What’s good there everybody? You know all the basics and all the nooks and crannies of making great content. But the question is do you know how you can ensure engagement in the contents you posts?
Great content with no engagement honestly does no justice to it. Geeting engagement in your posts has far more to do than just posting great content alone. If you are not aware of how you can improve your engagement, then fret not. Today’s your lucky day. Because today we are going to cover how to get more engagement on Instagram.
Not only that but also the different metrics that determine Instagram Engagement to begin with. So without further ado and wasting a single second of your time, let’s dive in
Instagram Engagement – What it Means?
If you’re new to Instagram, then there’s a good chance you probably don’t even know what Instagram engagement even means to begin with. If you’re someone who is wondering what this is, then understand the fact that it is how the public interacts with the contents you post.
Instagram engagement gives you an overall impression and better insight into how your audience connects to your post and how the public is relating to it. Earlier Instagram engagement only meant getting likes on your posts. However, it’s way more than that.
By the end of November 2019, Instagram started to hide likes worldwide. Instagram claims it was solely because of how it affected the platform and users and that brands shouldn’t be judged based on the number of likes they get on their posts.
Metrics for Measuring Instagram Engagement
We have clearly established the fact that Instagram engagement is way more than just getting likes on your post. In order to measure your engagement make sure your account privacy is not set to private. You must have a business account to make use of the function of Instagram Insights which is helpful in tracking your engagement and progress,
Following are some metrics that you or your business can use to measure or assess your engagement rate on Instagram: Here are a few useful metrics your brand can analyze to measure engagement rate on Instagram:
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Impressions
This refers to the cumulative times your Stories and Posts on Instagram has been seen. That is the impression your posts have left on people (An account can see your posts or stories more than once)
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Reach
This is the number of unique views your stories and posts have got. In other terms, the number of accounts that have viewed it.
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Website clicks
It is the number of times a user has clicked on the website link you provided in stories, posts, or anywhere in your Instagram causing them to leave their Instagram app and redirect themselves to the website link you provided.
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Profile visits
This should be very self-explanatory. This refers to the number of times a user has visited your Instagram profile.
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Followers
The rate of growth of followers that is calculated by dividing your recently gained followers over a specific period of time by the previous number of followers multiplied by 100. It helps you understand the growth rate
Other metrics to consider:
These are some of the other metrics that you can and should consider to analyze your Instagram Engagement
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Likes
Yes. We know we have said that likes option has been hidden on Instagram. However, that doesn’t negate its importance and take away the fact that it is indeed important to measure your engagement rate.
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Comments
The number of times a user or account has commented something under your posts. Some users disable comments however it’s not advised to do so
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Saved posts
It is the number of times a user has clicked on the flag icon to add your post to their private collection or saved posts (I know sounds creepy) to probably return to your post later and review it or view it whenever they want. They will probably return to your post to review later or view it repeatedly.
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Interactions
The summation of the number likes, comments and saved posts
How to Get More Engagement on Instagram
Now that you know the nuts and bolts of how you can measure your Instagram engagement rate, let’s dive into details and the ways you boost your engagement on Instagram:
Know your Audience
Thanks to Instagram Insights, you can understand the behavior and demographics of your audience and followers now. You can find this under the Audience Tab in Instagram Insights.
It helps you understand the percentage of Men and Women viewing and interacting with your posts and also the time of the day when they are most active. This helps you understand what they want and what they like and who you are catering to your posts.
Time your Posts
Not everyone knows the best time to post. Not everyone considers it to be important. However, in order to get the maximum engagement, it’s essential you time and schedule your posts during different times of the day to attract maximum attraction. Imagine you are posting at a time when most of your audience is usually asleep. This will reduce your engagement rate.
The best time to post is generally when the maximum number of your followers are active and engage. You can do this physically utilizing a blend of Instagram Insights; testing distinctive posting times, and by making a sorted out spreadsheet to screen every one of your information.
In case you’re utilizing Instagram Insights, you’ll as of now have an Instagram business profile. As we said above, go to the Audience tab to find your audience’s behavior. Look down further, and you’ll see when your crowd is generally dynamic on Instagram by the two – Days and Hours. Experiment with those numbers and see what works best for you.
Reply to Comments
Hey, there’s a reason it’s called a social media platform. You socialize. Make sure you reply to the comments of the people in your post. This helps keep your post at the top of the feed every time as the Instagram algorithm resets and sets its priority at the top. When users gradually respond to you, Instagram acknowledges your post as a popular piece of content that interests people.
Engaging and conversing with your followers helps you understand them better. It helps you understand what they want and allows you to promote your account or brand accordingly.
Use Relevant Hashtags
Of course, you already know the importance of using hashtags on Instagram. But did you know using a hashtag on Instagram can increase your post engagement by 12.6% as opposed to a post that has no hashtags?
Whenever someone searches up a hashtag that you provided in the search toolbar, your post appears there. Instagram allows for a total of 30 Hashtags per posts.
But that doesn’t excuse you for posting poor hashtags not relevant to your content. You’ll get a few followers and engagement at first, but they’ll eventually unfollow you. Instead, follow an Instagram Hashtag Strategy to make sure you use all the relevant hashtags in accordance with your niche. So, do hashtag researching as well
Collaborate with an Influencer
This is one of the best ways to increase your engagement on Instagram. Collaborate with an Instagram influencer or a blogger to reach both their followers and yours. This absolutely guarantees a lot of clicks on that follow button in your profile not to mention boost your engagement.
Look out for influencers that post similar content or work in the same niche. Don’t just collaborate for the sake of collaborating. If you can, convince them to give your channel or account a shoutout. This will instantly help you tap a market that you perhaps might not have been able to penetrate.
Host Giveaways and Contests
This is a trick popularly used by celebrities or perhaps all influencers to boost their engagement within a very short period of time without having to do paid promotion.
Simple. All you need to do is host a simple game or challenge that you can get people to engage in and as an incentive, you provide them a reward. To increase your reach further, the reward can be a product from your own website or a discount on it.
A good example is: “ In order to enter the competition, follow my account and like all the posts. Mention 3 of your friends in the comments and also tag us in your story. Winners will be selected at random and the winner shall get 2 free tickets to Disney World.”
Post-Great Content
This should be a no-brainer. Your content is the first thing people see when it appears on their feed. Afterward, they like, comment, save, or interact. Point is, if your content is not good enough, the likelihood of people engaging with your post becomes slim.
So make sure to post engaging content and use colors that pop out and strikes. Make sure your content is relevant to your niche and something unique. This will greatly impact your engagement.
Improve your Caption Game
Sure posting great content will do it for you. You’ve attracted the attention. Now what? Now is the time to take your caption game to the next level. After your post, that’s the first thing that they see.
This is what separates a good post from a great one. So, make sure to use highly engaging captions to draw attention and attract the audience thus increasing overall engagement.
Tag your Location
Tagging and mentioning people will help and allow those user’s audience to engage with you. However, when you tag a location, everyone who clicks on the location or manually searches it up can see your post.
Imagine having food at Dunkin Donuts. You uploaded a picture which you clicked there on your Instagram. You tag the location of Dunkin Donuts. The same day when someone else searches Dunkin Donuts be it for viewing purposes or to find the location, your post will appear on the feed. Amazing right? This is a great way to engage your engagement.
Engage with Similar Niches
It’s essential that you engage with people and accounts that post similar content FInd accounts and businesses that work in similar niches and start engaging with them. Remember engagement feeds engagement.
When you interact with other users on the same platform, you thus increase your chances of appearing more on people’s feed and the explore option thus increasing your reach and visibility. However, it’s not the quantity rathe the quality of engagement that matters. So you must follow and engage with contents that complement yours.
For example, you have a fitness blog account or a business profile. You post and promote mainly workout videos and additional tips for maintaining muscle mass. If you follow accounts and engage with niches like fashion and pets, then you’ll not have quality engagement. You should rather follow and comment on posts of niches that are similar to Calisthenics, Athletic Training, Powerlifting, etc.
If you are confused and don’t know where to start or can’t find similar niches, a simple search of the hashtag your niche is about would do. From there, you can find out different accounts that are associated with it and start engaging with them.
Conclusion:
Remember, there’s no one size fits all solution here. You need to experiment multiple times and do different trial and error to see what works for you. At the end of the day, it all comes down to your audience and the type of content they like and want to see. But we believe if you follow all the above steps and guidelines, you’re bound to achieve success. Have patience and you’ll blow up in no time.
So there you have it. Now you have a better understanding of how you can increase engagement on your posts in Instagram. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask us. Before leaving, tell us about your experience of increasing Instagram Engagement. What tricks have you tried other than the ones mentioned above to boost it? Let us know in the comments below.
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You tried out everything but still struggling and have little luck with engagement on Instagram? Dive in now to find out how to get more engagement in Instagram