I have discovered some helpful tips to increase Instagram engagement which I have shared with you. Building your social media pages for your brand can be daunting. Where do you start? I have found a few great social media courses on Udemy and just researching a bit on google.
Increasing Instagram engagement helps you to connect with your audience and build trust. If your engagement is good then you know your content is showing up in your followers feeds. With Instagrams new 2020 algorithm only 10% of your followers are seeing your posts. This is due to the fact that Instagram wants to promote monetisation and paid ads.
10 Ways to Increase Instagram Engagement
1. Create content that is ‘saveable’. Posts that people will want to share or save for late, such as infographics or quotes. You can use Canva to create quotes.
2. Use longer captions. Although Instagram appears to be all about the images. Text is just as important. Use captions or copy that is engaging and draws your audience in for more. Be intentional about your captions. Write content that your audience will want to read. Be a storyteller, be real and share content important to you.
3. Run giveaways and competitions. This encourages more people to share your page and gets conversations going.
4. Add an element of fun. Whether it be in your layout or the colours you use to fun photos. Maybe some behind the scenes bloopers.
5. Make use of Story features. Add some music. Make use of the GIFs. Use text in your stories. There is a new DM me feature you can add. Unfold is a great app to help you create stories.
6. Use Video. I am not good at this myself, but a video does get a lot more views. You can use videos creatively. I see Instagram has added reels now and I am not sure what to make of it yet, to be honest.
7. Use hashtags intentionally. Look at hashtags as little mini search engines. You want to use some local hashtags and also geotag your posts. Do not use the same hashtags over and over again.
8. Polls/ Quiz or Answer the blank posts. I need to do more of this. This can also add some playfulness while maybe getting some insight into your audience as well.
9. Use high-quality images. I am currently doing a Udemy cell phone photography course to help me with this, as I do not take great pictures. You can also make use of the free stock image sites such as Pixabay and Unsplash.
10. Schedule a variety of content in your niche. Later is an app I use to help schedule my post and it helps me to plan a bit. Being more of a spur of the moment kind of gal! I don’t always manage to stick to my plan. But I have got a few posts to save waiting to go! It helps on those days you feel less creative!
How to calculate engagement rate
The formula for calculating your Instagram engagement rate is to divide your total number of comments and likes by your total follower count, and then multiply by 100 to give you a percentage. A percentage between 1% and 3 % is considered a good engagement rate. Anything higher would be excellent!
Organic Instagram engagement happens when you genuinely engage with other similar accounts in your niche. Remember to always reply to anyone who comments. Always answer your dm’s. Doing a paid ad every now and again is not a bad idea as you can target your audience specifically. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments.
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