10 Tips To Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate
Source: Freepik
Instagram’s increasing popularity makes it an effective platform to build your brand, create awareness about your service and sell you products and services to your target audience. Instagram’s highly appealing feature is that you can build a community with your target audience and foster the community for even better brand presence.
In Malaysia, there are 11 488 000 Instagram users in 2020. Malaysians are also extremely keen in online shopping. Apparently, 75% of the internet users spend their money through e-commerce. If you are a business owner, affiliate marketer or service provider, social media especially Instagram is a perfect place to create awareness and build brand presence.
There’s only a tiny problem though! There are hundreds of thousands of businesses and affiliate marketers on Instagram trying to catch the attention of Instagram users using various creative means.
If you are already on Instagram but finding it hard to rake in the numbers or if you are just about to embark on your Instagram journey, you need to know all about Instagram engagement, analytics, target audience and posting schedules, just to name a few.
First of all, what is Instagram engagement?
From top celebrities to influencers and affiliate marketers, Instagram engagement is the ultimate goal and there is never ending debate of what works and what doesn’t. Depending on your target audience, the strategy for Instagram engagement may differ but generally, there are a few ways to rake in the glorious numbers.
However, before we tell you how to boost your Instagram engagement, let’s find out some simple facts about Instagram engagement.
Instagram engagement is your audience’s involvement with each of your posts. It is their interaction with your stories, posts and comments. This includes likes, shares, comments, and reposts. It makes sense why some content creators on Instagram try their best to get their followers to comment with captions like “Comment your experience” and some contests require you to “Tag 3 of your friends to win”.
How to measure Instagram engagement?
Here are some of the factors that determine your Instagram engagement.
- Number of followers
Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to have a high number of followers to get a high engagement rate. Even with 1000-2000 followers, you can have a high engagement rate where your audience is actively clicking on your links, buying your products and using your services.
Instead of focusing on increasing the number of followers, focus on getting to know your existing followers. You can easily get information such as demographics, activity, and the content they like using Instagram analytics.
- Number of likes
We all like “Instagram likes”. Well, rightfully so. The number of likes is an easy way to find out if your audience like your post. Since all it takes is a double tap, the audience will tap on the posts they like and scroll through those they don’t. Hence, if you audience “like” your make-up videos more, you know what to do!
- The quantity and quality of comments
If your audience are taking the time off to think and write their comments in your posts, it means they are invested in what you are offering to them. And it would be nice to engage back with them to create a trusted community.
- Shares and reposts
When your audience share or repost your posts, it shows that they like your brand and want to share them with their family, friends and followers. They are proud to be associated with your brand. This will organically promote your brand and can play a crucial role in your marketing plans.
Apart from the above, some other factors are story views, posts saves, and DMs.
What’s next?
Now that you know about all the elements that come under Instagram engagement, it is time to create content that will make you shine above all other brands on Instagram!
The question is: What can you do to increase your Instagram engagement? How can you stand out among all the other content creators who are equally creative? How to build an audience who will click on your affiliate link and buy your products?
Well, we have come up with a long list of ideas to improve your Instagram engagement! Here are all the 10 tips!
Source: Freepik
Write longer, genuine and value-adding captions
When you write long captions for your posts, your followers are going to spend a longer time reading it contributing to your engagement metrics. If the caption gets to them, they might comment on and share your posts.
However, take note of the word “value-adding”. Instead of rambling away for the purpose of writing long captions, make sure your caption carries weight and depth to add value to your followers.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
The best way to find out what your audience likes and respond to is by experimenting. If you are using the same content strategy over and over again, there are high chances for the audience to get bored.
Ride on the trending topics, marketing ideas and mix up your strategy every now and then to give your feed a fresh breath.
Use the Instagram stories stickers
Instagram stories have really caught on and people are spending more time sharing their lives with each other through this feature. It means you have more opportunities to present yourself and engage with your audience better than ever before.
Instagram stories stickers are getting more creative and they provide the perfect chance for you to do something fun with your followers. For example, the Question Sticker, the Quiz Sticker, and the Countdown Sticker are all great to initiate some fun conversations.
Create useful content that can be saved
Useful contents are research heavy and provide great insight to your audience. If you are a personal finance influencer, you can come up with a “Personal finance checklist” or “Top 20 tips to gain financial freedom”. If you are a travel influencer, you should come up with content that lists down useful tips when visiting a place.
The aim is to make your followers save them to their gallery. The only way to make this happen is by producing content that can inform, educate and add value to the audience.
Go crazy with the videos
Videos are a big hit among the Instagram community. People find it more interesting and fun to watch a video. You can post your videos on IGTV and when it appears on the news feed of your followers, they may find it a tad difficult to ignore!
Source: Freepik
Post and engage consistently
Consistency is key for all successes. The same goes for Instagram engagement. Irregular posting schedule might wipe you off the radar. If you take too long a period between contents, it will be hard to leave an impression on your audience.
Appear more in your followers’ feeds, nudge them to like and comment on your posts everyday, interact with them in stories every other hour. As a result, you will start to see the positive feedback from your audience. They might even start looking forward to your posts everyday!
Have your own style and tone
While it is important to switch up your contents and experiment with new ideas every now and then, it is also equally important to create and maintain your own style and tone. For instance, sticking to a specific filter, a creative good morning post everyday, and the tone you use in your captions can set you apart from the rest.
Collaborate with other influencers or brands
Feature other brands and influencers in your content. For instance, you can invite them for a live session, share their post and tag them, and do an Instagram swap for a day. This way you will be able to tap into their audience and gain substantial following.
Share your personal and real stories
It is easy to fall into the trap where you feel like you should only post the shiny and the glamorous in your feed. If your content is vibrant but not authentic, you will fail to reach your audience. Genuine and authentic sharing and stories are more relatable to the general audience and they will appreciate you more.
Sharing your behind the scenes, your journey to where you are today, a little sneak peek into your daily life are some of the ways you can connect deeper with your followers. As a result, you will be able to forge long term sustainable connections with them.
Truly engage with your audience
It is as simple as that. When your followers’ comment on your posts, you should reply and engage with them. If they send you DMs with genuine intentions, chat with them and respond to their queries as soon as possible.
If you are not willing to respond to their willingness to engage with your brand, your Instagram engagement is not going to go anywhere in the foreseeable future. It is of utmost importance to treat your followers with respect.
There are many other ways you can boost your social media content for affiliate marketing or to sell your products online. ACCESSTRADE MY is set to inform and educate about digital marketing and affiliate marketing through its digital marketing learning platform ACCESSTRADE Academy.
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