Instagram Chief Says Using Edits Gives You More Reach, Dispels Engagement Myth

Looking for ways to improve your IG performance?

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has recently shared a couple of small tips that might help. I mean, they’re not secrets or hacks that are going to triple your post reach overnight, but they might help some within your process.

First off, Mosseri recently noted that videos created in Meta’s new “Edits” app do get a little bit of a reach boost when shared to IG.

As explained by Mosseri:

“For now, Edits does help a little bit with reach. It’s not going to be something that’s going to be around forever. Do not just use Edits to try to pass through content [because] we can check for that. But we are trying to bootstrap the app, and we’ve also found that predicting whether or not you’re going to tap on the ‘Edits’ button is something that we can add to ranking, and therefore hopefully show more of this kind of content to people who are interested in it, and who are going to be interested in the app itself.”

So Instagram’s trying to get more people aware of the Edits app, and promoting videos created with Edits helps with this. So, right now at least, you will get some form of reach boost when you post videos created in Edits.

And with more and more functions coming to the app every week, it’s worth checking out either way.

On another front, Mosseri has also sought to dispel the myth that you need to engage with content relevant to your own niche/passion/business in order to maximize relevant reach.

“One myth I learned recently about Instagram is that you have to interact with similar content to the content that you create to maximize your reach. That is definitely not the case. It’s great to interact with people in your comments, and with your followers in general, but what you decide to consume is not going to affect who you reach with your content.”

So the two are not necessarily linked. Sure, engaging with people and profiles that share similar interests is going to make them aware of your profile, and that could help your reach if they then interact with your posts. But from an algorithmic standpoint, Instagram itself is not using what you watch, like, etc. as an indicator of audience relevance.

“Feel free to engage with the content that you love, then try to create content that your followers love.”

I mean, again, there is clearly some benefit to this, in that engaging with people in your niche is going to make them aware of your presence, and that could then lead to more engagement. But it’s not a direct correlation. Instagram isn’t clustering topic-based engagement into certain groups, so whatever you choose to engage with in the app won’t directly impact performance.

Some handy notes, which could help you get your IG process on track.