Did anyone else wake up this morning to an Instagram timeline filled with celebrities, brands and bloggers begging for you to turn on notifications to their posts? A couple weeks ago Instagram announced an impending departure from a chronological timeline to the now common algorithmic timeline that lets you “…see the best posts first.” It seems that time has now come – expect the launch tomorrow.

Facebook, parent company to Instagram, began an algorithmic timeline in 2009, so this isn’t going to make anyway gasp and totter back on their high heels. But still, users are enraged — check out #boycottInstagram, #RIPInstagram, #KeepInstagramChronological, or visit the change.org petition — and brands are freaking out.

Oh, man, here we go again. Brands, you need to deal with it! Instagram will order photos predictively – which users will be interested in the content, their relationships with the posters and the timeliness of posts. Some tips to make your photos “the best photos” your fans will see first:

• Keep the social in social media
– Instagram is looking more closely at the relationships between posters and their audience. Make sure you are engaging on other posts of relevant accounts and engaging with your own commenters. Follow back your fans.
– Collaborate with influencers or complimentary organizations to “share” fans and engage with each other. For example, team up on a special promotion or contest.

• Up your hashtag game
– Using strategic hashtags will put your content in front of users who are searching for or interested in specific topics. Check out trending hashtags to see what currently has a large audience.
– Don’t use more than a couple hashtags in your post. If you want to use more add them as a comment so that they will disappear once more fans comment on the post.

• Push notifications
– Fans can opt-in to receive push notifications each time you post. Gently (not obnoxiously) remind them of this feature by teasing an upcoming post (i.e. “Make sure to turn on push notifications for our account so you don’t miss the launch of our next promotion.”).

• Analyze your content and adjust
– Explore which of your posts your audience engages with the most and keep that in mind for your future content strategy.

Would you like to share your thoughts?