Publishers should respond to Big Tech’s deprioritising of news on social media by maximising their presence on these platforms.

That’s the view of Newsday social media director Gabriella Vukelić, who offers tips on getting your content recognised and prioritised in the algorithm in an INMA social media blog.

She urges journalists to post original content that is unique to your niche and brand: “Reels and carousels are favoured in the Instagram algorithm, so the best way to grow an audience over time is to be consistent in the amount of times you are posting.

“As a news and information-sharing page, you should be posting a Reel or carousel at least once a day,” she says.

Vukelić says that over time, you’ll see which types of videos do better than others, and can make adjustments to focus more on those topics.

Additionally, she urges making sure captions are as descriptive as possible, using keywords related to the video itself. “This helps Instagram identify which audiences to distribute your content to based on that audiences’ searches,” she says.

And don’t be afraid of hashtags which she says are not a thing of the past, and are still helpful to the algorithm in identifying content.

“Use words that are descriptive to the topic of the video and only that video,” she says. “Most importantly, use terms that would be highly searchable. For example, if your video is about apples, you’ll want to use keywords that have apples or dessert in them. It’s likely your audience would be searching for those types of desserts during the fall months.”

Vukelić says using descriptive words in a social media bio helps readers find your brand. “Identifying what sets your page apart from others, and what makes your content unique, is a valuable tool for local news because of the ability to specify where the coverage is happening.

“When your audience is searching geographically, you’ll be a top ranked option.”

She also urges utilising trends that make sense for your brand, not by dancing on camera, but perhaps by using sounds and songs that are trending. “It’s the easiest way to get your content discovered to larger and new audiences.”

A final piece of advice would be to get creative in the way you use the sound. “Finding a unique approach to something that is already trending is what will make your content stand out and the algorithm will favour that creativity,” she says.