Quantity of followers on your Instagram account is important, but what’s more important is the engagement level. Engagement level can tell whether your audience is built from quality followers and whether your audience is interested in your content in general.
If your engagement rate is low, then the quantity of your followers doesn’t mean much. In order to keep your Instagram account in good standing, you need to pay attention to your engagement rate.
In this article I will provide you with 7 tips on how to increase engagement rate on your Instagram account.
1. Use hashtags
Some people don’t use hashtags at all in their Instagram posts and some use them a lot. However, did you know that posts with at least one hashtag receive 12% more engagement compared to posts without any hashtags? That’s very simple, you just need to include at least one hashtag and your posts will instantly reach bigger audience, not just your current followers.
When you insert a hashtag in your post’s caption, this post may appear in search results when someone is searching for that particular hashtag. More organic reach equals more likes and comments on your posts. Simple, right?
Make sure that you don’t overuse them, just insert 1 – 3 hashtags per post. Also, you need to insert only specific and related hashtags. Quantity doesn’t matter here, it is all about quality and relevance.
Don’t miss: How to Become an Instagram Influencer: 9 Main Tips
2. Post more photos with faces and smiles
Posts that include people faces and smiles in it receive on average 38% more likes compared to other content. People like seeing people, and the smile of a person makes it even more attractive. Seeing a smile brings us great memories and just makes our day.
Attractive content receives more attention, makes people stop scrolling and notice that particular post. That’s why such posts receive a lot of engagement.
The best part is that you can include people face or a smile in almost every Instagram post.
3. Engage with your audience
This one is very important. Engagement attracts more engagement. If you don’t respond to comments, don’t reply to direct messages, then people won’t be engaging that much. You see, people like to be heard. If you see that someone posted a comment under you post, like or reply to it! Don’t leave that person hanging!
Your audience will appreciate that. If they see that you actively reply and respond to comments, then they will be more willing to like or comment under your posts, as they now know that they will be heard and get a respond from you!
The more you engage with your audience, the more comments and likes you will get on your new posts. This will increase engagement, organic reach and overall growth of your Instagram account.
4. Find out the best time to post on Instagram
The best time to post on Instagram is when the most of your audience is online, as they can instantly check your new post. If you post when you audience is sleeping, guess what, most probably your post won’t be displayed in their feeds after they wake up. As I have said earlier, more reach equals more engagement, so you need to find the right posting time.
Did you know that you can find out when your audience is mostly active on Instagram? Just use Instagram Insights! It is free, but you will need to switch your account to business profile (if you haven’t already).
Check your audience demographics and find out where your followers are mainly from (probably you already know that). Then upload your posts when they are awake accordingly to their time zone. To be more specific, the best posting time should be around lunch time (11 AM and 1 PM) and after work hours (6 PM – 8 PM).
If you are unable to post around that time, then consider scheduling your Instagram posts to post at the best time.
5. Write better captions
Time spent on your Instagram post is one of the factors that is checked by Instagram algorithm. More time spent on your post, the better. As it means that your post is attractive and interesting to your audience. One of the things that increase the time spent on your post is post caption.
By writing high quality, long and engaging post captions users will spend more time on your posts and profile in general, and that will increase your rankings and overall performance.
Instagram caption is one of the main things to get your followers stop for the moment, check your post and interact with it.
There are 3 main aspects to great captions: put the most significant details first, use call-to-action (click here, check this, learn more, etc.) and don’t forget to use emojis. Emojis will make your caption look more attracting with those little entertaining icons.
6. Organize contests and giveaways
There is one efficient strategy which needs to be a part of every marketing plan, that’s organizing contests and giveaways. Who wouldn’t want to participate in a contest and get freebies, right? In general, contests and giveaways attract many eye-balls and engagement. So, that’s a great feature to include in your marketing strategy if you want to increase the engagement level.
To make your contest or giveaways successful, you need to set clear and simple rules (tag and win, comment and win). Simpler the rules, the more participants you will attract.
Also, don’t forget about the prize – it needs to have value and be wanted by participants. Of course, it needs to be related to your business. The better and expensive the prize, the more interest your contest/giveaway will gather.
7. Don’t forget to post Stories
If we are talking about engagement on Instagram, we must mention Instagram Stories. Stories are gathering a big chunk of engagement because people are eager to see what someone is up to today.
Stories are mainly built from the latest and fresh content. That’s why people are so interested in checking other people’s stories.
Just keep posting Instagram stories daily and you will definitely see increase in engagement. If your Stories are interesting and entertaining, your audience will be coming back for more!
Don’t miss: How to Get More Instagram Followers: 7 Simple Tips
I hope that guide will help you in increasing engagement level on your Instagram account. If you have any questions related to this topic, leave a comment below!
