How to increase Instagram engagement? This question baffles everyone whether you are an individual, marketer, social media influencer, or a business owner. On Instagram, every brand needs to understand how to create authentic, organic Instagram content. In determining your Instagram success, Likes, comments, shares, direct messages, poll responses, etc. play a massive role. To tie your Instagram efforts to your real business goals, you need engagement.
For Instagram marketers and businesses, engagement on Instagram has become the holy grail. Any business or marketer wants to get into action with more than 4.2 billion photos every day and 50 billion posts shared to date. Read this blog till last and learn how to increase Instagram engagement through interactive strategies. Let’s get started!
Understanding Instagram Engagement
A measure of the total no. of people who interacted with the content that you posted on Instagram is called Instagram engagement. It is a collection of metrics that will tell you how well your content connects with your audience and how much they are passionate about your community. Instagram engagement is essential as it will let you know that people are stopping to interact with your content rather than scrolling through it.
For the Instagram algorithm, engagement is also a key ranking signal. To get more engagement, a lovely post, story, or reel can help you. Engagement is measured by a range of metrics on Instagram such as:
- Comments
- Shares
- Likes
- Saves
- Mentions
- DMs
- Use of branded hashtags
- Click-throughs
- Accounts engaged
Effective Strategies To Increase Engagement On Instagram
Creating engaging posts on Instagram is essential. Here are some effective strategies mentioned below to increase Instagram engagement.
1. Instagram Reels
Instagram reels are the current favorite child of this platform if you’re paying attention to Instagram. To get your content in front of the audience, Instagram reels are the easiest way that extend well beyond your current follower list. Instagram reels can draw new visitors to your Instagram profile which results in potential new followers and also provides new opportunities for engagement when you embed Instagram feed on a website.
2. Use Hashtags
Instagram was built on hashtags because it is the primary method of filtering content on Instagram. Instagram allows 30 hashtags per post to its users. To create higher visibility hashtags that lead to a topic page can be used in your bio, Instagram stories, or location-based. On Instagram, hashtags are usually more descriptive. To increase Instagram engagement, content hashtags such as location hashtags are particularly useful.
3. Regularly Post Instagram Stories
Instagram stories last for 24 hours only but you can use them smartly to get much more out of your stories. Your profile image gets a red circle around it every time you add a new story. This red circle will indicate to your followers that there is new content. You keep the content fresh for your audience with a constant reminder of your new content by posting every day. Using the stories highlight features, you can also categorize and share stories again across the top of your profile page.
4. Focus On Instagram SEO
Getting your content seen was all about understanding the algorithm for a long time. When people search on Instagram using keywords, then it is referred to as Instagram SEO, and your content can be seen. To increase engagement, people who found your content through SEO are an ideal audience. You’ll need to understand what kind of words and phrases people use to look for content to get the best search rankings.
5. Mention Others
Mention them if you feature any person or brand in your story. If it’s an Instagram story, it is even better when they can share your post in their own story. This expands your reach along with increasing your engagement because it enables people who follow the person or brand you’ve tagged to see your content as well.
6. Post Memes
Everyone loves a meme and they are a great way to increase engagement for brands. Many brands or marketers have begun sharing memes. Memes are highly shareable content as they’re more likely to engage with than a standard product image when they show up in the news feed of your audience. On Instagram, be careful that you don’t make your entire social media marketing strategy about posting memes.
7. Organize Challenges
You could host a challenge if it is possible for your brand to get your audience engaged. Audience will take a challenge when you post a challenge and they’ll post about it on Instagram by using a particular hashtag and tagging you. This type of content is specifically popular in wellness but you could do it in your industry.
8. Involve Influencers
Content creation is a lot of work and it requires a lot of effort. Instead of creating whole content by yourself, get influencers involved and let them create different types of content for your Instagram profile. Because influencers have their loyal communities too. With the right partnership, you can introduce your own Instagram account to a whole new audience.
9. Use Carousels Effectively
Carousels are basically Instagram posts with multiple images making them a great way to increase engagement. On average, carousel posts get 3.1x more engagement when compared to regular posts. For all types of Instagram posts, carousels have the highest average engagement rate of 0.62%.
Final Note
Instagram engagement is a constant work in progress. Don’t get stuck in a groove and keep posting the same things. Innovation and creativity are the new name of the game here. With your followers, having unique and believable content establishes trust. These aforementioned effective strategies will help you in increasing the engagement rate of Instagram whether you are an individual, business owner, marketer, or social media influencer.