How to Get More Engagement on Instagram?

I was wondering how to get more engagement on Instagram? Curious as to what engagement means and the role it plays in a successful Instagram strategy? If so, you’re certainly not in the minority. Contrary to popular belief, an enormous audience of Instagram followers doesn’t guarantee success.

Instead, it’s the way people engage with your Instagram posts and your profile that makes all the difference. Publishers tend to focus disproportionately on boosting the size of their audience. Often oblivious to the fact that without engagement, audience size is inconsequential.

After all, what’s the use in having thousands of followers if none of them interact and engage with your content? If your goal is to increase your Instagram engagement rate, you first need to understand what engagement really means, more specifically, why engagement forms the core of every effective social media strategy.

What Does Engagement Mean on Instagram?

Engagement is about more than simply stacking up the followers, views, and likes. It’s about analyzing the extent to which people are interacting with your content and your profile. A number of key metrics are used to measure engagement on Instagram, including but not limited to the following:

• Followers
• Likes
• Saves
• Shares
• Mentions
• Hashtags
• Direct Messages
• Click-Through Rate

In each of the above instances, these are the actions that indicate your target audience isn’t simply viewing your content passively. Instead, they’re taking the kind of action that shows you’ve grabbed their attention in some way.

These are also the metrics the Instagram algorithm is on the lookout for when singling out content to promote. If you want your Instagram account and posts to be showcased as prominently as possible, you need to show Instagram you’re generating serious engagement.

What is Considered a Good Engagement Rate on Instagram?

Your engagement rate will determine if and to what extent you gain valuable visibility on Instagram. Instagram engagement rates can be influenced by countless factors, though they are tied primarily with audience size and content quality. As for what represents a good engagement rate, most social media growth specialists advise aiming for a rate of 1% to 5%.

This relates to the number of people who take action of some kind after coming into contact with your content. However, evidence suggests that most publishers don’t come close to achieving this. Here’s the brief overview of average Instagram engagement rates worldwide for business users last year:

• Instagram photo posts: 0.81%
• Video posts: 0.61%
• Carousel posts: 1.01%

It’s also worth remembering that the more followers you have, the lower your engagement rate is likely to be. On average, this is how the engagement rates were affected by audience size in 2021:

• Fewer than 10,000 followers: 1.18%
• 10,000 – 100,000 followers: 0.94%
• More than 100,000%: 0.74%

Hence, getting more engagement on Instagram isn’t exclusively about getting more followers. A small audience of engaged followers is almost always more beneficial than a large audience of passive followers.

How to Get More Instagram Engagement for Your Posts?

Whether your goal is to improve conversion rates or appeal to the Instagram algorithm, it begins and ends with engagement. Activities and tactics to boost engagement on Instagram are in no short supply. If looking to get things moving as quickly as possible, incorporate each of the following into your strategy starting today:

1. Create Content For Your Audience

First and foremost, the images and videos you publish must be relevant and of value to your target audience. Everything you publish needs to serve a purpose and fulfill a requirement of some kind. It doesn’t matter how awe-inspiring your posts are – it’s all for nothing if they’re not right for your audience.

Put yourself in their shoes, and consider what would inspire and motivate you to take action from their perspective.

2. Be Authentic at All Times

Authenticity is essential on platforms like Instagram, where there are far too many fakes. In this context, authenticity means being yourself and letting your true personality shine. It means avoiding putting on any kind of front or pretense, simply to curry favor with your viewers. Show them who you are, what makes you tick, and why they should trust what you have to say.

3. Post Carousels Images

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, carousel posts generate more engagement than almost anything else on Instagram. In fact, a study from Hootsuite found that carousel posts generate an average of 3.1x more engagement than standard posts. If you can find a way to bring more carousel posts into your publishing schedule, it could pay dividends.

4. Post Video Content

For some time, video content has been the preferred content type for most social media audiences worldwide. There’s something uniquely compelling and captivating about video content, which generates far more engagement than most types of static content.

Best of all, video content provides the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your authenticity and build trust with your target audience. Just be sure to keep your videos original and true to your brand, with something of value to offer the viewer.

5. Post Great Images

Perhaps the ultimate no-brainer, as you can’t expect to get by on Instagram with substandard images. It really doesn’t matter whether you use funny memes, inspirational imagery, or breath-taking photographs of any kind.

What matters is that everything you publish is of consistent quality, relevance, value, and authenticity. Never forget that Instagram is a predominantly visual platform, where you need to hook the viewer’s attention in an instant.

6. Captions Are Key

Each time you publish a post on Instagram, you can include a caption of up to 2,200 characters. All of which provides plenty of scopes to showcase your authenticity, your personality, and what makes you unique. It’s also the perfect place to bring strategic SEO elements into your strategy, making your content easier to find.

Effective storytelling holds the key to boosting engagement, so take every opportunity to share compelling stories with your audience.

7. Create Savable Content

The Instagram algorithm always shows preference to content that’s saved by those who view it for future reference. Hence, creating the kind of content your viewers will want to save in their collections could work in your favor.

Reference materials, tutorials, recipes, step-by-step guides – just a few examples of the most savable types of content on Instagram. Try to look beyond instant gratification with the content you publish, considering what you can provide with the longer-term appeal.

8. Share Audience Content in Your Stories

User-generated content can be pure gold for generating engagement. This is where you publish images, videos, quotations, and other types of content submitted by other users.

Fantastic for building trust and bringing fresh voices to your publishing strategy while at the same time working wonders for your SEO profile. Invite and encourage your viewers to submit their UGC and share their thoughts, and chances are they will!

9. Use Custom Stickers and Filters

Simple yet effective, custom stickers and filters in Stories can make a real difference. It’s a tiny touch that showcases your personality and emphasizes your commitment to originality. Creating your own custom stickers and filters is easy enough to do and is something you should be doing more often.

10. Respond to All Comments

There’s never any excuse for failing to acknowledge the comments your viewers have taken the time to submit. Be it positive, negative, neutral, or even irrelevant, every comment deserves a reply.

Not only does responding to comments generate engagement, but it’s also one of the best ways of attracting the attention of the Instagram algorithm. Even if it’s a simple ‘Thank you for sharing their thoughts, they’ll at least know you’re listening.

11. Post Consistently and Post in Peak Times

Peak times vary significantly from one demographic and region to the next. Your job is to extract the information you need from Instagram analytics to find the best possible time to post new content.

Depending on who you are targeting and what you are targeting them with, this could be anything from weekday mornings to weekend evenings. Experiment with a variety of publishing times/schedules and see which of your posts gain the most traction.

12. Post Stories Daily

It’s now estimated that at least 500 million people use Instagram Stories each day. Among these, more than 60% have taken some kind of action after seeing a product or brand in Stories. In particular, those who use polls in Stories have noted the most impressive increases in engagement.

Countdowns and Questions can also be great for sparking debate and generating interest. Long story short – Instagram Stories is a feature you can and should be taking full advantage of.

13. Add CTAs in Your Posts

It sounds simple, but one of the best ways of motivating people to take action is by telling them to do so. Calls to action are the simplest yet most effective way of reminding people exactly what it is you want them to do.

If you want them to share, like, save or comment on your post, why not ask them to do so outright? The power and influence of CTAs are quite remarkable, though they are almost always underestimated.

14. Make Use the Power of Hashtags

Instagram hashtags need to be used strategically yet sparingly. Overusing hashtags simply for the sake of it almost always proves counterproductive. Every hashtag you use needs to be of genuine relevance to your content and value to your audience.

It can be tempting to use as many hashtags as possible to pull in more views, but it’s a spam tactic that will not go down well with your viewers. The Instagram algorithm also keeps a close eye on hashtag use, so make sure yours are always relevant.

15. Send More DMs

Contrary to popular belief, not all examples of engagement happen publicly. In fact, DMs sent privately between users can be just as influential. DMs are important indicators of engagement, activity, and interest – all factored into the Instagram algorithm’s decisions.

If your goal is to show Instagram you’re engaged (and so is your audience), send more DMs and reply to every DM you receive.

16. Use Insta Ads

Paid ads are often overlooked as a seemingly superfluous extra on Instagram. In reality, a single Insta Ad could be all it takes to blast your business account clear through the stratosphere. It’s worth remembering that Instagram has around one billion monthly active users.

Most of which aren’t currently within your network but can be reached cheaply and instantly with paid ads. Don’t write off paid advertising on Instagram until you’ve checked it out – it’s probably nowhere near as expensive as you think.

17. Use Instagram Influencers

A few positive words from the right influencer can carry more weight than almost anything else imaginable. Collaborating with influencers begins and ends with making them want to promote your brand.

Not forcing them to do so or paying them, but convincing them that their followers will be interested in what you do. When looking for influencers to reach out to, remember that those with smaller audiences often have massively higher engagement rates than those with huge audiences.

18. Create Sharable Content

What does shareable content mean? It depends on the type of content you publish and who you are publishing it for. But what all shareable posts have in common is the find that they are short, punchy, and instantly gratifying.

They can be funny, inspiring, shocking, or surprising, but they need to get their message across in an instant. Don’t be afraid to publish content that raises a few eyebrows – it often has serious viral potential.

19. Use Instagram Live

If you’ve not yet learned how to go live on Instagram, it’s something you need to do right now. Content streamed in real-time on social media is always more engaging than pre-recorded content period.

It’s also great for building and strengthening relationships with your target audience while boosting your appeal in the eyes of the Instagram algorithm. Going live on Instagram for the first time can be a daunting prospect, but the whole thing soon becomes second nature.

20. Use Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels is basically the platform’s approximation of TikTok. Officially launched in 2020, Reels provides publishers with the opportunity to create short videos comprising multiple clips and a whole host of effects.

Given how most Instagram users hit the platform with instant gratification in mind, the popularity of this short-form content is easy to understand. Short-form videos on Instagram have huge viral potential and can be great for boosting engagement. They can also be just the thing to showcase user-generated content collected from your viewers.

21. Buy Social Proof to Boost Instagram Engagement

Last up, the quickest and easiest way to boost your Instagram engagement rate is to buy authentic social proof. At GetAFollower, we offer an extensive range of products and services for boosting engagement rates on Instagram.

Examples of which include Instagram Followers, Likes, Comments, Views and more – all guaranteed to help you catch the eye of the Instagram algorithm. We even back every sale with a full refund guarantee for total peace of mind. If looking to boost your engagement rate as quickly as possible, join the 10,000+ satisfied customers who’ve already made use of our services.

Final Thoughts

Referring back to the initial point, audience size is irrelevant without a good engagement rate. It’s a little like inviting thousands of customers into your store each day, only for none of them to make a purchase. It is your engagement rate that will single-handedly determine the success of your Instagram strategy.

It’s not enough to simply get your posts and your profile viewed by a vast audience of Instagram users worldwide. To make things happen, you need to encourage them to take action. Boosting engagement also holds the key to enhanced visibility and exposure on Instagram. The platform’s algorithm is engineered to showcase and recommend engaging content.

Consequently, anything you do to boost your engagement rate could also boost your visibility. Buying social proof can therefore be the ideal starting point for increasing your engagement rate. After which, it’s a case of implementing every possible measure to boost your engagement rate organically and continuously.