Want To Boost Instagram Engagement? Do This.
Struggling to boost Instagram engagement on your profile? Here are some tips that should help you gain not only followers but also interactions.
Posted 6 months ago
Written by
Tania braukamperPosted 6 months ago
More engagement on Instagram almost always translates to higher conversion rates for brands. Thatās why you shouldnāt leave it to chance. Instead, you need to implement strategies that can boost Instagram engagement and take your brand to the next level.
In this post, weāll take you through some of those strategies.
But firstā¦
Jump to a section āØ
What is Instagram Engagement?š§
Itās easy to get stuck obsessing over how many followers your account has. But follower count is not the only important ingredient when it comes to the recipe for Instagram success ā thereās also engagement.
Engagement is the level of interaction your followers have with your account. At its simplest, you can think of engagement rate as the number of likes and comments you get divided by your number of followers (multiply that by 100 if you want it in percentage form).
So an account with 100,000 followers that gets 2,000 likes and comments on a post has an engagement rate of 2%.
Of course, this is just a simplified way of seeing it. There are dozens of ways users can engage with you on Instagram, from static posts to Stories to IGTV.
So ā when we talk about boosting Instagram engagement, weāre talking about what you can do to encourage users to interact and connect with your brand across all the various features of the platform.
And, if you work on your engagement, youāre likely to increase your follower count and attract audiences that really love your content. So without further adoā¦
Hereās 7 Strategies To Boost Instagram Engagementš
Be responsive
Engagement works in two ways. Think of it as a conversation: if someone walks up and starts talking to you, to turn it into a positive interaction you need to talk back!
Make it part of your social media strategy to be as responsive as possible to all interactions. That means replying to both positive and negative feedback, answering questions, and acknowledging peopleās ideas, thoughts, and feelings. It also means keeping on top of interactions across all areas of Instagram including direct messages, comments on posts, and responses to Stories.
š¼Pro tip: Responding to all interactions as they happen can be time-consuming ā especially if you already have a high number of followers. If youāre in charge of your brandās social media management, consider checking and responding to followers in designated blocks of time (immediately after posting is a crucial one) so youāre not constantly getting distracted by checking your account 24/7.
Chobani is great at responding in a fast and friendly way to comments from followers.
Spend time crafting your captions
Did you know that Instagram captions can be 2,200 characters long? Not that you need to write an entire essay every timeā¦ but it does mean you have the option of writing something more in-depth or meaningful if it adds value to your content.
And meaningful captions ā whether bite-size or long ā are one way to boost Instagram engagement.
You can also use captions to add context to your posts, to ask questions of your followers so they comment with a reply, or to prompt them by adding a call to action. A lot of brands also use their captions to speak in the same tone of voice as their followers. Remember ā Instagram is a platform where you can meet your audience when they are relaxed, so donāt be afraid to use a humorous tone of voice that might make them stop when they are scrolling.
š¼Pro tip: Inject some personality into your captions so they give people a feel for what your brand is all about. Extra points for a sprinkling of emojis. š
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This short yet effective caption from Ben & Jerryās has personality, depth, and a call to action all rolled into one.
Improve your hashtag game
Hashtag game ā¦ not so strong? Itās time to do something about that. Choosing your hashtags wisely can result in greater reach as well as higher engagement.
Hashtags are one of the key ways to make your content discoverable to the wider Instagram community. For example, if you can rank as one of the ātop postsā of a particular hashtag, your engagement for that post can potentially skyrocket. The key is to make the hashtag highly relevant to your content ā that way youāre sure to reach an audience thatās genuinely interested in your niche.
š¼Pro tip: Youāre more likely to rank for a hashtag, and have more targeted engagement if you drill down to long-tail keywords (i.e., super-specific hashtags like ā#rawveganbrowniesā rather than broad ones like āfoodā). Flickās Hashtag Search makes it easy to find hashtags you can rank on by showing you the average engagement, level of competition, potential reach, and more for each hashtag. You can give it a try now for free and youāll quickly see what a difference the right hashtags can make.
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Become a topical authority
In our post about becoming a topical authority on Instagram, we look at the mechanics of Instagramās algorithm and how you can use topical hashtags to rise to the top. We wonāt repeat all that here (check out the post to learn more), but itās worth noting that becoming a topical authority is another great strategy to increase Instagram engagement.
In a nutshell: Being a topical authority means that you are, in Instagramās eyes, an expert on a particular topic. This also helps engage followers because they know that anything you post to your account will be within their area of interest.
Stray too far from your topical area, and you risk that people will become disengaged.
If we go back to our food example, say you become a topical expert on vegan food. People who are passionate about that topic are more likely to find your account, follow you, and engage with you.
š¼Pro tip: Becoming a topical authority doesnāt mean every single thing you post has to fit 100% within the one theme. Just be sure to make your content (and the hashtags you use to promote it) coherent with that topic in some way. Again, check out the post linked above if you want a deeper explanation of how this all works.
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Stories, Stories, Stories.
Stories give you a bucket of tricks to boost Instagram engagement.
For one, you can use Stories to notify followers of new posts. Because of the way Instagramās algorithm works sometimes even your followers will miss your posts, especially if they arenāt initially engaged with that well. Direct them to see the complete image or video on your account via your stories!
Another awesome use of Stories is to use stickers to ask questions or run polls. These types of stories are by nature interactive and provoke engagement from users. It can also give you a little more insight into what your consumers expect out of you as a brand.
Donāt forget to add locations and hashtags to your Instagram Stories. That way they can be discovered by people who donāt follow you (yet!).
The best thing about Stories is that you can get really creative with how you create and display content, and the ephemerality of it means you also have a great opportunity to test and measure what works and what doesnāt.
š¼Pro tip: Stories are also great for user-generated content. Re-posting user responses reinforces a cycle of engagement and gives followers the incentive to tag your brand in their own posts.
In this example, Glossier is using stories to leverage user-generated content and perpetuate a cycle of engagement with followers who mention their brand.
Interact with others in your niche
The more active your account is on Instagram, the more likely you are to get noticed. Interacting with other accounts in your niche is a perfect way to keep active for two reasons: firstly, youāll build industry connections and make yourself known in your niche. And secondly, youāll put your account in front of your target audience.
For example: Letās say youāre a boutique food brand (ā¦can you tell we love food at Flick?!). Make it a strategy to interact regularly with food bloggers, culinary magazines, food inspiration accounts, etc. The more you do this, the greater the chance that these accounts and their followers will notice you.
To find accounts to interact with, check Instagramās āSuggested For Youā results, or search for relevant hashtags and see who posts popular content related to those themes.
š¼Pro tip: Make your interactions genuine. Doing a bulk copy+paste of ācool pic!ā on peopleās photos isnāt going to win you much trust. Participating in discussions, giving advice or opinions, throwing out some humorous banter, or simply being warm and supportive are all ways to build genuine rapport with others in your niche.
Run contests and giveaways.
Giving stuff away is a š„way to boost your Instagram engagement. Because who doesnāt like getting stuff for free?
You can generate engagement by dictating what people have to do to enter your giveaway. Maybe they have to follow your account, like the post announcing the giveaway, and tag one or more friends.
Give them the option of getting extra entries each time they tag more friends, and youāll quickly see the engagement levels multiply.
š¼Pro tip: Make sure the terms for any contest, competition, or giveaway are made clear in your description. Itās important to fit with Instagramās promotion guidelines and also to keep the trust of your followers by being transparent. If you want to get ideas on what kind of contests to run and how to write up descriptions for them, you can always check out what your competitors are doing ā and then try to beat them with something even better.
This giveaway post from tea brand TeaHuggers is generating a much higher level of engagement than their regular posts.
To sum upā¦
Boosting your brandās Instagram engagement is definitely possible. You just need a little time and patience to implement the right strategies.
We hope the ideas weāve laid out in this post are helpful to you and your brand.
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