Instagram is all about getting your followers emotionally engaged in your profile – and the best way to measure that is by how physically engaged they are in your posts. In fact, this engagement is how Instagram’s algorithm decides which profile updates to direct to which user’s attention, so it is no surprise that increasing this engagement is the primary goal of Instagram marketers. Below are 3 simple steps you can implement to increase your engagement rate on Instagram by Ben Givon.
Tip #1: Be engaging!
By engaging other accounts in your industry or niche, you will be increasing your visibility. The more you engage, the more engagement you get.
Mind you, the quality of Instagram engagement is no less important than the quality – that is precisely why you should carefully select accounts specific to your industry or niche, be it fashion, social media marketing or plastic bottle cap manufacturing.
By doing so you are placing your profile under the noses of the audience who is interested in your type of content and product.
How do you pinpoint the accounts you should be engaging with? You can search for keywords or hashtags associated with your niche, or you can just mosey over to your competitors and directly engage with their followers. Devious? Perhaps. But all is fair in love, war, and Instagram, and you can be damn sure they are doing the same to you.
Tip #2: engage with content both just before and just after you post.
The goal is to get maximum engagement within the very first hour of a new post. Why? Because the way the Instagram algorithm works is that it classifies a peak of engagement as interesting to your followers, bumping it up in their feeds.
How can you encourage that elusive engagement peak?
By engaging with other posts just before and just after you post! This is the best way to draw people to your profile at the right time slot to notice your new post, and feel obligated or interested enough to engage. Ideally, the effect should snowball.
Tip #3: liberal use of long-tailed hashtags.
You want hashtags that are as specific and detailed as possible. This both helps display the true context of your post and draw in the type of people who are likely to actively engage with it.
So when ruminating on Sartre don’t #philosophy. Go for #existentialist_philosophy, or better yet #French_existentialist_philosophy. Guess what? The longer the tail, the fewer the associated posts, the greater the chances someone browsing will discover, like and/or comment on it. Since new posts are being added to the #philosophy hashtag very rapidly, your own post will be pushed down to the bottom of the list very quickly. The more rarified #French_existentialist_philosophy may generate fewer visitors but your post is going to top the lists for a considerably longer time – and the visitors who specifically select this hashtag are probably a better fit for your content anyway.
