Are you wondering how you can boost your engagement on Instagram? Well, you are not alone!
Due to recent changes in its algorithm, with other creative brands competing for engagement, boosting your engagement on Instagram can be daunting.
Fortunately, Instagram is still one of the best platforms to market your brand online, gain a steady following, and create a community of like-minded people who will help you with your business. So do not easily be discouraged!
In this post, we will talk about the ten Instagram engagement tips that will help you maximize your marketing potential.
1. Collaborate with similar accounts in your niche
Before you publish your next post on the platform, take time to engage with related content, other accounts in your niche are posting on their feed.
Learn the tricks of the trade by following Instagram’s basic rule: Engagement feeds engagement.
When you’re interacting with other users in your industry, you are boosting your chances that your account will be seen.
So, the more you engage, and the more visible you are online, there is a high chance that you’ll boost your engagement.
But remember that you should always choose quality over quantity. Meaning, you should handpick the specific accounts that you engage with.
2. Use long-tail hashtags
Long-tail hashtags are more detailed and specific than your average hashtags.
Let’s say that a post about SEO has caught your attention. You could either use a hashtag like #SEO, which has over 8 million associated posts, or a long-tail hashtag like #localSEObrooklyn which has relatively fewer (and more specific) associated posts.
Remember that new posts are added to the hashtag #SEO every minute (or second.) The result? Your post will be pushed into the bottom very quickly!
3. Write good and engaging captions
Do you want an effective way for people to spend more time looking at your post? Write a highly engaging, longer posts!
You do not have to write captions that are a thousand words long, though! Sometimes, all you need is just a few sentences. Or a couple of emojis to boost your engagement.
But how do you write the right captions? Well, always grab the opportunity to say something meaningful.
Ask yourself: Why do your post matter? How is it serving people other than yourself?
The ideal captions should not be just a couple of adjectives strung together. Instead, go for lines with a captivating story, so that it would leave your followers eager for more.
4. Add compelling CTA
Even if a lot of your followers may love your Instagram ads, make sure that it also leads them somewhere. You can do that with a compelling call-to-action.
CTAs can either be placed on your images or copy. But the most effective way to boost your interaction rates, and make your followers do a specific action, is to make use of Instagram’s official CTAs.
These are usually found below your post and are great if you want to deliver short and punchy CTAs like “Call Now” and “Learn More” to get their attention.
5. Show more photos of people
Posts with people’s faces have 38 percent more likes than those without. Therefore, publishing posts with people are an excellent way to boost your engagement.
Whatever you are promoting or selling, you can somehow incorporate the faces of people in your Instagram strategy.
You can share the photos that are posted by your customers, their interaction with your brand, your employees, the pictures of people that you serve, or models that showcase your products.
According to https://voymedia.com/, “Sharing more photos of people humanizes your brand. Now, you’re no longer just another faceless company. That forms a connection with your audience and boosts your engagement.”
6. Reply straight away to comments and DMs
This tip might be so fairly simple. However, surprisingly, a lot of brands and businesses aren’t replying to their DMs and comments on their feeds.
Some are even turning off the comments on their posts!
Instagram is all about building a community. So, no matter how big your account is, you should still spend a significant amount of time interacting with people, and responding to them, whether it’s positive or negative feedback.
7. Figure out the best time to post
Know when the best time to post. According to a recent post, the peak times are between 7-9pm.
However, you should not just rely on polls. Instead, you have to know the best times to publish your posts to your target audience.
You can utilize a social listening tool to measure your engagement on Instagram. It is an easy tool to track your posts on Instagram so that you’ll know which ones are performing great based on the date and time.
If you do not want to use that, here are a couple of tips:
- Post on non-working hours (lunch and evenings).
- Wednesdays and Thursdays seem to be the best days of the week, with higher engagement.
- Generally, 3-4 pm are the worst times for engagement.
Research ahead of time and figure out what works best for you. Monitor your posts (as well as your competitors) to have an optimal posting schedule for your account.
8. Upload teasing Instagram Stories
Instagram stories are essential to boosting engagement. There are several things that you can do to make your Stories more compelling. You can utilize them to draw attention to your posts and improve your engagement in the long run.
9. Run a Contest on Instagram
Another powerful engagement tool on Instagram that a lot of brands tend to overlook are running contests.
Only a minority of profile accounts are hosting contests. But it is an untapped resource that most marketers need to focus on.
Running an effective contest require careful planning, whether it’s partnering with other brands to improve your reach, or identifying your contest rules and goals.
Strategize its promotion. Aside from the usual ads, incorporate social media plugs, websites banners, and so on.
You also need to monitor your contest once it is already up and running. To track its performance, use Google Alerts and other social media management platforms. Promote your results on social media.
10. Promote your account on other social media channels.
Spread the word about your Instagram account using your other social media channels.
For example, you can publish a post on your Facebook account by providing a clickable link that leads directly to your Instagram account.
You can utilize Instagram’s cross-promotional and auto-post tools. Cross-promotional tools let you post content from your Instagram account to your other social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.). It allows you to bring together your followers in different social media networks.
Just do not cross-promote all your posts on Instagram, though. It is because your audience will no longer be compelled to visit your account in the first place.
Over to You
Instagram is a highly competitive landscape. With so much competition out there, a carefully thought strategy is crucial to your success.
If you want to hit it big on social media, you need to apply these following tips to help you boost your engagement. Over time, this will help you get better results.
