Before knowing how to generate more engagement on Instagram, let's start by understanding what engagement is. Engagement is determined by the level of interaction between an account and its followers. The more comments, likes and shared posts, the higher the engagement percentage of your profile. That is, the main objective of engagement is that the audience falls in love with the brand, product or service. Therefore, it is not only important to have many followers on your account, but also to know the degree of involvement and interest that they have with the content you publish.
To measure engagement on Instagram it is important to take into account the reach of our account, that is, to know the number of users who have seen a particular publication. Also, do not leave aside the actions that the user has performed on the publication, that is, the interactions that this has had with a publication of our feed such as likes, comments, shared and saved content.
Now that you have a clearer idea of what engagement is, we will show you how to measure it. The formula is very simple:
Total interactions/total reach x 100 = engagement
Once you get this number, you should know that if it is above 3%, it is a good result. However, there is no specific value to say whether our engagement is good or bad; we must first analyse our sector, our competition, and have clear goals and objectives.
11 strategies to know how to generate more engagement on Instagram
If you see that your community is not growing and you don't know how to generate more engagement on Instagram, here are 11 strategies that you should implement to achieve it:
1. Encourage dialogue
Make posts or stories in which you invite your community to give their opinion or participate. You can ask questions, conduct polls or vote. This strategy not only increases your engagement, but also allows you to know the opinion that your community has about your products or services. This information can be useful for future promotional campaigns. Listen actively to your followers and don't be afraid to ask them questions about your products or about what they prefer. This way you keep your community engaged by making them see that their opinion is valuable for your brand.
2. Post calendar
It is important that you have a content calendar where you indicate the frequency of posts, times, days, content, calls to action, etc. This will help you achieve your goals. However, don't forget to be flexible, as sometimes events happen that may interest your audience and you shouldn't let them pass you by.
3. Use hashtags
Hashtags help you to have an organic reach on Instagram. Remember that Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags and remember not to use hashtags that are too long. Also, use hashtags related to your niche, your publication and your geographical location. Here are some tools to find and analyse hashtags: Hashtagify.me, Pirendo, TagsForLikes, InstagramTag, TagBlender, among others.
4. Do sweepstakes
If you want to generate more engagement on Instagram, sweepstakes are an infallible strategy. In a sweepstakes the interaction of users with the publication is already implicit. We recommend you establish the requirements to participate in the sweepstakes with the aim of getting likes, comments or sharing your publication. You can also carry out sweepstakes in collaboration with other accounts, in this way you increase the chances of a greater reach, interactions and, therefore, greater engagement.
5. Optimise your posting hours
It is very important to identify which days and times your publications work best. Thanks to the metrics offered by Instagram, you will be able to know which are the best times or days to publish. This way, when you publish content it will have a greater reach because most of your community is connected and will be able to interact with your profile.
6. Post once a day
Instagram's new algorithm values engagement over the timing of the publication. This means that it won't work to publish too often on the same day, as our publications will be competing with each other for more engagement. We recommend you publish once a day plus stories. You can use stories as a complement to your publications and thus generate more engagement. The secret is to publish when your community is most active.
7. Use videos
More and more information is being consumed in video format, as it is more understandable and entertaining. Don't neglect the use of reels, they will help increase traffic to your Instagram account and generate an emotional link. Show your face, put a face to your brand. This will bring your brand closer to people and make it more human.
8. Work on your copy
The descriptions of the photos or publications that you make must be well worked. Look for originality, be fun and different. Keep your own style when communicating with your community, as it will be your hallmark and your community will recognise you for it. Don't be afraid to show your essence. Create attractive, quality texts that really contribute something to the user. Don't forget to maintain the same tone and language so as not to confuse your audience.
9. Geolocate your publications
Accuracy is the key, people like to know what is happening in a certain area, that's why we recommend you to geolocate your publications, this way you will reach more users, you will have more visibility and more opportunities for your community to grow.
10. Include CTAs
We recommend you to include calls to action or CTA(call to action) so that your community interacts with your publications, photos, videos, stories, etc. This way you can not only increase your engagement, but also the volume of traffic to your website.
11. Instagram pods
These are private groups of 10 or 15 Instagram users who share similar content and join forces to increase their engagement. It may seem a misleading technique, as the engagement you get is not organic and can even damage your brand. However, the option exists and if you know how to use it subtly, it can work as a great resource at specific moments.
Instagram has become one of the favourite social networks for brands. Now that you know how to generate more engagement on Instagram, don't forget to put these strategies into practice.
