5 Tips To Improve Your Instagram Engagement Rate

Here are some important measures that define engagement on Instagram:

1. Followers

While size always matters, the size of your following on Instagram is not the most important factor when determining engagement. That's why there are hugely successful micro-influencers on Instagram, sometimes with as few as 2 000 followers. While these influencers don't necessarily have a massive following, they know exactly who their followers are and what they're interested in; thus, what content they have to produce. When determining the success of your engagement efforts, rather look at the rate at which you are gaining followers and analyze through with the help of the appropriate social listening tools what it is that hooked them into following you.

2. Likes

Likes are pretty straight forward the simplest form of engagement your content can get. It's also a good measure of how popular the posts are you publish. It does not ask a lot of your audience to double-tap your post to give you alike, so while it's not the deepest form of engagement, it provides a good baseline for measuring the traction a post got.

3. Comments

Where likes provide a purely quantitative measure of your post's popularity, comments can provide much deeper insight into why a post did well or not. Comments are the most valuable form of engagement as a comment really is an indication of a follower or customer's loyalty and commitment to your brand. The fact that they spent the time to think of and write a comment, means your audience is highly engaged with your content. Of course, a string of thumbs-up emojis does not indicate such a high level of engagement as a well-thought-out comment, so keep that in mind when considering the impact of comments on your level of engagement.

4. Shares/Reposts

Where comments are indicative of a follower's interest in your content, shares and reposts are a good indicator of their willingness to be associated with your brand. This is even more important if you want your followers to be ambassadors for your brand. Each share of your posts is like a mini organic advertisement for your content and therefore rates very high on the engagement scale and is something you want to encourage at all costs.

5 Tips To Improve Your Instagram Engagement

1. Be consistent

One of the biggest challenges is to keep people enticed to keep coming back to engage with your content. A good way to build a loyal following on Instagram and keep people entertained is to post regularly. This will show your followers that you are committed and loyal to your brand but also to them. There's nothing more attractive than someone who is truly invested in their content and passionate about what they do. And there's nothing less inspiring than an account that only bothers to post something new once every two months.

But even more importantly, by posting consistently, your followers will get into the habit of engaging with your content on a regular basis. This will help you build a loyal relationship with them that will ultimately boost their engagement with you.

If posting on Instagram consistently is a priority for you (which it should be) using a social media calendar is a great way to achieve this as it will allow you to plan and schedule ahead. Read Influencer Media Hub’s article on how to create your own social media calendar, if you are unsure how to do it.

2. Use hashtags

Instagram was built on hashtags. It is the platform's primary method of sorting and filtering content. Unlike Twitter, where most people use just one or two hashtags in a tweet, Instagrammers may use up to 30 hashtags per post. But using too many hashtags that are irrelevant could make the system think you are spamming followers which could place you at risk of receiving an Instagram shadowban. Hashtags that lead to a topic page can be used in your bio, Instagram Stories, or be location-based to create higher visibility, or can be used to create user-generated content campaigns. Hashtags on Instagram are usually more descriptive than on Twitter. Content hashtags such as location hashtags are particularly useful to increase engagement.

These hashtags are not necessarily trending or extremely popular but are commonly used and therefore enhance the search engine optimization (SEO) of your posts as users would use them to search certain topics.

Make sure you employ the right hashtag analytics to track whether you are using the best hashtags to improve your engagement rate.

3. Stick with one filter

Because Instagram is primarily visually driven, its most popular feature is the filter options that give your images and videos a distinct look and identity if used consistently. According to a WebDam report, 60% of the best-performing brands on Instagram use the same filter each and every time they post. So try out a few filters and then stick to one that gives your content a distinct look and feel so that your followers can recognize and relate to it. Graphic design company Canva did a study that showed Clarendon is the most used Instagram filter in the US and worldwide. Other studies show that brightness is the key to attracting viewers and more importantly, engagement.

If you don't like the filters Instagram offers, there are tons of third-party photo editing apps that require various degrees of technical know-how.

4. Post Instagram Stories regularly

As we all know, Instagram Stories only last 24 hours (although you can save them to your profile for those who missed it) but if you use them like a pro, you can get much more mileage out of your Stories. Every time you add a new Story, your profile image gets red circle around it, indicating to your followers that there is new content. By posting every day, you keep the content fresh for your audience with a constant reminder of your new content. Your followers will learn to come back regularly to check if you have posted a new Story and this way you will increase engagement.

You can also categorize and share stories again using the Stories Highlights feature across the top of your profile page. This is a great way to showcase stories you’ve done in the past that all follow a theme. Categorizing them according to themes makes it easier for users to find content that they’re interested in.

Remember to use hashtags in your Stories, just like you would in regular Instagram posts. With Stories, you can use broader and more popular hashtags, as long as they are relevant to the content you’re posting.

5. Get feedback with polls, questions, and stickers

A great way to get feedback from your followers is by using polls. You can ask them what their favorite products are, what they enjoy about the content you post, and what they want to see more of. You can then use this feedback in crafting your future posts for maximum engagement.

The “Ask Me Anything” question is also great for engagement. This allows your followers to ask questions about your brand, your personal life (if you want to share), or useful information that you are an expert on.

The Swipe Meter allows you to survey your audience to get their thoughts on something. Use it to find out how much your audience loves a specific product, workout, outfit, etc.