6 Ways to Increase Engagement On Instagram
Great news! Brand Teachology is here with more amazing tools for you to learn how to build your online business. Most of you are already have a personal Instagram account, and many of you already have an Instagram account for you online business or blog. However, when it comes to bloggings for business or running a small business, Instagram must be used in the right way.
This blog post is filled with advice on how to drive organic traffic to your Instagram account, and how to increase engagement. You are not going to find information that is “spammy” in nature. The next 6 points are tried and true methods for increasing Instagram engagement in a natural and organic fashion.
If you are ready to see your engagement skyrocket, then begin with these 6 easy steps.
1. Post Twice a Day
You don’t have to post to Instagram 10 times a day to increase social interaction. If you commit to posting twice each day on Instagram, your consistency will pay off in the end.
Once you have 100 followers, you will have access to your Instagram analytics. Use your analytics to see your best times to post. The time of day when the greatest amount of your audience is on Instagram is when you are going to want to post.
Remember, consistency is the key!! When your followers (or potential followers) see that you post consistently, they are much more likely to interact with you.
2. Design Your Feed
Your Instagram feed is the tile of pictures that you have posted that can be viewed at a glance. It is extremely important for you small business or blog that your feed is designed. You need to curate your feed to have a cohesive look, feel, and even pattern.
To start your designed feed, be very clear with yourself about the kinds of pictures/graphics that you will post to this account. Example: If your business is about children’s toys and games, then you probably don’t need to be posting pictures of your houseplants. Be specific about what fits your brand and what does not fit your brand.
Next, you will use your brand kit (If you need help picking colors for your brand kit, click here for a great blog post. If you don’t know how to build a brand kit, click here.)
You can use an app like Preview to help you design your feed. This is a great tool to help you plan your layout and your content. This app also has filters that you can use to give your Instagram feed a cohesive and beautiful look.
People are looking for feeds that speak to them. If you speak the “Instagram” language of your ideal client/customer, then there is a greater chance they will engage with you.
3. Research Your Hashtags
Everyone on Instagram uses hashtags… but do they use them correctly? We see a wide range of hashtag use on Instagram, from two or three hashtags per post to the maximum allowable number of tags of 30. Some Instagrammers are so popular that they don’t need to use a lot of hashtags. They have carved out a few hashtags that work for them, and they stick with it.
Since you are reading this post, then that probably means that you do not fall in the above “I’m so hot on Instagram that I don’t need hashtags” category. Right? Well, that’s okay. We aren’t in that category either, professionally or personally.
So, until you are a Instagram superstar, you need to do hashtag research to see which hashtags will work best for you. Basically, you want to generate a list of 11-20 hashtags that fit your brand. One great way to see what hashtags may be good for you to use is to see what your competition is using.
Next, type your hashtags into the search field on Instagram, and see how many people have used that hashtag that day. You are going to want to select hashtags that have a number somewhere between 2,000 and 200,000. Those numbers can be looked at loosely… just remember that if you are using a hashtag that has 4,923,476 uses, then your chances of being seen or recognized when using that hashtag is very small.
You are trying to attract a group of people that will engage with you, so don’t be afraid to niche down on your hashtags.
If you are finding this article helpful… you need our FREE mini-course! Sign up today!
“Hashtags For Instagram Explained” is our FREE video mini-course, where we teach you:
-What is a Hashtag?
-Hashtag Research for Your Biz
-Hashtag Diversity
-Hashtag Following & Stories
4. Use Polls on Stories
Using a poll on Instagram Stories is another great way to get your audience to engage with you. You can ask your audience any number of related/on brand questions, and get them to answer you using a poll.
People love to give their input, which is why using a poll is such an easy way to get your followers to offer their feedback. All they have to do is push a button to give their opinion, and then you instantly have engagement.
If you are unfamiliar with how to great a poll on Instagram Stories, there is a great article from Instagram that you should read.
5. Post Video Content
Video. Video. Where for art thou video?
Video content is perhaps one of the most underutilized posts on Instagram. Make it part of your weekly posting plan to include at least one video per week. That video could be about a product, introducing yourself, a review, asking a question, a behind the scenes peek, etc.
6. Following qualified leads (5 a day)
Once you are following several people that are your ideal clients and a few whom you would consider a similar business, then you can begin to figure out who on Instagram would be a qualified lead.
Instagram will often make suggestions for accounts that you should follow. Take a close look at the numbers under the suggestion. It may say “New to Instagram” or it may say “Followed by (name of friend) + 3 more.” You need to check out the new account and see if you think they fall into the ideal client or similar business category. If they do, then give them a follow, like a few of their posts, make a personalized comment, and hope they follow you back. If an account is followed by 3 or more of your friends, then you could consider that a qualified lead. Follow the same follow, like, comment, and cross-fingers strategy.
Another way to find leads is to follow hashtags or search hashtags that are specific to your niche, and then follow a few of those accounts.
When you have found a similar business account, you can also follow the accounts on their “followers” list. However, be careful!! Don’t follow 2,000 accounts in one day. That is spammy… and no one like spam!! Remember that organic & qualified leads will serve you better than following thousands of random accounts.
Now that you know how to build an online business with 6 of our favorite tips for increasing engagement on Instagram, you are ready to rock your account! Go to it Brand Boss!! And don’t forget about our FREE mini-course.
