Proven Ways to Increase Engagement on Instagram

Instagram engagement is among the most important things for social media marketers. Instagram is an active platform which is used by over 800 million users and known to be one of the known social media platforms of today’s time. Now that everybody knows social media marketing has become a necessity for brand survival, this is the reason why there has been an urge to know about Instagram engagement. Instagram is wonderful and visually appealing for content curation to encourage dialogue and engagement. As per your target market and the nature of business, you can opt to include Instagram in your Social Media Marketing strategy. Most of the small business owners like hair salons, fashion boutiques, and restaurants have gained the success from Instagram. Because of the popularity of the Instagram that it has become necessary to identify if a business person is segmenting the targeted audience with general marketing.

What is engagement? It generally means the degree of your customer involvement with content. Engagement is the level of their interest and interaction with posts and this indicates in how they engage with your stories, posts and comments. Being an Instagram user, you might be posting a great content, but if nobody sees what you won’t have results. So, it is important to focus on engagement metrics:

• Likes
• Comments
• Views
• Interactions
• Clicks

Instagram Engagement Rate

Engagement rates on any of the social media platforms are taken as a parameter of your followers’ loyalty towards you or your business. In simple words, we can put Instagram engagement as a sum of the likes and comments that you receive per post and it is divided by the number of followers that you have. Engagement rates are among the perfect things to monitor because it shows how often your following interacts with your content. Always remember that it is not about the size of the audience, but it is all about the range of their participation with your brand’s post.

Below mentioned are some of the key parameters which one must be looking for tracking the engagements rates on Instagram:

1. Number of Followers: Of course on a social media platform, what matters a lot is the number of followers that a brand has. The size of the audience or even those of your competitors are important. However, apart from just keeping a track of number of your followers a business would want to examine how quickly they are increasing new followers instead.
2. Likes: Likes are among the important parameters which contribute to the engagement rates. Likes are the primary level to see whether the content is well-received or not. Basically likes are the direct indicator of the popularity your profile among the target audience.
3. Commenting of posts: Another parameter that comes in this is the Comments. It is another thing that anyone would look into to track the increase in Instagram engagement. To measure your engagement rate, just analyze the comments and it will give you a better understanding. You know liking of a post is needs, but comments take that post to another level and it is the better sign of involvement. Yes, the quality of the comments is important, which you should always keep in mind.
4. Sharing and Reposting: Another thing which shows the better engagement by the audience is share and repost of the content which you have posted on the Instagram. If any of the user has shares your content, it is understood that your purpose of the post is fulfilled.

Now you must be thinking of increasing the Instagram Engagement for your profile, nut how? Well, you are absolutely in the right place. Below mentioned are some of the techniques to increase engagement on your Instagram profile:

1. Use all of the Instagram’s features

As we have discussed above too, Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes the accounts which use all the tools. Well, that makes sense too. Instagram is also a platform which wants to encourage more diverse and interesting content. So, any company that wouldn’t want use the developed technology, there is no use in blabbering about no increase in their Instagram engagement.

Use of Instagram’s Features:

• Sign up for business on Instagram: First and foremost thing that you should do is to have a “business” account. A business account on Instagram gives an extra analytics, more professional aesthetic, and access to ads. Moreover, you can also include links in stories, and a “contact” button on your profile. If your only goal is to drive traffic to your site or products, creating a business account is surely a major win.

• Use different content formats: When started, Instagram was a very simple place, where people could share photos. Now, it has evolved considerably and business or people can now have carousel posts, stories, videos, ads, and highlights. So, this tells us that it doesn’t make any sense to churn out the same content, day after day. For engagement, you need to post new posts, videos and stories daily.

2. Post visual content regularly

Posting frequency

Most brands post an average of 1.5 times per day.
That’s 1-2 posts per weekday.
Only a few brands post 10 or more times per day.

Do you know why is Instagram so popular, that’s because it has a lot of visual content? There is no surprise in the fact that people are becoming visually-oriented and we cannot deny the fact that most of the information which is transferred to our brain easily is definitely visual. Instagram is designed in a way that it is running on the same thing. And, the developers knew that images gain more consideration and cause emotions. This is the reason why people are spending uncountable time of hours scrolling their Instagram posts and feeds. Posting on the Instagram regularly can bring the engagement which you need. And, the best way to keep engaged your followers is to post visual content regularly. However, over posting is strictly no no as your followers may think that you’re spamming them. Also, remember not to miss publishing as they may forget about you. Post daily at the right time and you are more likely to be noticed by your followers.

3. Utilize hashtags

Social media has evolved and one symbol has changed the way we look at the things. Today the symbol of Hash (#) which you can find at the bottom right-hand side of your keypad of telephone is more usually known to as a hashtag. If you want to engage your customers, it is very important for you to include the symbol of hashtag into your Instagram strategy. According to a research, top brands’ most of posts use a hashtag symbol and it is understood that if the top brands are using them, you also need to use it as well. And, do you know the posts which include only one hashtag can receive up to 12.6% greater engagement than posts that are posted without incorporating the hashtags. Hashtags plays a major to broaden the charm to the huge audience. Moreover, the hashtags which are too long and not relatable will not stand. So, you need to make sure to use the ones which are extremely unique. Find some middle ground and use them as engagement rates reach their peak when a post has at least 9 hashtags, relatable of course.

4. Post Instagram Stories regularly

If you are a regular Instagram user, you may surely know that Instagram Stories only last for 24 hours. And, if this medium is used properly, there is a chance that you can get much more advantage out of the Stories that you post. Every time a new Story is added on Instagram, the profile image highlights red circle around it and it is shown to your follower that there is new thing posted by you. Instagram stories can be posted every day and it can also keep the post fresh the audiences with a regular reminder of new posted story now and then. Stories are a perfect way to engage your audience and it encourages them to check if you have posted anything new. Also, as we discussed the importance of hashtags in above point, remember to use just like you would do in any regular Instagram feed that you post.

5. Start Conversations with Instagram Story Stickers

It’s now the time to re-frame about how you think about Instagram engagement. Engagement on Instagram is not just about likes and comments, it also comprises the engagement from the Instagram stories. Stories are an amazing way to interact with people who are following the brand hashtag and giving IGTV views. Instagram Stories are growing with each day with over 400 million people posting or watching stories every day. This is the reason why Instagram has been innovating new ways for brands to engage with their followers. Instagram stickers Stories are among the best ways to inspire the followers to share and chat and speak their opinions and experiences.

Question Sticker is one of the ways by which you can increase Instagram posts. Nothing can beat more than a good Ask Me Anything post on Instagram Stories. You may be seeing most of the Instagram influencers using the Instagram Stories question sticker to help their followers get to know them more so, why no you also do the same for your business. The question sticker gives a great opportunity to the user to get to know your brand better and let them get knowledge about the products that you offer. On the other hand, stories create a great place to ask the followers few questions related to the brand. It creates conversation, engagement, and customer feedback all wrapped up in one great post!

Conclusion 

So, if you wish to take your business or a brand to the next level, it is important to remain updated with the hanging market dynamics on social media platforms. Instagram is one of the amazing social media platforms, which encourages the engagement and how you can do that has already been mentioned in the article.

Which are the ways by which you increase the engagement with audience? Share with us.