Having a strategic content schedule & create amazing content!
To increase your Instagram engagement, you need to create amazing content. But what is amazing content?
Amazing content is not just stuff that “some people” would like or be interested in. It's not just pictures of your friends or
photos of what you had for dinner. People on Instagram are looking for more than that. They're looking to be inspired, educated, and amazed by something new and different. And the great thing about sharing a new perspective with the world is that everyone wins: you are able to share what you love doing and feel good about it, and others get to experience something unique from a different set of eyes.
So how can you create amazing content? That's a great question! The answer depends entirely on who you ask - but I've found that most people will agree upon one thing: it's all about finding your niche, knowing your strengths, and sticking with them!
If you are selling a product think about how that product solves a problem rather than the actual product. Don't be a salesman...influence!
Researching your hashtags and using the right ones for your niche!
Adding hashtags to your posts is a simple way to boost your post’s visibility. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post and researches have discovered that using 11-20 hashtags gives you the most engagement. But it is not enough just to use any random hashtags you find, you want to use ones that will bring people who are interested in your content.
A little research goes a long way. Use Instagram search to find trending hashtags for your industry or niche, and look at what influencers in your field are using. If you’re writing about fitness and nutrition, don’t use generic hashtags like #food or #workout—instead try more specific ones that bring up content relevant to your audience like #saladsofinsta or #yogainspiration.
The best place to use these types of niche-focused keywords is as the first comment on your post, but don’t feel limited by this! You can add them as text in the body of the post itself too! Make sure when you do this that it doesn’t look forced, so mix them into a sentence rather than making them their own paragraph.
Using an engagement strategy and communicate with your audience
Comment on other people's posts. When someone comments on your posts, it is polite to respond to them, so it is only fair that you extend the same courtesy to others! For example, if someone comments "I love this post," you could say "thank you! I hope you enjoy my other posts too." This makes the other person feel seen and heard at no extra cost to you. No body likes to be ignored so make sure you don't ignore people online.
Like other people's posts. If someone likes one of your posts, it means that they like something about it—the content, perhaps, or maybe just the fact that you're posting about something enjoyable for once. In any case, reciprocate by liking one of their posts in turn! They will feel valued and know that when they interact with your account, they will get play-by-play attention from you in exchange.
Ask your audience questions!
Asking questions is a great way to get more feedback from your audience. You can ask them about their opinions on new products, their favorite places to shop, or what they want to see more of on your feed.
These answers will help you create content that better resonates with your followers and leads to more engagement overall.
Asking questions can also start conversations in the comments section so that people feel like they're a part of something bigger than just liking your post. By starting conversations, it also gives you the chance to learn what kind of things people like and don't like by giving you direct feedback.
All this information will help you create content that appeals to them even more, thus boosting engagement even further! It's important for everyone who follows or likes something on Instagram (or any social media platform for that matter) to feel like their voice matters and is heard by the person behind account—so use this tip if you want some extra love from people following along with your journey!
Post consistently
Posting consistently will increase followers, engagement, brand awareness and growth. Posting consistently helps you understand your audience’s preferences. You’ll be able to see what type of content and posts get the most engagement. As a result, you’ll know what type of content to post more often. Your audience will also get used to your regular posts and will begin to look forward to these regular posts!
Schedule posts in advance
Scheduling posts in advance allows you to:
Plan ahead and save time. Instagram is a great platform but it isn’t the best for scheduling posts. There are several third-party tools out there that can help you schedule your content in advance, such as Hootsuite, or Planoly, our favorite tool for social media management.
Ensure your content is scheduled at the best time for your audience. Scheduling in advance allows you to determine the best times to post on Instagram based on when your audience is most likely to be online.
Create a content calendar that works well with other marketing campaigns and programs being run by your team and company at large
Share user-generated content
Here's the deal: people love seeing themselves on the internet, especially when it's attached to their favorite brands. Sharing user-generated content with your audience is a great way to drive engagement and give props to your valued customers. And, if you can, make sure you tag them!
This strategy will help you gain trust from potential customers, as well—user-generated content is a more authentic form of marketing that people tend to trust more than branded messaging. Don't believe me? Check out this study from Gartner: "People trust information from other people over traditional sources of advertising by a factor of 3 to 1."
Pay attention to analytics and measure results
Although we can look at the engagement from a post and see how people are interacting with it, there is a ton going on behind the scenes that we can’t see. This is where your Instagram analytics come into play.
Using analytics to measure results will allow you to:
Understand what makes your audience tick (are they more likely to interact with videos or photos?)
See what content works best (is it funny memes or inspirational quotes?)
See what content doesn’t work so well (do they like one specific post more than another?)
Follow these steps and you'll have more engagement by the end of 2022!
We’ve covered a lot of information in this guide, but you don’t have to implement everything at once. It takes time to build up your Instagram presence, so start by applying the strategies that interest you the most and make sense for your brand.
Now that you know what it takes to grow a successful Instagram account, keep working hard and staying focused on your goals. If you follow these steps and stick with them consistently over the next year, we believe you will be pleased with the results!
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Remember consistency is key!
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