How To Increase Engagement On Instagram
We all know the importance for businesses to be present on Instagram, but how to you make the most of the platform and how do you increase engagement on Instagram to make sure your audience turn into your ideal customer?
Instagram is a free app which can be used to promote both yourself and your business. Instagram is a social media platform, created to allow its users to engage with one another by sharing images, videos, graphics and stories. Not all businesses have extended their marketing strategies to social media, and I feel that they are missing out on an incredible opportunity to push their brand awareness much further than traditional marketing has ever allowed us to. If used correctly, Instagram is fantastic for business growth. The majority of your audience may have Instagram and they will be browsing throughout the day - especially as many people are still staying inside as much as possible. It makes so much sense to reach out to those potential customers! Just like all other aspects of business, there are best practices when using Instagram for business - and with the social media platform evolving month on month, I wanted to chat about some of the best ways to ensure you are equipped with knowledge to help increase engagement on Instagram. But hold up, before we dive into the tips on how to increase engagement on Instagram let's chat about why engagement is so important.
What I mean when I'm talking about Instagram engagement is your follower's loyalty level within the platform. It's not about the number of 'fans' that your profile has, but rather about the degree of involvement, interest and interaction that your followers show towards your content. From the very beginning I have said that 200 engaged followers is more valuable than 2,000 non engaged.
So without further delay I am going to give you some tips that may help you shape a community of followers and consequently, countless new customers!
Tips On How To Increase Engagement On Instagram
Reply to your comments and messages. When you publish content or respond to messages over social media, you deliver it instantaneously. Instagram allows you to keep your business up to date to the second. Your content and responses to your posts can be done in an instant; this is fantastic, as we all know the saying – 'time is money'. Customers love being responded to in a timely manner. If you reply to all of your customers and followers, all of the time, you will gain so much respect. 88% of online brands do not respond to their customer’s messages, be that in that special 12%! Social media engagement is public, by responding to customers’ comments and replies, you are increasing your brand’s voice in front of a larger audience.
The key to being successful through social media is… to be social! When creating your Instagram profile, make sure that your profile is complete with a suitable profile picture, your business category, location and contact information. This will immediately make the audience feel that they are able/allowed to contact you as you have advertised yourself as contactable.
Find new accounts to engage with. Search for accounts in your geographic location, within a similar field to you, or even just have a browse through the discovery page for accounts you feel drawn to. Then start a conversation with them - this is your digital wave of hello so they know you're interested in them and can decide if they want to follow back and engage with you.
Be consistent. I know it's hard and trust me I'm no digital angel when it comes to always keeping on top of my own accounts, but we consistently engage across platforms and put in at least an hour a day for all my client accounts and the difference at end of month reporting is insane vs if we don't engage. Even if it's just 5 minutes a day, try to allocate some time to reply to comments, DM's and engage with the accounts you follow - at the end of the day, who doesn't like getting a nice comment on their post?
Talking about time and consistency, I want to let you know I 100% understand the pressure business owners are under taking on ALL elements of their brand from bookkeeping, selling, customer management, social media, marketing... There is A LOT. Which is why I want to remind you I am here to help you manage the digital marketing for your brand. If you want to have a chat, drop me an email and I'll be happy to help!
Now, spend the next 5 minutes practicing the tips above to help you increase engagement on Instagram - you'll thank me for this later.
