Social Plus know a thing or two about social media and growing Instagram and below Social Plus review some great tips to do so.
1. Regular posting helps
Engagement is never going to happen if you do not post any content. No Instagram content strategy can help you if enough content isn’t being posted on your account. It does not mean that you need to go all out and post hundreds of photos every 24 hours. Usually, one photo is enough, but it has to be a high-quality photo. Posting a lot of content that is not good enough is going to negatively affect the perceived quality of your account. Keep in mind that your reader’s feeds will always have content from multiple accounts.
According to SocialPlus, users on Instagram understand the value of content. In fact, go through some accounts on Instagram with wide reach, and you will find that they have excellent quality content on their accounts.
As far as the frequency of publishing new content on your Instagram page is concerned, let your content marketing team decide. More often than not, they will decide this frequency based on a variety of factors, including production ROI. Don’t make the mistake of posting content in order to meet some imaginary daily quota. Make sure the content you post is of high quality, at all times. Also, work on creating a consistent schedule that works for everyone.
2. Try to post content at a particular time
One of the keys to enhancing user engagement on Instagram is to post content when your followers are most likely to be online. After all, if nobody is around to pay attention, your content isn’t going to make much impact and that is something you do not want. There is no point in posting content that is more likely to be never in front of your followers. There was a time when content on Instagram was displayed chronologically, but things have changed. The sorting algorithm on Instagram now uses the Facebook approach, where relevance and quality matters a lot more.
You need to figure out the right time when most users are likely to be on Instagram. If you post your content at the right time, it is more likely to be seen by your followers. It will result in faster engagement, which means that content is likely to be considered much more relevant and that will enhance its chances of appearing in newsfeeds of more users.
This is why you need to come up with a strategy to publish the content at just the right time. Thankfully, there is help available in the form of a built-in analytics tool offered by Instagram. With the help of this analytics tool, it will be easy for you to exactly find out the days of the week as well as the times of day when your content is being checked by most of your followers.
3. Call to action works
There is a reason all the landing pages come with several call-to-action buttons. Many smart marketers use calls to action in their posts on Instagram. There is no denying that Instagram actively tries to discourage any activities that might get the users away from the app or their website. However, think of it as only a challenge as you can get around it by using proper calls to action. While most users might ignore your call to action but there are users who will follow your instructions and take action.
For instance, you might want to ask users to double tap on the photo if they like it, or you might want to ask them to tag a friend who is likely to like your content. Try out different calls to action in order to figure out the type that works best for your kind of content and your kind of audience.
If certain CTAs lead to an increase in engagement rates, it means that you are on the right path and you need to work more on developing those CTAs further.
4. Don’t shy away from reposting
When you’re checking the built-in analytics tool, it is important to regularly check the type of content that is most liked by your followers. Usually, you can find the most popular content by sorting the individual posts that have received the most number of likes and comments. If you always post at roughly the same time, it will allow you to easily compare the success rate of different types of content.
Once you have a sizable following and have posted a sizable amount of content on your account, you will quickly figure out, through these comparisons, the kind of content that is liked more by your audience. It is the kind of content you should publish more. It will allow you to increase your engagement rate. In addition, it will also help you position yourself effectively which is really appreciated by Instagram users.
5. Special hashtag for the brand
Hashtags can be used by anyone and these are not just limited to international corporations or big brands. You can also make use of a special hashtag to increase engagement. It is recommended to start using hashtags even if you are just getting started on Instagram.
When you use a hashtag to brand yourself, it quickly establishes your content’s association with you. Using a brand hashtag also allows you to monitor the kind of content that has already been posted. It will also help you monitor if a photo of yours has been shared through third parties on Instagram. Simply put, using a portable hashtag is a big positive for your brand. If other users on Instagram tag you using this hashtag, it helps in enhancing your recognition which should, in turn, lead to increase in engagement rates.
6. Find out which hashtags are getting the most engagement
Like other social networks, content on specific topics is posted much more often, over a period of time, on Instagram. This type of content usually also contains hashtags which means individual hashtags are used at a greater frequency. It is important to find out these particular hashtags and try to use them in your content if it’s a good match for your topic.
Using the trending hashtags will allow you to reach more users on the app and that should lead to greater interaction. You must have understood by now that using trending hashtags is important as the content associated with such hashtags is likely to be seen by many more users which should lead to more widespread distribution of your content and that should lead to higher engagement.
