UNLEASH YOUR INSTAGRAM ENGAGEMENT TODAY!

Engagement generates engagement

Taking the time to do some research on your industry or niche that you post about on Instagram will definitely prove valuable to you. You want to research what similar accounts are posting, how often they are posting and how they are engaging with their followers.

The rule of thumb is that engagement generates engagement. By spending time every day to engage with the people who follow you but also the people who follow similar content on Instagram you will be making your account more visible and if your content on your page is good then you could get more follows as well as engagement on your content.

Let’s say that you have an Instagram account for a sportswear brand, you should engage with content from other sportswear label accounts, fitness influencers, fitness inspiration accounts, etc.

If you’re managing the Instagram of a different brand or agency such as a social media marketing agency then it is advisable that you engage with posts from social media thought leaders and social media marketing blogs. Their comment section is a platform for you to not only share your value-point but also it will be filled with people who could be your next followers.

This is why taking the time to engage on other peoples content will be putting yourself out there in front of the “right” audience, who will potentially be interested in the content of your page.

This is how you can find new pages to follow and engage with.

1. Use the search bar (it is the search icon or magnifying glass) either at the top or bottom of your screen on the Instagram App.

2. Search for the accounts similar to you by typing in the keywords relevant to your industry or niche. The great thing about Instagram you can search specifically for accounts by tapping on “people” or go broader by looking for accounts who have used it as a hashtag by tapping on “tags”

3. Engage with the followers of your competition. But don’t just say like “hey” or go directly in for the sale like “hey check out our profile” people will inherently consider you as spam. Engage with the competitions post. For example, if their post is about social media engagement in the comment section add your value-point on the subject. Then go deeper by clicking on the people who have commented and leave a comment on their latest post and engage with them on that post. Taking a real interest in their post will lead them to take interest in yours.

Engage before and engage after you post.

Unless you are only using Instagram to send grandma a picture of little billy then you are definitely going to want to get as much engagement as possible on your post especially in the first hour of posting it. As with most social media company’s’ their algorithm will recognize a lot of engagement as something that is likely to be interesting to more people, which will cause your post to appear higher up the feed.

But how can you influence the algorithm?

Engage, engage, and engage some more.

By engaging with other posts on other accounts before and after you post something to your own feed will increase the likelihood of people viewing your profile, liking the most recent post on your page and the possibility of also commenting on your most recent post which will boost the visibility of your posts on the platform. So a little bit of effort is needed from you but in the end, it will be a win-win situation.

Carefully select your hashtags

let’s say that you are again a sportswear brand and you post pictures of your products’ on Instagram. You could use the #sportswear with has 2.9M posts that are associated with it or you could use a more specific product related hashtag such as #runningpants with has 14.9K associated with it. Or you can go even more specific with #womansportwear which has 3128 posts associated with it. Using the more specific hashtags will increase the likely hood of your post being seen by the people who follow or search for those hashtags.

Think of it like you are going fishing you could choose to fish in the ocean filled with fish or a puddle filled with fish. Both have fish but one is more likely to let you catch the fish than the other.

You will find that the more specific hashtags that you are using will have fewer posts being added to them on a daily basis which means that the posts you’ve added to them will stay at the top of them for longer, meaning that your page will be more easily found than those who are at the bottom of the list.

Meaningful captions matter

Having meaningful captions on your will help encourage others to either spend more time looking at your content and hopefully engaging with your content by liking your post and also leaving a comment on your post. It is believed that the more time that people are looking at your content the more the Instagram algorithm to prioritize your post.

You want your caption to evoke emotion from the reader, you want it to express the personality of the post and encourage engagement.

Vary your caption lengths as needed. They can be as long or as short as needed to convey the message. Long or short don’t forget to add a call of action to the post. For example, the call of action could be to tag a user whom you think needs to see the post.

People like to see faces.

Did you know that photos with faces do almost 40% better than those without?

Your business needs people to support it, no matter what the topic, industry or niche, so add some faces into your next post. On a subconscious level, your post will be humanized and regarded as trustworthy. Seeing is believing and if people see others enjoying your product for example then they will more be inclined to try it as well.

Got a comment? Reply to it immediately.

We this a lot, people post a really good image and it gets a lot of comments but the page owner or manager does not respond to the comments.

This is not only a mistake but a missed opportunity to connect with your community as well as show others that you take the time to show your appreciation by replying. Not only will this inspire others to comment but it will help push your post to the top of the feed because Instagram views this as a post that is “valuable” and most likely others would also want to see it.

Use stories

Instagram stories are yet another way to connect with your followers but also an incredibly powerful tool to boost engagement when used correctly. You can, for example, use stories to create a hype around a future post so that when you post “it” your audience is already anticipating the post and once it is posted they can go and comment and like it. Stories help your audience stay connected to you and if you use it properly can help you develop deeper relationships with your community. Spend time learning to become a better storyteller because our lives revolve around stories, excuse the pun.

Using the tips we have given correctly and implementing them in your posting you will drive up your engagement, keep your audience invested, and attract new followers. We wish you the best on making these changes, please leave a comment to let us know how they helped your Instagram journey.