Instagram Engagement; all of us content creators talk about it, want it and strive to do all the things we can to keep our Instagram engagement up. There is a myth (I’m calling it a myth because I’ve proven that it’s not true) that when you have 10K or more followers, your content is shown to only 1% of your audience and coming off of a 4% Instagram engagement month I would have to say that myth has been debunked in my world!
My Instagram engagement has been increasing monthly and steadily according to my Fohr analytics and I’m really proud of that. Top of the year I was sitting around 2% and at the end of February top of March I saw myself sitting at over 4%. All of that said I’m sharing how I increased my Instagram engagement.
Post Less or Post with More Days in Between
Earlier this year or at the end of last year I read a report from Later that the posting amount would decrease significantly. The pressure of posting everyday is a thing of the past depending on where you are growth wise; the report mentioned it could drop to about 2-3 posts a week which I have tried and let me say it works (for me). I feel like each day that you don’t post, tags and everything that would normally be used is “reset” to some degree.
It’s always good to switch up your hashtags anyway, but I can use the same set and still yield solid results which of course has increased my Instagram engagement. Maybe posting everyday works better for you and if so that is great! Definitely don’t re-invent the wheel, but if you’re feeling like your Instagram engagement has been stagnant or has hit a plateau, I would offer up this suggestion and see how it works for you.
Another option is to post with more days in between. For me personally this goes back to the reset/refreshing of things. This in my opinion and based on what I’ve seen with my own page, has in a sense given each photo/post a moment of it’s own. If I have a post do really well, such as my wedding post, I know I would lose traction on Wednesday by promoting this blog right after, so instead I decided to post today (Thursday) so each post could have its moment. This is my experience, but I love to tell ya’ll the things I try, so to me it’s worth a shot.
Consistent Value Packed Content
Instagram engagement will increase rapidly if you are providing valuable information in your captions. I know it’s cute to just throw up an emoji or use a song lyric, but that isn’t adding to anyone’s life. When you hit a certain level sure you can single sentence, song lyric your audience to death, but true growth and solid engagement comes from giving people something to engage with.
Only allowing space for people to tell you how pretty you are, won’t last forever; remember this is the long game. Tell us about your makeup look, tell us about your hairstyle, how you do what you do and why! People need reasons to follow you, reasons to believe in you. It’s our responsibility to give them something to engage with. Every time I post something and there is no value, even if it’s a great picture, my Instagram engagement usually suffers and remember it’s not about likes anymore so your saves, comments and shares are the MOST important these days.
Vulnerable Content
The hardest part about being a creator or public figure to some degree is deciding how you want to be vulnerable and show up for your audience. Not only is value something that benefits and adds to your Instagram engagement, being vulnerable does the same. You don’t have to put ALL of your business out, but in case you didn’t know people buy into you; what you do is the bonus.
There have been several times that I have been vulnerable on the gram, but most recently I would say sharing that I got a second wedding dress and sharing my skin care journey have been extremely vulnerable moments for me, BUT I’ve literally watched my Instagram engagement spike as a result. Vulnerability allows for relatability and so many people were able to share their own experience of wedding dress shopping with me; people were able to reassure me and let me know it’s totally fine and that is the type of Instagram engagement I want and need.
Being vulnerable also allows people to get a glimpse into your story; again you don’t have to put it ALL out there, but people want to know who they follow and why you do what you do. If you’re still reading and haven’t attempted any of these, but want to up your Instagram engagement, give this a try. Not only will your new vulnerability draw people in, but it will help you become more confident in what it is you have going on.
Active on Stories
If you’re not posting in feed you need to be extra active in your stories. That activity still adds to your Instagram engagement. Depending on what you post, that could lead people to your profile, especially if they haven’t been in a while.
Pay attention to things like the number of sticker taps, exits, forwards; how many people reply to a certain story, story reposts etc., that will help you gauge how well story content is doing. Create story highlights that people can go back to for content that is considered popular and/or for content that relates to you niche; that too adds to your Instagram engagement beyond the 24 hours we’re given.
Active with Your Community
Unless you’re taking a full Instagram break, even if you’re not posting, you should be communicating and being active with your audience. Visit some pages you haven’t been to in a while, show some love, comment on some sponsored posts. Chances are if you haven’t interacted with them in a while they will feel the love and return the favor which adds to your Instagram engagement EVEN IF you haven’t posted in a few days. I recently had my reach verified; that means based on my last 20 posts, the reach across my platform is true and accurate thanks to real and true Instagram engagement. The numbers don’t lie.
If you are engaging with your audience and they return to your page to do the same, even if your posts were from days ago, that Instagram engagement is continuing to be boosted.
All in all, I’m not concerned about algorithms, I’m not concerned about this rumor or that rumor, if you are doing what you need to for YOUR audience, your Instagram engagement will be the fruit of those efforts.
What ways have you all boosted your Instagram engagement? What are the tips and tricks you all use?
I find when getting ready to post a specific photo in regards to my niche, say for example if I’m going to post a food pic, I’ll engage with food bloggers before I post and after I post. It’s nice to give other accounts attention and let them know I appreciate their content too. Thanks for always posting valuable content like this. You def always inspire me to keep going! I’m happy to see your growth!
Author
Yes, that is so smart! I have for sure could use this tip for both before and after! You’re so welcome love, anytime I see anything that’s made a difference, just know it will always be posted for ya’ll. I ALWAYS appreciate your support.
This article was super helpful! Even though everything you provided will help with increasing engagement, I loved your last sentence, “All in all, I’m not concerned about algorithms, I’m not concerned about this rumor or that rumor, if you are doing what you need to for YOUR audience, your Instagram engagement will be the fruit of those efforts.”
Author
Yes my love, that is the most important part of it all; we can make all the changes in the world, but each audience is so different, and the right stuff will still resonate! Thank you for taking the time to read!