Top 5 tips for increasing your Instagram Engagement!

Instagram is one of the most powerful platforms around at the moment, and there’s no secret about it. From influencers to international brands, Instagram has become the go-to place to catch up with all the news, trends and recommendations.

But how do we compete and get seen more often? Instagram’s algorithm doesn’t personally hate you, we promise – it’s actually working on serving relevant content to you, the user and your fellow users. This relevancy is built via the algorithm by how your post performs within the first 10 minutes of it going live, by pushing it to a select 10% of your followers.

Within this space of time, Instagram watches how it performs closely, to monitor if those who can see it, engage proactively (eg, Like, Comment, Share & Save). If your post does well within this space of time, your post will then be shown to the remaining 90% of your following. However, if it doesn’t do as well, your post will only be shown to a following 15% of your following. It’s kind of mind-boggling we know‚Ķ 

We know that you want your posts to absolutely smash your engagement rates and get your posts seen by as many people as possible – so, you’ve come to the right place! We’re sharing all the secrets on increasing your Instagram engagement!

1. Post Consistently

We’re sure you’ve heard this tip at least ten times over, but just this small act can impact your Instagram engagement significantly.

When planning content for your grid, be sure to factor in a consistent posting basis that you can comfortably stick to. This doesn’t have to be every day if this feels like too much for you, but every day is always better. Our expert Marketing team always recommends a minimum of three posts to the grid per week to stay relevant and consistent, and then anything more than that is a bit of an extra win! 

However, with so much going on, we completely understand that it can be hard to keep up with this level of consistency, which is why we recommend taking advantage of planning and scheduling tools such as Later and Plann. Apps such as these are fabulous for helping to assist you in planning your posts for the week and keeping your Instagram theme consistent.

You can shoot all your imagery in a single day, plan it into your grid with a matching caption and hashtags and set it to remind you to post. A quick copy, paste and post and you’re all done! No more worry about what to post! 

2. Engage with others

To gain engagement on your account, you must also make the time to engage with accounts that you follow. By taking some time each and every day to engage with other accounts will signal to the Instagram algorithm that your account is an active one, looking to create conversations rather than posting and ghosting your followers.

Well-known body positivity influencer The Birds Papaya has shared recently that she spends at least 4-6 hours engaging with her online community every day, leaving genuine comments, saves and shares on content, as well as sharing that her massive growth over the past 18 months has come from this active engagement.

Now we’re not saying that you need to spend a significant amount of time per day doing so, but even half an hour to an hour in the evening, while you’re catching up on your favourite Netflix show, will do wonders.

Extra Tip: To help give your new post a bit of an extra push too, actively engage with posts for at least 5 minutes before hitting that all-important post button. This helps to show Instagram that you’re even more of an active account while also contributing to the conversations taking place.

3. Use the new Instagram Tools

To stay up to date with the changing landscape, Instagram is now regularly releasing new updates and tools to help you create eye-catching content. The most recent release included ‚ÄòDM Me’ Stickers, Product Stickers for those with a store connected to their account and Instagram Reels (the IG version of TikTok).

When tools such as these are released by the team at Instagram, the algorithm is amended to favour the uses of them and push posts out that utilise them to users more regularly, which is why at the moment, you’ll see an abundance of Instagram Reels content across your account.

If you’re looking to boost your Instagram engagement, dive headfirst into using these new tools! We promise that there’s no such thing as a bad piece of content, it’s just showing that you’re human to your followers – we all make mistakes.

Take some time to get involved in some of the trends, keep an eye out for content that is doing well from other creators (often found by the number of views on each Reel) and remember to have fun with them!

4. Share to your stories

One of our favourite tips and tricks is to maximise the sharing of your new post! There’s nothing wrong with self-promotion sometimes right?!

Once you’ve posted your image to the grid, take advantage of the option to share it to your stories using the little paper aeroplane icon found directly under the image. Upload it with a quirky ‚Äònew post’ GIF to conceal a selection of relevant hashtags and your location sticker to help boost your reach.

By sharing your newest post to your stories, your audience will be able to view it within the first 10 minutes (secretly beating the algorithm) and creating a higher level of engagement as we spoke about earlier. As well as this, thanks to your sneakily hidden hashtags and location sticker, you’ll be able to reach a brand new set of followers who may not have even known of you beforehand. Double win!

5. Stay away from bots, IG engagement pods & buying followers

We completely understand your frustration when it comes to growing your account, and you wish it could it grow itself as you slept each night. However, when it comes to things such as bots, Instagram engagement pods and buying followers – please trust us when we say to stay well away!

They may seem amazing on the surface, but once they’re attached to your account – it gets flagged by the Instagram algorithm and shadowbanned by the platform. By getting shadowbanned, your account is essentially no longer shown in the timelines or stories features, restricting your growth significantly and undoing all the hard work that you’ve undertaken to that point.

And there you have it! Our top 5 tips for boosting your Instagram engagement! We hope you find them super useful!

We’d love to know what other tips and tricks you want to know to help your business grow online! Let us know by filling in our handy form!

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