If you want to increase your engagement on Instagram this year for your business, now’s the best time to get going. You need to start doing something different for your Instagram posts to stand out in the crowd.
The Extra Effort Counts
You have to make an extra effort, using a few effective techniques. What is it that you can do that will keep your viewers spellbound? Well, there are several things you can do like posting giveaways, creating memes, and much more to increase engagement with your Instagram community.
Let’s go over some of the simplest but most effective things to do. Here are a few useful tips:
Instagram Stories and Stickers
If you want your followers to pay more attention to your Instagram posts, Instagram Stories and stickers are a good way to start. You get to build up a loyal following, and you can connect your audience to your brand.
When you come to stories, they contain various accessories like emoji sliders, countdowns, polls, quizzes, and questions, among many others. The question sticker is one of the most popularly-used accessories in Instagram Stories.
You can ask a question, and it rakes up a flurry of answers which can easily develop into a heated discussion. It not only enables you to know your followers better (as a mediator), but you can educate them about your brand in the process.
Consistency in Posting
Your brand needs to be active if you want it to get the right exposure. It means that you need to post regularly. But what is the definition of regular? Usually, one to two posts a day should suffice. It helps make your content fresh and relevant and helps your followers see what is happening on your page.
You also need to note the time and days of posting. You don’t want to be posting your content at times when your followers are least likely to be online. There are varying opinions on when the ideal time to post, so maybe you’d do well to experiment in that aspect.
Know Your Audience
You will find it difficult to create content unless you have a particular audience in mind. For example, if you create content for an age group of 18-25, you would create content that caters to the younger set.
Again, if you create content for the gaming crowd, you would be featuring the latest games, cheat sheets, and so on.
Post-Great Videos
Instagram is a highly visual medium. So, you need to pay a great amount of attention to the visual aspect of your posts. Since you are more likely to be posting photos and videos, you need to focus on that visual aspect.
It means that dull photos and boring videos are out! You need to post visuals that attract more eyeballs. Even a single video can tell a great story if presented correctly. Use an online video editor to take your videos to the next level.
Carousel Posts
The best way of presenting your images and videos is through a highly effective and useful feature by Instagram called the Carousel. The feature creates more engagement, particularly if you use the total capacity of 10 Carousels in your post.
You can use a Carousel in various ways, like sharing it before and after photos during a photo dump, or even on tip-based threads.
Use Memes Effectively
Memes are fun, poignant, and relatable. 2022 is going to be more about relatability. Instagram users love to be seen and heard, but they like to relate themselves to images on Instagram more than ever.
You can use a meme with appropriate labeling to make it hilarious, touching, thoughtful, or it can evoke many other emotions. Be creative to make memes that will increase your engagement on Instagram.
Use Relevant Hashtags
Instagram hashtags are a label that adds a category to your content. Hashtags motivate users to search for results. However, one of the most useful features of hashtags is that they rank your Instagram content on the Instagram Algorithm. It gives you the greatest visibility and the highest engagement.
Two important things about hashtags that you need to observe are. First, they should be relevant, and secondly, you should not overdo them. According to Instagram, although they have given a provision of posting up to 30 hashtags per post, they recommend that users only use three to five per post.
Follow and Engage on Similar Accounts
Before you post your content on your Instagram page, take a good look at what others are posting across the platform. According to Instagram’s policies, engagement feeds engagement.
Under this Instagram rule, you can get better engagement if you post content similar to what others post. Of course, that is not to say that your content shouldn’t be unique.
You can find many ways to make your content stand out amongst other posts. But while posting content that is similar to other accounts, you are sure that you are targeting the right audience.
Create Good Captions
Captions are an extremely powerful part of Instagram posts. Make sure that you put a lot of thought and creativity into your captions. A caption gives the content a context, and it can even state your stand on the nature of content that you post.
You can also increase engagement by asking others to tag someone interested in your content and add appropriate captions. It can result in an exponential increase in your engagement.
Conclusion
The bottom line here is that you need to post relevant content that combines uniqueness and content that your followers expect to see. If you want to strategize your content, you need to make a bit of extra effort.
But merely working hard at what you do is not good enough. You need to use different techniques and tricks to make your content more viral.
There are many other ways to increase your engagement on Instagram. As you get better and better at focusing on increasing your engagement using these tips and tricks, you are bound to come up with some of your ideas.
As Instagram evolves, you need to evolve with it. Follow the tips provided here, and you’re off to a great start!