How brands can create original content to win Instagram's algorithm

To win Instagram's algorithm, brands need to create original content, content made for them, not reposted from elsewhere. The platform now reads originality as a ranking signal, and reposts pay the price.

This is no longer a one-off update. When Adam Mosseri first flagged it, “We’re going to do more to try and value original content, particularly compared to reposted content”, it read like a tweak. It has since hardened into a standing principle: Instagram detects and demotes recycled content, and gives reach to accounts that make something new.

For brands, that reframes a habit. Reposting influencer and user-generated content has long been the default way to keep a feed fresh. The algorithm now treats that default as a liability. The brands that win aren’t the ones reposting the most. They’re the ones systematically producing original content they own.

The short version:

• Original content is anything you made that hasn’t been posted to Instagram before. Reposted and aggregated content gets less reach.
• Reposting other people’s content as your core feed strategy now works against you.
• The fix isn’t to post less. It’s to build a steady supply of original, brand-owned content, most of it from creators.
• Four ways to do it: partner with creators, use the collaborator tag, commission content-only shoots, and produce in-house BTS.

https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1516811952235769860?s=20&t=WnamlTdVYg2yF7d3RvHbdg

What counts as original content on Instagram?

Original content is a piece of content that you made, an image or video that’s never been posted to Instagram before by someone else.

Mosseri’s framing is simple: “The idea is if you made it, it’s original. It’s okay if you edit it outside of Instagram and then bring it in via the gallery.”

So if you created a video and published it on TikTok first, you can still post it to Reels without a penalty, but you’ll need to remove the TikTok watermark, which Instagram has confirmed suppresses reach. Our guide to removing the TikTok watermark on desktop, iPhone and Android walks through how.

Why does Instagram prioritise original content?

Two reasons, and both point the same way.

The first is credit. “Creators are so important to the future of Instagram, and we want to make sure that they are successful and get all the credit they deserve,” Mosseri said. “If you create something from scratch, you should get more credit than if you are resharing something that you found from someone else.” The change was partly aimed at curbing aggregator accounts that built reach by reposting other people’s memes and clips.

The second is retention. Instagram competes hard with TikTok and YouTube for the creators who make the content people come back for. Rewarding originality keeps those creators making it on Instagram. The signal to brands is the same either way: the platform is built around people who produce, not people who repost.

How does this affect brands that repost content?

Directly. If reposting influencer or user-generated content is how you keep your feed active, that strategy now carries a tax. Recycled content reaches fewer people, which drags on organic performance over time.

The mistake is to read this as a constraint. It’s a forcing function. It pushes brands off the repost treadmill and toward owning a pipeline of original content, which is the more valuable position anyway, because owned content compounds. It works on Instagram, in paid social, in email, and on your site, and it builds an asset library instead of borrowed reach.

Four ways brands can create original content for Instagram

How we see it: original content isn’t a content-calendar problem, it’s a supply problem. The brands that stay ahead of the algorithm treat creators as a production system, not a one-off post. Here are four ways to build that supply.

1. Partner with creators who make original content

The most direct fix is also the most obvious: work with creators who produce original, never-before-seen content for you.

Creators bring craft and authenticity that’s hard to manufacture in-house, and they speak to their audiences in a voice those audiences already trust. Tie your brand to that original content, through a paid partnership or a collaborator tag, and you get the reach the algorithm now rewards, in front of the audience you’re after.

The difference between a good creator partnership and a lucky one is structure: the right creators for your audience, briefs that protect both performance and originality, and rights sorted up front so the content works everywhere. That’s the system we build for brands, not a list of names, but a repeatable way to source, brief and measure original content at scale.

2. Use the ‘Tag as collaborator’ feature

When you work with creators, don’t just have them tag you as a paid partner, have them add you as a collaborator.

Instagram’s ‘Invite Collaborator’ feature lets one account invite another as a co-author. Accept the invite and the post appears on both grids and in both sets of followers’ feeds, with your brand listed as an author on that piece of original content.

It’s a cleaner alternative to reposting. The creator’s original post surfaces on your grid and to your audience, and your brand is credited on it in the algorithm, without you republishing anything. Here’s how a collaboration post looks across both grids:

3. Commission content-only campaigns

A cost-effective way to keep original content flowing is a content-only campaign: you brief a creator to shoot bespoke content for your brand that never goes live on their own accounts. It’s made specifically for you, and you own the rights to use it across any channel.

Because that content has never been posted to Instagram, it reads as original, so it earns the algorithm’s preference when you publish it. And because you own it, the same shoot works across paid social, email and your website, not just one feed.

This is one of the highest-leverage plays in the set: a single brief produces a library of owned assets you can deploy for months. It’s the kind of work we run end to end for brands. See how it plays out.

4. Produce in-house and behind-the-scenes content

Finally, put your own team to work creating original behind-the-scenes (BTS) content.

Shoot BTS at your campaign and e-commerce shoots to give audiences a look inside the business. Feature your people: a fashion brand might run a ‘Staff picks’ Reels series, with the team styling outfits together.

It’s original by definition, so it works with the algorithm, and it does something reposts never could. BTS content shows the human side of the brand, which is how you turn an audience into a community and build the kind of relationship that keeps people coming back.

FAQs

Does Instagram penalise reposted content?

It doesn’t ban it, but it gives it less reach. Instagram detects recycled and aggregated content and prioritises original content in ranking, so a feed built mostly on reposts tends to underperform one built on content you made.

Can I post my TikTok video to Instagram Reels?

Yes. If you made the video it counts as original, even if it ran on TikTok first. Remove the TikTok watermark before you post. Instagram has confirmed watermarked content gets suppressed.

What’s the easiest way for a brand to create original content at scale?

Creators. Partnering with creators for original posts, collaborator-tagged content and content-only shoots gives you a steady supply of owned, original content far faster than producing everything in-house.

The brands that win Instagram don’t chase the algorithm. They build for it.

Reposting was a shortcut, and the algorithm closed it. What replaces it isn’t a clever workaround. It’s a reliable supply of original content you own, most of it made with creators. That’s a system, and systems are what keep a brand ahead of every ranking change instead of reacting to each one.

That’s the work we do. Vamp is a tech-enabled influencer marketing agency: we design creator-led content programmes and run the systems behind them, so original content becomes a durable advantage rather than a scramble. Talk to us.