COM0015 – Blog Post #4 – Out of the Box

Hi everyone,

Social media is always evolving, and there are two topics that I find of particular interest. They include overall reach on Instagram, and the striking difference between my video plays on Instagram and TikTok.

I have noticed unexpected results through viewing my Instagram insights over the past year. I have seen a consistent downward trend in the overall reach of my posts. I have not changed up the style of my captions or the types of hashtags I am using. In 2021, I was consistently achieving reach between 300-500 in my posts. Now, I am closer to 150-200. I find this interesting, and it feels like Instagram has switched to a pay to play method. Unless you are willing to invest money into ads, your content will not be seen by the large audience it used to be. It is true that I am posting less often on the platform, so this may have an effect as well. For smaller accounts like myself, I am still not convinced that spending money on ads is the answer. I will continue to use social media as another online tool to create and share my content on.

I have also noticed that I am receiving more video plays on TikTok than Instagram. This is especially interesting because I don’t engage with others through likes and comments on TikTok like I do on Instagram. I simply view videos, and post when I have a new video of my own to share. In the past six months, 3 of my drone videos on TikTok received a total of 2,088 plays. These same videos only received a total of 235 on Instagram. I am not sure if TikTok will switch to a pay to play method like Instagram, but it is something to keep watching for. For now, social media will remain as one of the tools and platforms that I share and present my content on.