Ed Garsten has spent 45 years in the multimedia industry, with 20 of them at CNN.
Telemetry President Craig Daitch was the featured guest on Ed Garsten's podcast "Tales from the Beat" recently. Garsten is a highly revered 45 year veteran of the media industry, spending nearly 20 years at CNN. His imprint on the automotive industry is unprecedented, developing a digital-first media hub while at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Daitch shared his thoughts on a number of topics, including his background, the current state of public relations and the role auto shows play in today's automotive media landscape.
To listen to the podcast interview, please click below:
Whether you're a brand new startup or a Fortune 500 veteran, understanding the Instagram algorithm in order to get your content seen is key. Instagram recently shook things up with a brand new algorithm favoring everything but what they're known for: photos.
What are the new changes?
Videos and Reels are prioritized in feed over photos
Instagram changed its algorithm to favor videos and reels over photos. This sparked a large backlash and even started a ‘Make Instagram Instagram Again’ movement that was fronted by celebrities and backed by small business owners. Diaspora owner Sana Javeri Kadri leaned heavily on Instagram for marketing before, but the new updates say that engagement has hit rock bottom. Since joining the social media platform, Diaspora gained over 100,000 followers but now says that she feels as though they are at a standstill. “I completely credit them for our growth and then the algorithm changed and our sales dropped horrifyingly.” (“How Instagram’s Algorithm Change Is Hurting Small Businesses”)
New Reels templates
With Instagram wanting reels and videos to be the new focus of the app, they have created templates to allow users to create reels easier and faster than ever before.
Chronological feed is back
Instagram also reintroduced the chronological feed rather than a feed based on assumed relevancy. This means that posting at optimized times, such as when your followers are most active, is more necessary than ever and should be prioritized again.
What is the Difference Between Instagram Reels versus Video?
Instagram Reels was Meta’s response to the growing popularity of short-form videos from TikTok. The Reels tab acts as an explore page for this short-form, video-based content. Under this tab, users are able to scroll through their feed to view any videos regardless of their following status to the creator. In other words, you have a better chance to go viral and be discovered by audiences you previously could not reach; but on the other hand, your content is no longer prominent with audiences you have carefully cultivated.
Video, on the other hand, can be longer form and can also be placed on IGTV, a video application similar to YouTube that is also interlaced within the Instagram app. These tend to be more produced than reels as they are longer and tend to have a purpose beyond just entertainment. Under the Instagram video tab, you can host past videos from any Instagram Live events you've had, or you can post long-form videos for up to 10 minutes (verified Instagram users can post up to 60-minute videos).
Tips for Making the New Algorithm Work for You
Decide what content works best for your brand and your target audience
Videos vs. Reels vs. Photos vs. Stories
Reels: Short, entertaining videos that increase your discoverability and reach wider, untapped audiences.
Videos: Longer forms of video are best for deeper dives into a topic with your existing audience.
Photos: Static images with longer message captions that are best for polished content combined with hashtags.
Stories: Images or short videos that live on feeds for only 24 hours that are best for real-time, unpolished content for the opportunity to deepen your relationship with your current audience. Engagement tactics such as user polls or question and answer segments within Stories allow followers to engage directly with brands and influencers, forming a more intimate relationship.
Capture attention in the first three seconds
Get to the point quickly- In order to increase views on videos and reels, you need to get past the three-second mark in order for it to count as a view, making capturing your user's attention as quickly as possible is key.
Caption video content-
Studies show that 92% of users watch Instagram videos with the sound off, meaning it is more likely than not that your audience will not hear your message without captions.
Captioned videos can also help improve search engine optimization. The captions can help make videos visible outside of the Instagram platform.
Since reels and videos have higher discoverability by users not following you, make sure to encourage them to follow your page in order to grow your following.
Public relation strategies seek to communicate a desired message about your brand to your target audience. But first, your target audience needs to come across that message. You can do this best with keyword optimization, which consists of keyword research and utilization. The practice can make or break a public relations strategy and therefore should be at the top of your to-do list.
Jami Robben
What Is Keyword Research?
In order to maximize your internet presence, you must determine what your target audience is searching for. You can find and analyze the terms that people enter into search engines through tools like Google’s keyword planner.
What Is Keyword Utilization?
Once you've figured out the best keywords, you need to use them effectively so that your content will reach your targeted audience. Google decides a website's quality based on how relevant it is to users. It does this largely by monitoring the site’s click-through rate and retention rate.
When you use appropriate keywords, viewers are more likely to remain on your page or click on associated links. The more this happens, Google will then reward you with a higher placement on the search results page.
This is important because, according to Cross River Therapy, the average person has an attention span of 8.25 seconds. When a consumer searches for something on Google, they expect the results to be spot on, providing what they are looking for without any additional work on their part. Research shows that almost half of search engine users believe that companies whose websites show up at the top of the results page are leaders in their field. Furthermore, 75% of search engine users look only at the first page of results. If you want a decent number of eyes on your site, you need to rank highly.
How to Get Started With Keyword Research
Now that you know the importance of keywords, how can you make them work for you? Here are some tips.
Choose quality over quantity: Avoid “keyword stuffing,” which is where you use the same keyword multiple times in a short space of text. This signals to Google that the content is not high quality and deserves a low place on the search results.
Get specific and know your intent: Certain words may relate to multiple things on the internet, so specificity can be your friend. If your company sells applesauce, for instance, you wouldn't want to use the term "apple products" at the top of your page, as there's no way you'll rank highly in search. Instead, use the specific term "applesauce" to get traction with your desired audience.
Regularly research keywords: See what works and what doesn’t. And don't assume that yesterday's top keywords are the same as today's. Users' search terms are constantly evolving.
Great for presenting keyword metrics from other data sources in an efficient way, targeting specific keywords, presenting precise competitor statistics, and refining keyword results.
Great for tracking keyword rank, exportable keyword data, and accurate ranking difficulty.
About the Author
Jami Robben, Telemetry's summer intern, is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri. Having graduated with a Journalism major emphasizing in strategic communication, we are excited to have Jami contribute to Telemetry's blog!
