Instagram has millions of active users to this day, making it the ideal social media website to connect with consumers and possible leads. In order to make your Instagram account a success, you’ll need to focus on ways to increase engagement.
No matter how many amazing photos you post or how many unique hashtags you use, there’s nothing that drives success more than engagement. Your followers want to see the human side of your business. They also want to feel valued.
There are many tactics that you can implement in order to better connect with your followers. Here are six tips you can begin using today!
- Use Stories & Stickers
These days Instagram is about much more than posting photos, likes, and comments. One of the best ways to drive engagement on your Instagram profile is to use stories, stickers, and to use your brand’s hashtag when it makes the most sense.
Instagram stories are watched by hundreds of millions of people each day. So if you want to get the most interest, you’ll want to post a story at least a few times a week. Another way to encourage engagement is to use stickers. There are stickers for asking questions, creating polls, and even voting.
This is the ideal way for followers to share their thoughts and opinions. When followers share their experience with you, they feel connected. Connections equal loyalty, which leads to long-term followers.
- Optimize Your Posts
What good are amazing Instagram posts if they won’t be seen? When you create posts, you need to optimize them so that they get the visibility you need to engage with followers.
To optimize your posts, there are many things you’ll want to do. Be sure to:
- Add a location
- Use an applicable sticker
- Include relevant hashtags
Hashtags make the Instagram world go round, but using them incorrectly can impact engagement and follower numbers. Avoid using overly broad hashtags. Figure out which hashtags are trending in your industry and with your followers.
- Complete Your Bio
Look at your Instagram profile as your business’ second home page. When visitors land on the page, you want them to know off the bat exactly what your business is all about. Having a catchy bio allows you to attract new followers, and it entices them to click the “follow” button.
An Instagram bio should explain who and what your business is. Speak directly to your target audience. While you only get 150 characters, that’s plenty of room to catch eyes and interest.
- Embrace Longer Captions
Instagram captions offer 2,200 characters to say what you need to say. This is tons of space to share important details with your audience. Instagram algorithms not only care about shares and views, but they also look at how much time users spend on a certain post.
A simple yet effective way to keep people on your pages for longer is to write an engaging caption that’s more than just a few words. Not every caption needs to be paragraphs long, but using full sentences, hashtags, and maybe even a few emojis can have a huge impact on engagement.
By using long captions when they make sense, you may not have to spend money to buy Instagram followers. Instead, you can get organic growths and leads by providing quality content.
Since it can take time to come up with the right captions, consider creating a queue of posts and writing captions at the same time. By scheduling your posts, you can write captions when your creativity is flowing and you’ve got time to focus.
- Timing Matters
When you post is just as, if not more important, than what you post. In order to increase your Instagram engagement, you want to ensure that you’re posting at the right time and on a consistent schedule. Take a look at your Instagram analytics and see when your followers are most active. You can find all of this information in the Instagram Insights section.
By posting at the right times and on a consistent basis, you can maximize your views, which then allows you to maximize engagement.
- Be Personal
Your Instagram followers want to see beyond your brand. While you may be a business, they want to see the personal side of things. Explain your brand’s mission or show how products are designed and manufactured. You can also share personal stories of how the business came to be. The options are endless.
When followers see the human side of your brand, they’re more likely to be interested in your content as it will be relatable and unique.
Conclusion
Instagram exists not only to post beautiful photos and awesome hashtags, but also to engage and connect with your followers. Keep these six tips in mind so that you can maximize engagement and develop lasting relationships with your target audience.
