5 Tactics to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate
What is Instagram Engagement rate?
Instagram engagement rate is a quantitative measure of how users interact with the content on your profile. It takes into account your number of followers, likes, comments, and shares. Engagement rates are typically calculated by dividing an account’s likes and comments by follower count.
How to Measure Instagram Engagement
Remember, the formula to measure Instagram engagement is to take add the likes and comments you get per post, divide that by the number of followers you have, and multiply that by 100.
Written as an equation, it looks like this:
(Likes + comments per post)
––––––––––––––––––––––––– X 100
Total number of followers
Let’s take a look at an example sum – this will help you to find your own Instagram engagement rate.
It’s a fairly simple concept to grasp, with an equally straightforward calculation, but it’s still important that marketers and entrepreneurs are familiar with the idea.
Why Is Instagram Engagement Important?
Instagram engagement is important for:
- Building community
- Adding more visibility to your posts
- Showing the page on other users’ feed
Technically speaking, if an Instagram user engages with a specific digital account, e.g. comments and shares, the Instagram algorithm will be more prone to show the page on another user’s feed and thus, add more visibility to your digital posts. It is also vital for the Instagram algorithm.
Tactics to Increase Instagram Engagement
Share Content at the Right Time
Posting at the right time is vital for your Instagram page, as this decides the level of peak engagement. Depending on the social media platform, the best times for posting will depend.
In the case of Instagram, there are a few days and hours that are considered the best for posting.
However, being there 24/7 to post on Instagram can quickly become overwhelming, especially when there are other business accounts to take care of. Or, when some Instagram users are in a different time zone, and you can’t stay up all night to post at the relevant hour.
Understand Your Target Audience
Your audience is one of the most important factors that will determine your businesses’ engagement on Instagram. The marketing content that you create needs to be optimized for your audience, as there will be different elements to consider when creating your posts.
Customer behavior will also be a good element to consider – elements such as their schedule or interests will also give you a good idea of the best time to post on Instagram.
Post Instagram Carousel Posts
A carousel post can bring your page more engagement, as a recent study has shown. An Instagram post that includes a carousel can spike the curiosity of users and thus, keep them interacting with your post.
However, a carousel post alone won’t work wonders for your Instagram engagement. You’ll need to make sure that you have quality content that’s been tailored specifically for your target audience.
Write Engaging Captions for Your Instagram Posts
Your posts tell the story through images and videos – but sometimes, there’s a little need for more. And this is where Instagram captions come into place, as they can grab the attention and also better tell the story.
Regular posts can be changed in an instant with the help of a good Instagram caption. You can use up to 2200 characters to spice up your Instagram post. Compelling content can be backed up by a compelling caption – and you can do just about anything with it.
Craft “Saveable” Content
Saveable content is another aid for a higher engagement rate, and that is because a saved post is a post that your audience can return to and even share with other users.
This means that it can include guides, different answers to questions that your followers (and not only) might have, or any kind of marketing content that the users relate to and has a specific purpose. Even funny and relatable memes can make it to the “Saved” list of a user.