Instagram is perhaps the busiest and largest social media platforms. It’s the sixth most popular mobile app, with more than a billion active users. However, it isn’t just the large audience that makes Instagram the perfect marketing platform for growth.
Instagram is a highly targeted, visual marketing platform that allows you to build a constant audience. But with so many companies striving for post engagement, how do you grab the lion’s share?
Instagram Engagement
Before we figure out how to gather real Instagram followers, let’s consider what Instagram engagement is?
On social media platforms, engagement rates are regarded as a way to measure followers’ loyalty to your brand. But did you know it’s not about how big your audience is, rather their degree of involvement with your particular brand that matters? Their interaction with your content is key. Your followers’ interaction and interest in your videos, stories, and photos that counts towards success. Data metrics such as engagement rates are useful when you spend on paid campaigns. How?
If your brand has a high engagement rate, you’ll be in a better place to negotiate with brand ambassadors and influencers who can advertise on your behalf at lower rates. Similarly, influencers who have engaged followers can ask for higher rates from prospective clients.
Now let’s examine how to boost Instagram engagement. Here are 14 strategies that can increase Instagram followers and likes:
1. Leverage Hashtags. Hashtags are a powerful weapon on platforms like Instagram. Relevant and accurate hashtags will help your business reach the right audience and increase Instagram likes. However, you still need to use the right hashtags for the best impact. You can use research tools like Hashtags For Likes. This tool will help you find hashtags for your niche and brand. Simply enter a hashtag into the search field and you’ll immediately get helpful stats. This is an AI-powered tool that can also find the most hashtags without manual intervention. It simply needs your Instagram username. The hashtags you use must be relevant to your posts, products, brand, and the message you want to communicate. Tools like HashtagsForLikes will organically help you get to your target audience.
2. Publish Meaningful Content.
Posting helpful content is the best way to garner real Instagram followers. This type of content motivates users to engage with your brand. It isn’t just the captivating captions and the image, but the type of content as well. You want to create and share content that demonstrates the real value of the product to your users. Example: If you have a pet spa business, you can share before and after photos of pets who have used your spa’s services. You can also include your clients’ success stories to go along with the photos.
3. Host Contests and Giveaways.
One of the best things to happen on Instagram is when a user tags his/her friend in your comment. These comment tags work wonders in increasing your Instagram likes and consequently, engagement. It instantly adds new members to your following. You may make the most of these comments by routinely running contests and giveaways.
But how do you plan and post giveaways?
Thankfully, there are tools for this as well. VYPER is one such tool. On VYPER, you can design a landing page for your contest or giveaway. With its drag and drop page building tool, you can create your landing page without any prior coding knowledge. It lets you accumulate leads with ease. Example: You can host regular giveaways where you request users to tag others in return for a giveaway.
4. Utilize Instagram Stories.
Did you know that approximately 300 million people use Instagram on a daily basis? These users spend nearly thirty minutes on the Instagram Stories page. So what better way to involve your Instagram followers than share blooper videos and behind-the-scenes photos with them?
Example: The car brand Renault used Instagram Stories to promote their Twingo Midnight model to millennials.
5. Use Geotags.
You can use geotags along with hashtags to make your stories and posts findable. Local businesses can maximize the use of geotags the most by adding these to posts. Using geotags enables you to interact with posts from users located in the same physical vicinity. Geotags are especially beneficial for businesses offering services.
6. Use Instagram Feed Themes. These help add visual appeal to your Instagram posts. This feature adds extra appeal to your brand and will surely increase Instagram likes and followers. The options range from a simple white and black theme to something very colorful and complicated.
You can opt for a mono theme if your business focuses on a repetitive product.
7. Locate the Right Filters. The platform is all about enticing audiences with a visual punch. A simple way to achieve this feat is with Instagram filters. Every filter has its own design appeal. These will add a new dimension to your posts. Some popular filters are:
- Valencia
- X-Pro 2
- Juno
8. Use Story Highlights on the Profile. Once a visitor arrives on your page, there are only a few seconds where you can convert them into Instagram followers. The “Highlights” feature lets you do this. An Instagram Story will only last up to 24 hours. However, a Highlight will increase the duration of a Story and appeal to your visitors.
9. Engage with Followers Via Comments. An effective way to increase engagement is by interacting with users who comment and like your posts. Take time each day to post comments and ‘talk’ to your audience.
How will this help you?
First, when you reply to a user’s comments, it makes them feel special. This will increase the likelihood that they will remain loyal to you and consequently interact with your Instagram account on a regular basis. This method steadily increases Instagram engagements.
10. Interact with Similar Accounts.
This is a smart tact that will help you keep a close eye on competitors. It takes a step beyond simply ‘spying’ on competitors’ accounts. Interacting with similar accounts lets you monitor the types of content they are posting. It also lets you interact with your audience.
To use this technique, find Instagram accounts that are similar to yours. ‘Talk’ to their followers, even with users who post frequent comments on their images and posts. You’ll be taken back by the type of relationships you can form in this way. They’re also going to find your content interesting and engaging.
11. Test Posting Times. One strategy that can boost real Instagram followers is by posting on your business page at the appropriate times. You can exploit engagements by publishing content when the majority of your followers are probably browsing their post feeds.
How do you find the right posting time? You may use Instagram’s analytical tool. This gives you a clear picture about when your audience visits you online. When you post at that time, you will acquire more engagements within a few minutes after posting. This counts for more than for those engagements gained later on. You may take a proactive step and use a tool such as Sprout Social’s Social Media Publisher. This tool enables you to schedule posts that will be published later on.
12. Pay Attention to Follower Fatigue.
Instagram is not about interactions and micro-conversations. This is what Twitter is all about. Instead, it engagement has to do with publishing high quality content. What can you do?
Keep limit of posting one to two videos or photos per day. If you over post, you will risk damaging engagement rates resulting from follower fatigue. You will lose Instagram followers if they assume you spam frequently. This will eventually lead to a decrease in engagement.
13. Add a CTA to your Post. This is a simple act where you request your following to comment. Then you can invite them to interact with you. This is very beneficial. This is why including a call to action in the post captions is very important.
What can CTAs achieve? They encourage visitors to engage via comments. It prompts them to spend extra time on your post. This is a simple yet effective way to boost Instagram engagement, and consequently, growth. Leverage this tactic on your page with a giveaway.
14. Measure and Optimize. To ensure you’re doing everything correctly, constantly analyze your data. Then optimize it accordingly. By knowing what you’re doing wrong, you can improve your Instagram engagement rates.
What steps can you take?
Use Instagram’s tool to examine your content’s performance. It will also give you a picture about audience behavior. However, you need an Instagram business account to do this. You can also evaluate your brand engagement rate by entering your profile name in the Engagement Calculator.
Are you ready to boost engagement on Instagram?
To increase Instagram likes and followers, you have to improve engagement rates on the Instagram platform. Experiment with the strategies mentioned in this blog. Let us know how it goes!
