If you’ve been on Instagram for a while now, then you’ll know first hand just how busy it is.
There is now a whopping one billion active monthly users on the gram, and this is growing every day. Needless to say, it’s a great place to get to know people, build a successful brand, connect with brands and pin down paid partnerships, and build up a long-lasting community around something that you’re passionate about.
None of this is easy, though, and the bad news is that it’s only getting harder. The good news, though, is that it’s not impossible, and if you have the right tools in your arsenal, you can make all of your wildest Instagram growth dreams come true. With this in mind, let’s check out how to increase your Instagram engagement.
What is Instagram Engagement?
So, what exactly is this Instagram engagement we’re talking about, then? Instagram engagement is how you measure the loyalty and connection that you have with your followers. When you break it down, it involves everything from comments and likes to direct messages, and views of your Instagram Stories.
Engagement is what determines the worth of your Instagram profile, which means that the more engagement you have, the better you’ll do on one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
An engagement rate is how the number of followers you have compares to how many likes and comments you’re getting on your content. If you have a lot of followers, but not a lot of engagement on your content, brands aren’t going to want to work with you, and new followers may be few and far between. Let’s break down that engagement rate.
1. Followers
This may seem obvious, but you need to be keeping track of your followers. We’ve already touched on how important the size of your audience is. This is one of the first things that people see when they visit your account, and the more followers you have, the more likely they are to follow you. You also need to analyze how quickly you’re getting more followers too.
2. Likes
On the other side of your engagement rate, you’ve got likes. Likes are used so that your community can show their appreciation of your content and indicate what they like and what they don’t like. It’s a measure of how your content is generally received by your community, and it’s a great indicator of how well your profile is doing overall.
3. Comments
On the other side of the engagement rate with your likes is comments. If your community has already like your content, but they feel compelled to communicate with you about it, they will leave a comment in the comments section. Analyzing your comments is going to give you a much better idea of what your community really thinks about your content. They are a better sign of how well your content is doing because your followers have spent time writing their feedback.
Of course, the number of times your posts get shared and reposted is also important, too. This is perhaps even more of an indication of its value than just a like or a comment. It takes less time to like or comment on a photo than it does to reshare it, so if your community is doing this, they are saying that they really like what they see.
How To Increase Your Engagement
Now that we’ve talked about your engagement rate and what this looks like, we’re going to talk a bit about how you can increase it and gain more exposure for your Instagram profile in general.
There’s nothing more powerful for your Instagram growth than your hashtags. They are the lifeblood of your account, the bridge that is going to connect your content with the right people. The more relevant and specific your hashtags are to your niche and industry, the better they’re going to work for you.
So, how do you find the right hashtags for your account? By using hashtag companies like Hashtags for Likes. They offer an advanced search engine that can help you find the most current and relevant hashtags for your niche and brand. They will help you do this in an efficient manner, too, so that you’re not spending all day and night coming up with the ultimate hashtag strategy.
2. Upload Meaningful Content
Just like hashtags, your content can go a long way to increase your overall Instagram engagement. After all, your content is what connects your brand to your audience, so if you don’t have high-quality content that they’re going to be interested in, you’re not going to have much of a platform to build on at all.
You need to not only make sure that the content is high quality, but you also need to make sure that it’s going to resonate with your audience. You could upload some of the most visually appealing content in the world, but if it has nothing to do with your brand, your audience isn’t going to find a way to connect with it.
3. Be Wary of Follower Fatigue
While other platforms take a different approach to their growth, when it comes to Instagram, it’s all about posting high-quality content. This means that it’s quality over quantity – it doesn’t matter how little you post, you need to make sure that the content is good.
You also need to make sure that you don’t oversaturate your audience with content, too. For this reason, we recommend only uploading between 1 and 2 new posts a day. If you post too much, you risk sabotaging your engagement rate because of follower fatigue. They’re going to think you’re coming across as spammy, and will quickly lose interest.
4. Use Your Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories is all the rage right now – it’s the latest feature to take the world of Instagram by storm. More and more of Instagram’s users are hanging out for the influencers that they follow to post fun, exciting Instagram stories, so the more you utilize this feature, the more your audience is going to interact with your profile in general.
Posting regular Instagram Stories is a great way to give your followers insight into your life.
5. Use the Right Filters
As we’ve already mentioned, the better your content looks to your audience, the more likely they’re going to interact with it. There are many different filters to choose from on Instagram, and of course, each one has its own unique characteristics.
While using Instagram, filters for your posts is a good idea, don’t overdo it. People don’t like interacting with posts that have been over-edited.
6. Try Out a Theme
There is another great way to make your Instagram feed stand out, and that’s in the form of a theme. Themes are great for creating continuity within your feed and increasing the aesthetic appeal overall.
People are drawn to feeds that have a theme or a pattern, whether it’s black and white or breaking up those photos with some text every now and then. There are tons of options to choose from, so take a look around and see which one you think suits your brand best.
You may not have thought up until this point that tagging your location was all that important – but it is. There are many reasons for tagging your location in your photos. For example, if you’re a local business and you’re trying to create a larger community around this, tagging your location is going to help people that live near you find you on the gram.
8. Get Those Posting Times Right
There are some people out there that take a pretty strong stance when it comes to the right posting times – but at the end of the day, it all comes down to your unique analytics. The truth is, everyone’s Instagram community is different, which means that your optimal time to post is going to be different from everyone else’s.
The key to getting this right is to keep track of those analytics and figure out when most of your community is online. Once you’ve managed to nail this down, try to be consistent about posting around this time – whether it’s every day or every week.
9. Use the Story Highlights Feature
You may have noticed that other people out there are making the most of the Story Highlights feature. This is where they can organize past stories into different categories that sum up their life or brand, and save them for visitors to check out when they first come upon their page.
It’s a great way to tell your story to someone new, and beyond your bio, it’s a great hook to get people interested, so that you can increase that engagement.
10. Use Call-to-Actions
Call-to-whats? You may not have heard of this term, but it’s simpler than you think. A call-to-action is just a phrase or a question that prompts your audience to do something. You should always try to include at least one of these in each caption.
Whether it’s asking them how their day is going, to asking a personal question – like whether they think pineapple belongs on pizza – and then asking them to comment their answer down below. This is a great way to interact with your community and get them involved in your posts beyond just liking them.
11. Do a Giveaway
Another great way to get your community involved is to host a giveaway. When coming up with the rules of your giveaway, make sure to get your followers to tag their friends by commenting below – this way, you’ll get the most reach.
This is a great way not only to give back to the people that make your account in the first place, but it’s also a great way to broaden your scope in terms of marketing your brand.
12. Respond to Comments
This may seem obvious, but the more you interact with your followers, the more Instagram is going to feature your content elsewhere, and the bigger your following is going to grow. If you want to build up a long-lasting, loyal following, make sure to reply to everyone who leaves a comment on your content.
The more interactive you are, the more your community will enjoy your brand, its content, and updates that you post.
13. Interact with Accounts in Your Niche
If you can’t beat them, join them. This means that while you may feel intimidated by your rivals, you can actually use them to get ahead yourself. By interacting with their community, there’s every chance that you may be able to win them over and convince them to check out your profile instead.
It’s a great way to find people who you already know are going to be interested in your content, and it’s also a great way to get ahead of the competition.
Final Thoughts
The secret to increasing your engagement on Instagram is – you guessed it – your engagement rate. Once you have figured out what this is and what it involves, you can get started working on improving it. With our practical tips and tricks, you’ll be able to improve on your engagement rate in no time and develop a community that loves interacting with your posts.
Happy Instagramming!
