As someone who uses Instagram for business, you know it’s much more than just a way to save your cutest product photos. You can use it to build your brand and increase your Instagram engagement.

Instagram has a user base of one billion people every month, making it an effective platform for ROI.

It’s not just about getting an audience: It’s about getting an audience that’s engaged. 

Monitoring your Instagram engagement helps you build stronger connections with your followers. This kind of relationship can be crucial for small businesses. 

Check out our page for  the top 10 tips for increasing your Instagram engagement rate and grow your Instagram for business.

What is Instagram engagement?

Instagram engagement is more than just counting followers, it measures how your audience engages with your content. Your content needs to elicit comments, shares, likes, and other actions that will show that your content resonates with those who see it.

Any time one of your followers responds to one of your posts, or begins to take action on one of your posts, that is engagement.

Here are some of the common metrics for analysing Instagram engagement.

• Likes
• Comments
• Saves
• Shares
• Mentions 
• Branded hashtags
• Click-throughs
• DMs
• Followers

Taking these kinds of actions shows that people aren’t just viewing your content. It shows they’re interested in what you have to say. 

How to Measure Instagram Engagement

The engagement rate on instagram measures how much interaction your social content gets in relation to your followers or reach. Which means, what percentage of the people who saw your post actually interacted with it.

You can get that number in a few different ways. Engagement rates can be calculated by impressions, by posts, by followers, and by reach. These metrics will vary based on the goals you set for your social media channels.

It’s important to have access to those metrics we mentioned before. Instagram offers a version of its Insights tool and many other Instagram analytics tools for collecting this data.

With your Instagram stats in hand, use one of these Instagram engagement calculators to work out your engagement rate.

What is a Good Instagram Engagement Rate?

 Good maybe a relative term, but you might be surprised to find out that a good engagement rate on Instagram can be as low as 1%. A study involving 1,800 Instagram accounts across 12 different industries found an average engagement rate of 1.6%.

Don’t get hung up on numbers, but rather focus on your progress over time. Keep an eye out for content that gets higher engagement rates, tweak your social media strategy, and try to increase overall engagement.

How to Increase Instagram Engagement: 10 Best Tips

Engaging your audience is all about connecting with them, so there is no step-by-step approach to increasing engagement rates. You can, however, use these strategies to measure your audience’s interests and tailor future content to them.

You can also learn how to create an Instagram business account by visiting our blog.

1. Be Consistent With Your Content

You can get more people to see your content if you post frequently on Instagram since its algorithm favours active users. Explore the best time for your brand to post on Instagram by playing around with your scheduling.

You can increase your Instagram engagement by posting consistently. When users interact with your content, Instagram knows to expose it to them more often.

A constant 1-2 posts every day, according to studies, is the sweet spot. This keeps your feed fresh and relevant, giving you more chances to get people to see your content. Knowing when to publish on Instagram is extremely important, especially with the algorithmic timeline.

You can also create quality content for your Instagram page by visiting our page.

2. Create Carousel Posts

Once you have mastered the art of creating eye-catching images, try posting a couple of them as carousels. Multi-image Instagram posts – called carousels – are an excellent way to engage your followers. A carousel on Instagram lets you share up to 10 pictures, videos, and text graphics with your audience in a single post.

The value that carousel posts offer can help to drive saves and shares, whether they are educational or for social causes. Carousels have the highest average engagement rate of all Instagram content types (1.01%).

Carousel posts can be used to share before-and-after photos, photo dumps, and advice threads. This way you will encourage your audience to bookmark the post for later, which will boost your Instagram engagement.

3. Post Instagram Video Content

The video format is visually appealing and engaging. Approximately 38% more engagement is received in posts with video than in those with images.

Considering this, Instagram offers several video options to marketers.

You should use the strengths of each video format, ranging from Instagram Stories that can mix videos and stills into a single ad to standalone 60-second videos ideal for long-form features.

You might want to use Instagram stories’ live video feature to do a Q&A or reveal big new products or services or offer your followers authentic, behind-the-scenes stories to increase Instagram engagement.

Currently, Instagram Reels are the shining star of the app. Getting started with it doesn’t have to be hard. It provides a huge advantage to the brands as it encourages them to participate in the new trends or let the brands create their own unique ideas. 

You should also check out Instagram TV. IGTV was initially intended to be a destination for long-form video content. Although adoption has been slow, 72% of brands say they will not create IGTV content in 2019.

Fortunately, this also means that savvy marketers can take advantage of this opportunity. Their work will be in a unique format, which will be perfect for showcasing evergreen content, like featurettes and interviews.

4. Choose the Right Hashtags

Instagram hashtags can make a big difference between appearing on top of the feed or disappearing into the abyss. Many people are confused about how to utilise hashtags correctly on Instagram. 

The best place to start is with a general branded hashtag. Branded hashtags are often a key part of a successful Instagram marketing strategy. Hashtags should be short and easy to remember, as well as include your brand name.

By using a branded hashtag, your content becomes more discoverable, your profile traffic increases, and your brand community grows. In addition, it will help you organise your content, making it easier to find and track.

You can also include the hashtag in your bio so that anyone visiting your profile can easily see it. 

Furthermore, hashtags can also be used to promote a contest or campaign, highlight brand advocates, or encourage user-generated content.

You can also learn about the best tactics for increasing your Instagram leads to grow your business online.

Using a combination of trending and industry-specific hashtags will also help you connect with your targeted audience. Thus wisely use the hashtags for Instagram followers.

5. Include Call to Actions

If you want your Instagram followers to take action, make sure your Instagram call to action is effective.

Adding a call-to-action to your profile, images, or captions can increase interactions, but the most direct way to kick-start engagement and push followers in a certain direction is by using the official call-to-action buttons that Instagram provides for enterprise users.

Your post’s CTA offers the perfect opportunity to deliver short, punchy messages like ‘Learn More’ and ‘Call Now’ that snag your followers’ attention. 

If you ask creative questions, your followers will surely notice. You can ask for suggestions for restaurants, vacation spots, books, or what content they want to see from you. 

6. Share Your Audience’s Content

If you’re treating Instagram like a one-way street, remember that social media is a conversation, not a broadcast. You should listen to customers and engage them on social media. You can do this by reposting or sharing the content of your audience. 

Creating user-generated content for Instagram is the holy grail of marketers. It allows followers to become more intimately involved in a brand while reducing marketing costs since the content is created and approved by the audience.

Many user-generated content campaigns that take this approach have proven successful. 

Your brand can initiate campaigns that will encourage your followers to create content based on your brand and tag you in their posts. With this strategy, your brands can form their community on social media and create an emotional bond between their customers and their brand.

7. Organise an Instagram Contest

One of the most popular content types on Instagram is the giveaway.  A contest on Instagram is a powerful engagement tool that generates more engagement than a regular post.

Giveaway contests are a way for users to win free products and services in exchange for following your account, liking the post, and tagging their friends. This can be a powerful tactic to boost engagement and brand awareness if executed well.

The steps involved in running an Instagram contest include partnering with another brand to increase reach, identifying contest rules and goals – for example, ‘enter to win, like to win, or follow to win’ to create an eye-catching contest post.

As soon as your campaign is ready, strategize how to promote the contest; along with Instagram ads, consider email blasts, website banners, social media plug-ins, and more.

8. Time Your Post Wisely

If you want to boost engagement, make your posts when your audience is most active. Make your posts during peak times when you know your audience is online. Your posts are likely to receive more engagements when more people see them. 

Based on your Instagram Insights, you can find out what time of day and day of the week your followers are most active. You should also consider your audience’s location and post during their local hours. This will allow you to schedule your content at a time when engagement is likely to be the highest.

You can also track manually by using a spreadsheet to keep track of how your Instagram posts perform over time after you post. Try out different posting times and monitor your progress. You can also keep track of when your competitors post.

9.  Embrace Instagram Reels

How about Instagram Reels? Have you already used them? Instagram has been using this video feature for the last few years and it has become immensely popular. You can create short clips up to 30 seconds to engage with the community with this clone of TikTok.

Utilize the app to add effects, music, and creative tools to make your Instagram videos stand out.

Being creative with your Instagram reels will allow you to showcase your brand’s authenticity.

Instagram recently launched Reel Ads as well, so now you can reach and engage even better with your audience. 

Additionally, you can use Instagram Collabs, which can help boost engagement on Instagram through Reels. The feature allows you to invite people to collaborate on a Feed post or Reel, enabling them to share the content with their followers.  

10. Go Live

The use of Instagram Live is a great way to connect with users, share news, and build engagement.

Livestreams are apparently preferred to blog posts by 80 per cent of audiences. So let’s give it to them!

You can use Live video to answer viewers’ questions live, welcome viewers by name and generally engage with them in an intimate, engaging way. If you’re so inclined, you can also build an e-commerce audience using Instagram’s Live Shopping feature.

You are never finished with your Instagram journey.

Your Instagram profile is like your business. it grows and evolves while forging closer connections with its followers. You can also go through the tips for creating the best Instagram bio for your account.

You can maximise the potential of your Instagram channel if you follow these 10 best tips. In this way, no matter how the network changes, you can still increase Instagram engagement and maintain those likes, shares, and comments.

Once you set a stable foundation for your business in social media, you may need the help of a  business managing tool to run your small business easily. You can sign up on Zenys for free and use our free business management tools for organising finances and managing your business.