10 ways to boost engagement on Instagram
Do you want to grow your followers on Instagram? It’s important to remember that social media is just that, social. It’s common to fall into the trap of posting consistently and not understanding why it isn’t enough. It’s important to remember there are two sides to growing an audience on Instagram, your account and everyone else’s.
It can sometimes feel uncomfortable to put yourself out there on Instagram and engage with strangers, so I wanted to give you ideas, you may not have thought of, to boost your engagement.
Slide into DMs: Never underestimate the power of a positive private message. If you feel a connection to another person on Instagram, send them a nice private message. If nothing else, you will put a smile on someone’s face.
Hashtags can be fun: Pick a few of the hashtags you like to use on your posts and check out those feeds (click on the blue hashtag to be directed right there.) Start liking and commenting on other posts in those hashtags. This expands your audience and helps build interest in your content.
Location tags: Including location tags on your stories and posts gives Instagram more information to filter your content when delivering it to your followers feeds and can help boost your engagement.
Connect with new followers: When you get a new follower, make sure to engage with their content right away. Go like and comment on 3 of their recent posts. Doing this creates a stronger connection with the follower making them more likely to stick around for longer and eventually become a customer.
Features build communities: Include regular features of other accounts that inspire you or that you love. Be sure to tag them in your post so they know you are talking about them. This puts you on their radar and, you never know, you could have a new follower before you know it.
Reply to comments: If someone takes the time to leave a comment on one of your posts, be sure to reply to it. Bonus… try asking a question in your reply to encourage further engagement.
Share in your stories: There is so much great content on Instagram. If you see something great, share it in your stories. Be sure to tag the account that posted it so they know you like their stuff.
Don’t be afraid to be a little bossy: one of the biggest mistakes I see on Instagram posts are missing calls to action. Start telling your audience to engage with you. The call to action doesn’t have to be fancy, a simple request to comment is great and gets your audience used to interacting when you post.
Stickers, stickers, stickers: Work up to using the engagement stickers in your Instagram stories 3-5 times per week. Keep it simple at first with the poll and slider stickers, and start working in the question sticker every once and a while.
Collaborations: Did you know that you don’t have to sell something to collaborate? A collaboration can be as simple as an agreement with another business on Instagram to like, comment and share each other’s content over a 2 week period. Try reaching out to another small business you know on Instagram and see if they would be open to collaborating. Arranging a collab gives each of you access to a totally new audience and helps get your content in front of new eyes.