Instagram Top Nine of 2020

What’s Happening

You don’t have to scroll very long on Instagram this week to see a top nine post. Any time of the year on Instagram, your “top nine” typically refers to your most recent nine feed posts, the nine posts that appear first or on the top of your profile page. However, at the start of a new year, people begin to post a grid photo displaying their top nine photos of the previous year – the nine posts that performed the best in terms of likes, comments, or shares.

Use it for Your Business

Unfortunately, there is no way to create this post in the app. Most turn to a third-party service like TopNine.co to create the image for them, or there’s an app that will generate it for you.

My recommendation is to consult the insights in the Instagram app. Go into your account’s Insights tab, click on posts, and changing the filter settings to display the posts from the previous year by “post interactions.” This will show you which posts received the most collective likes, comments, and shares throughout the year.

I want to be clear. I am NOT recommending you actually post your top nine posts of the year. You can. It won’t hurt anything, and you’ve done nothing wrong if you do. Though I’m willing to bet, your followers don’t really care which of your posts performed the best. It’s about as interesting to them as when their cousin posted his Spotify 2020 Wrapped results. This information is most interesting to you.

As a business owner, it’s not only interesting. It’s crucial to helping you understand what your followers want most from you. This data is powerful! You can use this information to inform your social media strategy moving forward in 2021. Your top nine tells you what your audience responded to, what impacted them most, and what they want more of.

Review these top nine, not with casual interest, but as a treasure map to finding more content that will resonate with your audience and attract more followers. Ask yourself: Do the pictures have anything in common? Are they all selfies? Are they graphic images? Did one type of graphic do better than others? Review the captions. Are they short or long? What subject are they covering? Are they inspirational messages, tips, or tutorials?

Now the most crucial step: Create more of the same content. Learn from what performed well in 2020 and dig deeper. Create a whole series of quick tips if that’s what helps your audience understand your product. Or, create more tutorial videos if that’s what sold your e-course. The concept is simple but effective: Give them more of what they want.

Relevancy Rating

Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s worth your time: Is finding out your top nine posts worth the time investment for your business?

YES!: I give it 5 out of 5 thumbs up.

Time investment in discovering your top nine is critical to growing your social media following. You won’t regret it!

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