Instagram can be a powerful marketing tool for your business on the Internet. With over 1 billion users, it’s one of the most popular social media tactics to reach a new audience and increase your brand awareness.
To make the most of the platform, you don’t just need followers – you need engagement. And it’s important that the engagement is genuine – coming from real people who care about your business and the content you share.
In this post, we’ll walk through tips to better engage your followers so you can improve your Instagram strategy and grow your audience.
What do we mean by Instagram engagement?
Engagement measures how much your audience interacts with your content. It can be measured by a range of different metrics, including comments, shares, likes, followers, mentions, and click-throughs.
A strong engagement rate means that your content is effective and resonating with your audience. It’s also a key factor that influences the Instagram algorithm. The more your audience engages with your content, the more likely your content will be displayed on their Instagram feed in the future.
Here are a few ways that you can increase your engagement.
Use hashtags
A hashtag is a combination of letters or words preceded by the # symbol (e.g., #SmallBusiness) that are used to categorize Instagram posts and make them more discoverable. When you use a hashtag in an Instagram post, your post will appear when someone searches for that hashtag. Instagram users can also follow hashtags. This means that your hashtagged post would appear in a user’s feed, even if they don’t follow your Instagram account (yet).
It’s important to use hashtags that are relevant to your specific business and are being searched for on Instagram. To find relevant hashtags for your small business, you can use free online tools like IconoSquare or Webstagram. These tools also offer analytics so you can track the performance of the hashtags that you use across your posts.
Add value with your content
Since Instagram is a visual platform, it’s important to invest time in producing high-quality content. To keep your audience engaged, you should make sure that you are creating and posting content that creates value for them and encourages them to engage with your business.
images of your product or services aren’t the only posts to spread brand awareness and increase sales. For your long-term success, you need to add value to Instagram’s community, rather than using the platform for advertising purposes only.
Post more videos
Does your small business use video content? Video is an increasingly effective way to engage with potential customers on Instagram and other social platforms. According to Hubspot study, 54 percent of consumers said they wanted to view more video content from brands and businesses they support.
One way you can use video on Instagram is through Instagram Reels. This is a new Instagram feature that allows businesses to create short, entertaining videos on the platform. Try testing this new feature out to see if it can increase your audience’s engagement.
Reply to comments and messages
Make sure to reply to your audience’s comments and messages on Instagram. This is a great way to organically connect with your followers and ultimately improve your audience’s loyalty. By acknowledging comments and having conversations with your followers, you’ll make your audience feel heard and more excited to connect with your brand again in the future.
Start conversations with your captions
Instagram captions are another great way to begin conversations with your audience. Some ways to do this could be asking for your audience’s opinion. Test different types of captions and see which resonates with your followers.
If your audience is getting value out of your content, they will likely stick around and engage with your brand on Instagram. Take the time to draft great posts, encourage conversations, and genuinely connect with your followers, and the benefits will follow.
