Using Engagement to Boost Engagement
Does this sound familiar?
You spend time building Instagram content, plan it all perfectly, you feel excited and confident about the post, and it ends up getting 12 likes?
We’ve been there too. It can be super frustrating and discouraging when you are putting in time and effort, but not seeing the results. But here’s the good news, boosting your Instagram engagement isn’t impossible. There are lots of little adjustments you can make, but let us give you a great starting point.
DON’T EXPECT PEOPLE TO ENGAGE WITH YOU, IF YOU DON’T ENGAGE WITH THEM.
Instagram engagement is a two-way street. You need to put the social back in social media.
One of the biggest benefits of using social media for a business is the opportunity to connect, engage and converse quickly with your customers. But you can’t just sit around and wait for them to start the conversation.
Imagine you went to a networking event and stood in the corner alone. How successful would you be at building new connections? A couple of people might approach you out of kindness, but that would be it. Now imagine you went to a networking event and actively introduced yourself and engaged with your peers. I bet you would leave with a lot more connections than if you stood in a corner. Social media is no different, you need to actively try and build your community.
SIMPLE WAYS TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE.
Start conversations in places other than your own posts
A call to action to encourage people to engage on your posts is a great start! But you can’t expect people to listen to your call to action if you aren’t listening to theirs. Like their posts and leave a comment every once in a while. It will open the door for future engagement.
Engage with story stickers
One of the easiest ways to engage is by watching and interacting with stories. Vote on polls, ask questions or give feedback in question boxes, and check out the links people are sharing. It’s a great way to let your followers get to know you a little better and vice versa.
Share relevant posts to your stories
If someone tags you in a post or you come across content that is relevant to your niche, it takes 10 seconds to share that post to your stories! Not only does that show you are interested and care about their content, but it also adds to the content that you are putting out. It’s a win-win.
Respond to the comments
If someone takes the time out of their day to engage with your content, the least you can do is take the time to acknowledge them and reply. Responding to comments is a great way to keep a conversation going with your audience, keep people coming back to your content and building relationships with your customers.
A STRATEGIC WAY TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE.
Yes, we recommend having a strategy for your engagement. Here’s what we do:
15-minute: Engage on your own content
Reply to comments, answer your DMs, and reply to any story engagement you’ve had recently
15-minutes: Engage with your followers
Watch and engage with your followers' stories, scroll through your newsfeed and engage with their recent content and share any relevant content.
15-minutes: Engage with non-followers
Use hashtags to find new pages in your field. A great way to grow your following is to engage with pages that may not know you exist!
We follow this strategy on a daily basis, but the key is to make a schedule that works for you and that you can be consistent with. If you want to go above and beyond, try engaging at the times that your followers are most active!