“Articles with a large number of comments were found to evoke high-arousal emotions, such as anger and happiness, paired with low-dominance emotions where people felt less in control, such as fear. On the other hand, social sharing was very connected to feelings of high dominance, where the reader feels in control, such as inspiration or admiration.”
For context, a “high dominance” emotion is one where the reader is able to regulate their response to a degree, to cognitively make a choice in how they feel, but a “low dominance” response is something out of your control, like fear.
