Instagram Reels 2024 Algorithm Update: What Travel Marketers Need To Know

Instagram announced on April 30, 2024 that they’re planning a big update to their Instagram Reels algorithm, aimed to help creators find new audiences. This includes a new ranking system to help smaller creators and prioritizing Reels featuring original content in recommendations.

How will Instagram Reels Algorithm Changes affect DMOs sharing User-Generated Content (UGC) or Reels with UGC?

Don’t worry, your UGC is safe! Luckily, Instagram said on their blog that “This will not impact a set of publishers we’ve identified who have licensing agreements and/or explicit permissions from content creators.”

While Instagram hasn’t yet detailed how they’re going to identify this set of publishers, we don’t anticipate this being an issue for DMOs, since they should be reposting UGC only with explicit licensing/permissions. This update also doesn’t apply to any Reels that contain UGC as part of a larger compilation, or Reels that repurpose UGC with new text, voiceover, or are turned into memes.

This update will moreso impact aggregator accounts that only repost other people’s content without getting permission, like meme dump pages or celebrity fan pages.

It’s also worth mentioning that this update is just for Reels, not photo posts — and while that may come in the future, Instagram’s blog statement signals they’re aware of ensuring accounts will still be able to share content with proper licenses and permissions, which our UGC solution is designed to streamline for you.

The 4 Algorithm Changes Coming to Instagram Reels

Before, recommended Reels were mostly ranked based on an account’s follower engagement — but this meant that accounts with big followings and aggregators reposting content got much more reach than smaller, original content creators. 

Now, Instagram Reels will update their algorithm with these changes:

• Overhauling their ranking system to give smaller creators more distribution
• Replacing reposts with original content in recommendations on Explore page/main feed (repost example – taken from this page and received more likes than the original)
• Removing content aggregators from recommendations
• Adding a removable label to reposted content, linking to the original creator (example below from Instagram)

What do Instagram Reels Algorithm Changes Mean for DMOs and Travel Marketers?

Now, more than ever, your social media strategy should prioritize original video content (but don’t worry, your UGC is still safe to share)!

These new changes have leveled the playing field: everyone has an equal chance of breaking through — and going viral.

This means creating even more original video content, which we know takes time. That’s why CrowdRiff Creators is designed to solve this endless demand for content: feed demand with clips shot by talented local creators, that you can edit and repurpose into an endless supply of fresh content.

Hopefully this change means all accounts will have a more equal chance of reaching new audiences, no matter their follower count! 🙌

When is Instagram Reel’s algorithm changing?

Instagram said they’re rolling out these updates in the coming months, so stay tuned and keep planning your content!