Instagram started as a photo-sharing platform in 2010, a decade along the line; it has become one of the major marketing channels for businesses and popular brands. With over one billion monthly users, Instagram is one of the best social media platforms to promote your products or services.
Before I proceed, let me give you some shocking statistics about Instagram. 90% of Instagram users follow a business page. Similarly, 83% of Instagram users use the platform to discover new products and services.
From the statistics mentioned above, you can see that Instagram has endless sales potential for both start-ups and established brands. That's why about 25 million businesses around the world use Instagram to promote their products and services.
With this right approach, you can use this amazing platform to visibly and nicely market your brand, gain a loyal following, and gain a community who are enthusiastic and passionate about your brand.
Since Instagram offers unlimited sales opportunities to brands, it has become exceptionally competitive to build a following on the platform. Unlike in the past, brands and influencers now find it challenging to increase Instagram engagements.
If your schedule is too busy to handle your Instagram activities yourself, you can get some of the best social media management tools to increase your engagement on the platform.
But if you prefer handling your Instagram account yourself, here are some helpful tips to increase your engagement in 2020.
#1. Create High-Quality Content
The secret of remaining relevant and outstanding on Instagram is creating top-notch quality content. It's not just any content, but content with irresistible captures that gets people's attention and gives them a reason to follow your account.
Don't just create content; ensure you are consistent with your writing style. Also, don't post random content; every content you post on Instagram should reflect your brand.
How to Create High-Quality Instagram Content
Great content is the lifeblood of your Instagram account. The number of followers and engagement you get on Instagram often depends on the quality of your content.
If you are new to the game, it's a bit difficult.t to create excellent content that could potentially go viral. Here is a step by step process to create a high-quality Instagram content;
Use Template
Instagram is all about visuals. You can use an existing template to create friendly content with thought-provocative captures. These days, several websites sell pre-designed templates that you can tweak a little and use for your Instagram account.
Search for High-Quality Stock Images
You can also create a mindblowing Instagram content using stock images. It's easy, just visit any of the stock images websites, search for the image you need, and do a bit of editing. It's that simple.
Repost Instagram Content From brands Within Your Niche
If you are super busy and don't have time to create your content, you can repost content from competitive brands. There's nothing terrible with posting someone else's content on Instagram. But you must duly ask for permission and give credit when necessary.
Run a User Generated Content Campaign
User-generated content campaigns are a great way to get content for your Instagram account. It has to do with encouraging your followers to create high-quality content around a specific country that you can post to your feed.
If you aren't a popular brand on Instagram, it may be a bit difficult to ask followers to create content about your brand without a form of compensation.
However, you could run it as a competition when your followers create a post and tag it to your hashtag. And the follower with the highest engagement wins a prize. I think this would encourage them to participate.
Outsource Instagram Content
You can always outsource your content creation if you are too busy to handle it. Luckily, there are several content marketing companies online; you can contact to help you handle your Instagram content.
#2. Keep Your Instagram Feed Cohesive
According to Forbes, 65% of people perceived visual information better. In other words, these people are visual learners.
Once you have a cohesive and eye-catching Instagram feed, you can easily grab the audience's attention on the platform and make your brand worth following. Also, Instagram users like checking the business pages of brands with cohesive feed.
To cut a long story short, keeping your Instagram feed cohesive increases the engagement rates.
Have you ever asked yourself why brands create several product photos that match each other? It's because the pictures make their feed look cohesive.
However, if you don't have the resources to take photos of all your products, you can use beautiful stock images to create an attention-grabbing Instagram feed.
When you create pictures for your feed, pay attention to beautiful things because people tend to process visual information better.
#3. Start a Conversation With Your Followers
Creating great content isn't enough to engage your followers. Times are changing, and customers these days prefer communication with brands on social media. According to Manifest, 74% of customers follow brands on social media. While 96% of those customers who follow brands are actually interacting with the brands, they follow.
So, try to start conversations with your audience. It helps you to understand them better and build trust over time.
If you are new to the Instagram game, it may be challenging to start a conversation. But the best way to get responses is when you make the conversation about your audience.
For instance, you could ask a general question that will trigger them to share their thoughts and preferences. Starting a conversation this way will encourage interaction and increase engagement.
#4. Interact With Your Target Audience
Let me tell you a secret most people don't know about social media (especially Instagram). A
"Like," or "comment" on Instagram users' posts could impact their brains and behaviors. Most people on the platform are always happy when they see more likes and comments on their posts.
It's natural for people to give attention to accounts that interact with them. So, you can start interacting with your target audience by doing the following;
- Follow them
- Like their posts
- Comment on their photos
- Watch videos they post on their stories.
- Vote on IG polls, join chats, etc.
- Tag as many people as possible.
#5. Take Your Instagram Stories Serious
Instagram Included the stories feature into the app in 2016. But for the last four years, over 500 million users have started watching Instagram stories. So, if you can regularly create exceptional content on your Instagram stories, you tend to increase engagement quickly.
Normally, most Instagram users spend much-time interacting with short-lived content. So, leveraging this feature can boost your engagement and increase organic reach.
Here are some of the reasons you should share Instagram stories;
- It helps to create the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) effect.
- It enables you to beat the Instagram Algorithms.
- Drive website traffic
- It puts a human face to your brand.
- It enables you to interact with the target audience
If you aren't using Instagram stories as part of your social media strategy yet, you are obviously not doing the right thing. And it could affect your engagement rate in the long run.
#6. Post Content When Your Audience are Online
If you want your brand to be outstanding on Instagram, you must be strategic with your activities. It's important to know the best time to post your content.
Remember that there are over 95 million photos and videos on Instagram every day. With such a number, your content can easily get buried in the newsfeed.
However, if you can post your content when your audience is online, you tend to interact with them.
When you post at the right time when your audience is online, it improves users' experience because your followers won't miss your content. It will also make your content popular on Instagram.
#7. Get More Followers
Another easy way to increase your engagement on Instagram is to get more followers. Most times, the more people following your brand, the more your engagement rate.
So, try to come up with strategic ways to get more followers on Instagram. If you are relatively new on the platform, you can decide to buy followers. Although many people frown at this, I personally think it's a great strategy.
Instagrammers tend to follow brands with a large following. And buying followers is an excellent way to attract more people to your page.
Conclusion
Instagram is an excellent platform to either promote your product, services and create awareness for your brand. But in recent times, the competition platform has increased exponentially. If you want your brand to remain relevant and outstanding on the platform, implement the tips shared in this article.
