Does early engagement still matter for reach?

CashPhantom

CashPhantom

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A few years ago, everyone talked about getting likes, comments, and shares in the first hour after publishing because it supposedly helped posts reach a much wider audience.

With all the algorithm changes since then, I'm curious if that's still true. From what I've seen, strong early engagement still seems to help, but watch time appears to have a much bigger impact than it used to.
 
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higher watch time means people are engaging with your video. that is the good metrices to have But along with watch time shares and comments are also important for better reach.
 
I believe that key metrics such as comments, views, and audience retention determine a video's effectiveness and whether it is worth promoting; these factors directly influence how the content is distributed by the Instagram system
 
Yeah, I think it still helps, but watch time matters a lot more now. If people actually watch your video, Instagram usually keeps pushing it.
 
retention matters more now if people watch longer, the algorithm usually gives the content more reach.
 
Yes the content will be displayed to a limited number of peoples and if these watch longer time and you have good retention will start showing to more that is how the alghorithm usually rank the
 
Early engagement still helps, but probably not the biggest factor anymore.

Things like watch time and overall audience retention seem to matter much more now.
 
CashPhantom said:
A few years ago, everyone talked about getting likes, comments, and shares in the first hour after publishing because it supposedly helped posts reach a much wider audience.

With all the algorithm changes since then, I'm curious if that's still true. From what I've seen, strong early engagement still seems to help, but watch time appears to have a much bigger impact than it used to.
Click to expand...
The first hour may not be as much about boosting a post as it is about helping the platform understand who the content resonates with, while watch time shows whether those people actually found it worth staying for
 
CashPhantom said:
A few years ago, everyone talked about getting likes, comments, and shares in the first hour after publishing because it supposedly helped posts reach a much wider audience.

With all the algorithm changes since then, I'm curious if that's still true. From what I've seen, strong early engagement still seems to help, but watch time appears to have a much bigger impact than it used to.
Click to expand...
Both are good for your account, but I think engagement matters more because it shows to the algo that your content is good.
 
I think most social media now, at least X, test your video over 24 hours, so the first few minutes is not as important.
 
Engagement always matters, but the answers lies on the use of the video and the engagement font. First of all, real engagement (likes, comments, watch time, no matter what) will always help ig to push the video forward, organic or the ones used for ads. But if your video is organic and you try to buy engagement (from smm panels), not only the video but the entire accounts gets ban or, at best, shadowban.

On the other side, if you're running videos for ads campaigns, using fake engagement helps indirectly (builds trust on the ad) and some advanced media buyers claim that even directly, lowering cpv and enhancing other metrics. I done this many times, and when i done it always worked well, so i don't really know if it works because of the engagement alone or because of the whole ad structure.
 
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