10 Easy Ways To Get More Instagram Engagement

Generate more engagement with your IG audience

The more engagement you get on your posts, the more love the infamous Instagram Algorithm will show you.

Above all, Instagram is a platform for relationships, and relationships aren’t built in silence. As much as you like what you’ve posted, if you hear crickets, you might want to change a few things to get more people commenting on your posts.

So use these 10 tips to get more Instagram engagement.

Instagram perks for your business

Well, if you haven’t signed up with this much-loved network, then it’s time to get started! Remember to change your account to a business account so that you can see analytics.

Here are some great reasons to join the IG family.

Size doesn’t matter

When it comes to Instagram, it doesn’t matter how big (or small) your business is. It’s a free platform and an even playing field. You can use IG to promote your products and services, inform your audience, build more followers, provide value and do training (using IGTV for instance) and so much more.

Monetising opportunities

Instagram offers many nifty ways to monetise and earn revenue. This applies to both personal and business accounts.

You could partner with micro-influencers and let them help to boost your Instagram engagement and income through their audience reach. Influencers do as their name says “influence” people to buy, follow and more.

They set the trends and always have a large following even when they are only micro-influencers (500 – 10k followers). Working with a micro-influencer may be less expensive than partnering with bigger influencers (few hundreds to well over 1 million followers.)

You can also earn money as an affiliate marketer to sell other companies’ products via your account. In this way, you could earn a percentage of the sales of these products sold.

And you can, off course, sell from Instagram either by links, swipe up CTAs in your stories (for accounts of 10K followers and more) and just by promoting your services.

Pro tip: provide value 10 x more often than asking for a sale! Don’t be spammy and salesy!

Reach more people

As mentioned before, Instagram works because it also allows you to be able to reach a wider range of people. This is fantastic since the app is mobile, people can check out your content even when they’re on the move.

If your business isn’t using IG yet, then it’s time to consider this social network to help grow and improve your company.

Spy on your competition

When you want to stay ahead of the market, knowing what your competition is up to plays a critical role. Since you have to stay on par with the latest marketing trends and interests, Instagram helps you to catch an “inside view” on what your fellow business owners are doing.

10 tips to get more Instagram engagement

1. Be original

The worst thing you can do when starting out on Instagram is to try be like everyone else. People smell imitation a mile away, so rather don’t even go there. For example, while Instagram has many editing tools to help enhance photos, but people don’t like it when photos are overly edited. Throwing on a filter is fine, but when it starts making people look “fake”, you’re going to miss the mark.

And as tempting as it is to post everything you like, it’s best to stay true to your brand and brand message. Let’s say you have a beauty brand in the skincare niche. You want to represent your brand with models who are naturally beautiful as opposed to altering the way they look and “pretend” that your product made them go from “this” to “that”. In this case, you’ll choose to take pictures with minimal make up and lots of natural light. A popular one we tend to see in photo edits or beauty apps is ones that make skin pores totally disappear. This would not fit with your brand image.

2. Express your creative side

Instagram is a colourful and wonderful social network. This is one of the reasons so many people enjoy the platform. This is an opportunity to express your experiences, stories and lots more. Your followers want to understand why your business exists and who you help.

Give them a reason to follow you and your business.

Since it’s big on imagery, photos are one of the central focuses within the community. But while photos are one thing, you can also make an impact by writing engaging captions that inspire people to comment on your posts.

3. Videos are key

Even though Instagram is a platform rich in photos, videos tell a bigger story. Videos are a great way to connect with your audience and share your brand influence.

4. Create highly shareable content

Consider creating highly shareable content to drive up Instagram engagement. You can do carousels where you explain something in small, bite-sized chunks.

5. # Hashtags are important

The renowned hashtags have seen many social media platform users amplify their voices across their audience. This is because people tend to search for things using hashtags.

Think of these little icons as keyword or search engine helpers and they will help search engines find your content. Hashtags also encourage engagement so use them in your content throughout Instagram.

Another way to increase Instagram engagement by using hashtags is to “keep tabs” on these words. When you divide hashtag words into different categories and use specific ones for specific posts, the analytics will help you see which of those hashtags arouses more engagement.

The maximum number of hashtags on Instagram is 30, but we suggest using around 25.

6. Stir up a conversation

The point of conversations, sharing, and posting content is to help encourage your viewers to engage. The more engagement your posts get the better it is for you and your brand awareness efforts. When you start a conversation you allow others to share their opinions too.

How do you start a conversation?

One way is to post a question that you know your audience would love to be opinionated about. We strongly recommend sticking far, far away from religion and politics, but you can pose polarising questions related to your industry to boost engagement.

If you’re in marketing, like we are, we might ask: “Do you think traditional marketing (TV ads, radio, print ads) are obsolete or is there still place for them in the information/digital age?”

People love to give their opinion, so create content that inspires them to comment.

Pro tip: don’t always post polarizing questions, but use it strategically to improve Instagram engagement.

7. Use all the features

Instagram also has fun stickers/gifs that you could add to your Instagram stories instead of only using typed text. You can create polls, ask questions, set countdowns and more!

These features are free and they are designed to help you increase engagement. So use them!

8. Share from the heart

If you’re a service-based business, such as a life coach, hairdresser and so forth, it might be worthwhile to share some personal stories. People resonate deeply with stories that show how you’ve grown and got to where you are today.

For instance, you could tell them what made you decide to become a coach, or how you always struggled to do your hair as a teenager and were determined to help others look beautiful.

Again, you don’t want to overdo this tip but it is a great way to help your followers bond with you and will naturally generate more Instagram engagement.

9. Solve problems

Use Instagram to solve your audience’s problems. For example, if you’re a hairdresser you can do an IGTV or IG Live where you show people 3 easy up-dos that take less than 10 min each.

Give and then give some more. This is how you create raving fans that respond and engage on almost all your posts.

10. Use a CTA

Very often people need to be told what to do, so help them along with a CTA (call to action). Every now and then ASK your audience to engage.

Here are a few examples:

• Give this post a like if this landed with you
• Let me know in the comments what your main takeaway was
• Name one way that you are going to practice self-care this week
• What is your #1 problem when it comes to making sales? Let me know in the comments
• Tag anyone who needed to hear this today

As with the other tips, don’t overdo this strategy as it gets annoying. But throw in a CTA every now and then to prompt engagement.

The takeaway on ways you can get more Instagram engagement

Being successful on social media requires that you show up consistently and inform, educate or entertain. Added to this is the conversations you need to have to grow your audience and increase Instagram engagement.

Creating a genuine connection with your audience is the best way to build relationships with them. Not because you want to scam them into a sale, but because you believe that your products and services can truly benefit them.

Start using these tips today to connect with your followers like you’ve never connected before.

Free training!

Get loads practical business advice and free online marketing training by joining our “Social Media Marketing for Entrepreneurs” FB group.

You might also enjoy:

1. 16 Instagram Tips, Hacks And More That You Can’t Afford To Go Without
2. Easy ways to grow your Instagram followers for free
3. How to Get More Instagram Followers – FAST

 

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