10 tricks to increase Instagram engagement rate

According to algorithms, being seen on Instagram requires a higher engagement rate with the user. But how to increase it?

During every day that we are sitting at our homes, 200 million active Instagram users are spending time on Instagram and each of them is following at least one Instagram business page. So what better time to use this opportunity as a business and take a share of these 200 million users and turn them into your customers? But wait a moment, with the increasing growth of this application, the competitors will not remain idle, and the competition in the busy city of Instagram will increase day by day. Maybe until a few years ago, using the right hashtags and quality content was enough for you to be seen on Instagram. But today the flow is different and you cannot be satisfied with these factors alone.

Stay with us in this article to share with you methods that will help increase the engagement rate of your Instagram page.

Methods to increase Instagram engagement rate

 Use the new features of Instagram

In the new year, powerful social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn are trying to capture the attention of users more than ever. Each of these networks is trying to add new and exciting features to their network to keep users more interested in them. But what does this mean? Naturally, social media marketers, or so-called today, social media marketers, should always keep an eye on new trends and events that happen in the updates and think about how these new trends can contribute to engagement.

Recently, after the feature of a multi-piece layout (collage layout) was placed for stories and serial IGTVs became popular, Instagram created a feature for its users to post life in the form of IGTV on their page and have it permanently. (Before this, Lives could only be maintained for 24 hours).

It is interesting to know that the personality of Instagram is such that it likes people who use its new features and updates more. So by keeping yourself up to date and using new Instagram updates as well as creative content, you can make it easier for you to enter Explorer and increase your engagement.

 Video, an attractive and interactive format

Let me explain it to you right now. If you want more engagement, you need to work harder and produce more video content for your audience. The video makes people pause and want to know what is going on in the video. With video, all your feelings are transferred to the audience, and you naturally communicate with the audience better than a still photo.

There are several ways to approach your video strategy on Instagram:

• 1-minute videos
• story
• live
• IGTV

Use both 1-minute videos and IGTV formats for your feed, and if you have already made videos for your camera or YouTube and are ready, take this opportunity and use them in IGTV format. Or you can hold a live on different topics and publish the same live on IGTV, and in fact, you can kill two birds with one stone.

Especially during the Corona crisis, when most people are staying at home, they are more attracted to social networks, so it is a good opportunity for you to show off your activity. On March 24, exactly when the coronavirus was spreading, Facebook announced that live visits on the Instagram platform had doubled within a week.

The good thing about video is that brands can explain more details about their work or product to the audience, and unlike a still photo, they can create an atmosphere of more education, awareness, inspiration, and communication, and increase their interaction with the audience. to increase But one thing you should remember is that the beginning of your video should start so catchy and attractive that the audience will watch it until the end.

3 important tips to increase video engagement rate

1- You only have 30 seconds!

To attract the attention of the audience to watch the continuation of the video, you need to be agile. It doesn’t matter if your video is Story, Live, or IGTV. Experience has shown that the audience watches the first 30 seconds of the video and abandons it if they cannot connect with the video until this time. So try to be so attractive in these 30 seconds that the audience wants to watch the video until the end.

If your video is live or story, it must have 3 features:

• Beginning of the video: The audience must know what the topic is, so be sure to mention the topic.
• Mid-Video: Meet the audience’s expectations of the topic.
• End of video: Define a clear CTA.

If you are creating an IGTV, make sure that the title is catchy and controversial enough that the audience will stop scrolling and watch the video.

2- Do not make the video long

Don’t forget that the audience is so busy that they avoid long videos. Brevity and brevity have always produced the best results. The sooner you open the main content to the audience, the more likely they will continue watching the video. So instead of focusing on long and boring introductions, try to open the main point quickly. According to the experiences of Instagram bloggers:

• IGTV with a duration of 10 minutes and less has had the best interaction.
• The maximum number of 12 to 15 stories has created the best interaction.
• As for live, the strategy is completely different and you have 1 hour for each live.

3- Use hashtags and subtitles

Just as you use hashtags under your photos, use strategic hashtags for your videos. You can put 30 hashtags under each post, so use them.

But in the case of subtitles, although subtitles are less noticeable, they are very important. Note that many people on Instagram watch videos without sound, and no! Not necessarily because they might be deaf, but because they might be on the subway or any other public transport, there might be someone sleeping around them, or they might be in a crowd. So, try to convey the topic to him by adding subtitles to the video or even a summary of what you say and attract the attention of these people and increase your interaction.

Valuable content ends up in “save post” and “publish post”.

Today, Instagram has become a place to learn more and people follow targeted pages, and since the number of likes is no longer displayed for most countries, other criteria have been taken into account. Post-saving criteria and post-sharing are two of those criteria that have received more attention and affect the interaction rate.

These two metrics show how valuable a piece of content is and how often a user shares or saves it to watch it again. When a user re-shares your post, you get more visibility and potential followers, and on the other hand, saving a post lets Instagram know that the user liked your content and wants to keep it and refer to it again.

But how to make our content valuable for the user?

3 methods to produce “storable” and “publishable” content

Teach the audience something

People spend time on Instagram to get information and get ideas from content. Think about how you can educate your audience in your field of activity. Training does not mean making complicated training clips, it is also good if you can teach a simple point with a few slide posts.

When the post is educational, the possibility that the audience will save it to use it when they need it is very high. So, you are not only adding value to the audience, this way you will be seen more.

Mention the audience’s values

The better a brand knows its target audience, the better it can communicate with them. Don’t just think about the content of your product. Find out what the values ​​of your audience are and show them in the form of content that you care about and value them. For example, if you work in the cosmetics industry, create content for your audience on the occasion of International Women’s Day and send them a message that they are beautiful without makeup. It is so easy to win the hearts of the audience. You’ve tapped into your audience’s values, and they’ll share your post to support you and see how much you respect them.

Go with the trends and communicate it to yourself

One of the efficient ways to make the content publishable is to keep up with the trends and events of the day. Cultural, sports, critical, artistic events, etc., are issues that are important to the user, and the user will probably send your post to them to inform the people around them. Don’t be shy to talk about the events of the day, but don’t overdo it. For example, these days when everyone is involved with the COVID-19 virus, you can produce content and tell about its impact on your business, in this way, you will empathize with the audience.

Be controversial

Maybe this point seems a bit strange in this article. But the fact is that people are looking for controversy. According to Edelman, 33% of people follow brands that care about social issues. Being controversial is not always the right thing to do, but if used correctly, it can be effective and generate a high engagement rate for you. For example, talk about how your competitors can abuse your audience. The suspect is not to bring a competitor’s name or ruin the image of a brand. Rather, you can talk about these events as a general problem. In this case, you have controversial content and you have informed the audience correctly.

A story with an interactive sticker is better than a soulless story

Instagram stories are a place where you can engage the audience to a great extent. But uploading a few simple stories is not enough. The story world is big, you can do different things in it. For example, interactive stickers such as quizzes, questionnaires, and questions and answers that involve the audience in creating a story create the best interaction for you.

These stickers also help with your market research. Polling about the product, entertaining the audience with question-and-answer questions, creating a contest with quizzes, etc. are all strategies that can keep the user engaged with you. You can make a weekly schedule for each of these questions and answers and make sure that you talk to your audience every week.

Don’t forget that direct communication is very important. Taking time for each contact separately gives your audience a very good feeling. In this case, even when you need them and for example, you want to do market research, the contacts you talked to before are more likely to take the time to answer you.

Make interaction with the audience a daily routine

So far we have found that the Instagram algorithm loves interaction and communication more than anything else. So, for the algorithm to like you, you must first like your audience and spend time with them. On Instagram, relationships are the foundation of your success. When one of your users interacts with you consistently, Instagram prioritizes your post on his feed page. This not only increases the engagement of your page but also makes you build deep relationships with the customer and turn him into your loyal customer.

So it’s worth it to spend time communicating with your audience every day and make this a part of your Instagram marketing strategy. Maybe years ago, a quality photo and a few strategic hashtags were enough for success, but don’t forget that nowadays 95 million photos and videos are uploaded on Instagram every 24 hours, and in the meantime, your work becomes more difficult. Engagement brings engagement. Try to make it a habit to make time for interaction every day. To make your work easier, consider the following points:

Consider a specific time to respond to comments and direct messages. What time are you in the best mood to communicate? Morning, noon, or night?

Set yourself a timer and oblige yourself to do this daily so that it becomes a routine.

First, spend time on your followers, and if you have extra time, look for interaction with people who are your potential customers through hashtags.

A call to action (CTA) is a customer energizer

No post of yours should be left without a call to action. Remembering the call to action makes it more likely that the audience will do what you want them to do.

• Tell your opinion in the form of a comment.
• Tag your friend.
• Direct for more information.
• yes or no
• Ask your question in the box.

These are all calls to action that encourage the audience to interact. You may not be comfortable with asking the audience to interact with you at first. But in time you will notice the difference. Remember that in stories, the audience does not create interaction by itself, but must be challenged. So, feel comfortable with the CTA and get rid of the thought that you are “forcing” the audience. At first, you may get a partial response, but over time, the audience will get used to you and you will become a part of their daily life.

“Insight” your kind friend

If you use Instagram for business, you are probably familiar with the Insight section. Insight is your friend who shares all the secrets with you. It shows you which of your posts are more popular or which ones are disliked. In a word, to understand the level of page engagement, Insight should be an integral part of your Instagram app.

Check views, comments, shares, and saves for top posts on your feed and see how they’re doing. (At least take time to analyze your page once a month). Pay attention to the most popular posts and get ideas for your future content.