“What do I do to increase engagement on Instagram?” This is somewhat the most popular social media question about Instagram for business
Remember when all you had to do on Instagram was post a half-decent photo and a funny caption and boom! – the engagements come rushing in. These days, if you would like to get engagement and be perceived as an “influencer,” you’ve need to sharpen your game and ensure that every post you put out provides value to someone, somehow.
Test what Frequency and Time of Day works best.
Thanks to testing and social media analytics, you are able to determine the best time of day and posting frequency to post on your Instagram account.
As a marketer, tools like SproutSocial can be used to test and record the best time of day and posting frequency for audience engagement on Instagram. Before you begin testing, think: what does the audience want to see? When and how do they like to see it, and why would they even want to interact with your content? Come up with a few of strategies, test them, and begin to work out what works (and what doesn’t).
Have a Dynamic Content Mix and ensure Your Content Matches the Experience
Studies have shown that the social media accounts with the very best engagement varied their content mix (video, links, and photos).
Posting content that communicates what’s unique about your business through photos and/or video is the recommended way to go about your content mix. Is it photos of food, parties, or your team? If you would like to drive engagement, ensure that your posts are unique and dynamic.
Test Carousels vs. Video vs. Photos
Lately, we have seen that carousel posts get the very best engagement. But a study by AgoraPulse showed that Instagram carousels actually get less engagement than regular photo posts.
The lesson here? If you would like to extend engagement, you want to test and see what content type (video, carousel, or photo) performs best together with your audience. What works for one brand might not work for another brand and the other way around.
Share Consumer Content (User-Generated Content)
Reposting your consumers’ Instagram content is vital to increasing engagement. Numerous studies have found that social media posts with user-generated content (UGC) get the very best engagement. In fact, one research study done by AgoraPulse showed that Instagram posts with User Generated Content get 6.9X more engagement than other posts.
Also, ensure that you mention the source account and give them a shout out— this recognition encourages users to share photos about your business again by essentially thanking them for the first post. It’s also required by Instagram and in their own terms and conditions. Brands must have explicit permission from the first content publisher to republish into their own social media channels. Properly crediting the first content creator is done by tagging the original source in the post caption.
Optimize Your Photos with a Photo-Editing Tool
Since you have decided to go through the trouble of posting photos on Instagram, you should also ensure that the standard of the photos aligns with your brand, looks and feels great. There are a plethora of photo-editing tools online; try them out and find what works best for you.
