Marketers’ attention has been drawn to Instagram. It’s a newer platform, at least when compared to Facebook and LinkedIn, and it’s expanding rapidly. More than 600 million people use it on a regular basis, and it has one of the greatest interaction rates of any social media site.
That’s why marketers love Instagram: it’s a great way to reach and interact with their target demographic. However, as anyone whose spent any time maintaining an Instagram account can tell you, engagement doesn’t just happen. You have to work for them, but at first you may feel lost if you don’t know how to take advantage of the platform’s features and social norms.
The question then becomes how to increase your Instagram engagement (likes and comments). Here are several methods to try:
Make use of bold, solid hues
Separating yourself from the pack should be your top priority. All of your users are probably already following dozens, if not hundreds, of other people and brands, many of whom they are already connected to personally. It’s not simple to stand apart from the crowd, yet without doing so, you’ll never attract new followers or even keep the ones you have.
Blue-dominated photographs receive 24% more likes than those with any other dominant colour, per a study by Curalate. Images that feature a predominant monochromatic hue perform better than those that don’t. To make your photographs stand out in a feed, use varying tones of a single, dominant colour in a majority of them.
Put in action prompts
A compelling call to action is essential to the success of any online marketing strategy. Conversions from a landing page are impossible without clear calls to action (such as subscribing to a mailing list, purchasing a product, or filling out a form).
Blue-dominated photographs receive 24% more likes than those with any other dominant colour, per a study by Curalate. Images that feature a predominant monochromatic hue perform better than those that don’t. To make your photographs stand out in a feed, use varying tones of a single, dominant colour in a majority of them.
Stimulate debate
A request for discussion is a potent call to action that can inspire different types of participation. You could make a bold claim and solicit an opposing position, or you could just pose a question to your audience. The objective is to stimulate user interaction.
In general, after you have a few comments (say, three), the comment feed will do an excellent job of drawing more comments on its own. You can join in as the brand and talk to the users directly once the conversation has heated up. Just try to avoid getting too contentious or politicised.
Use appropriate hashtags
Hashtags, when utilised properly, can significantly increase the exposure of your content. Hashtags help people identify images that fit specific themes, so using them in your post’s text can increase the likelihood that one of your photos will be displayed in a user’s search results.
If you use too many hashtags or the wrong ones in your image captions, you risk alienating your audience rather than drawing them in.
Feature human faces
It’s no surprise that humans are drawn to each other’s faces because that’s where we initially focus when we meet, bond with, or try to identify someone. We establish lasting perceptions of our surroundings in large part due to the impact that people’s faces have on us emotionally.
If you want to foster deeper relationships with your Instagram followers, it helps to include people in your photos. Make sure to use actual people, though, rather than just stock photos.
Captioning strategy should be A/B tested
Even while photographs are Instagram’s main focus, your captions can still have a significant impact on user engagement. Examine the correlation between the length of your captions, the words you use, and the tone of voice you use in each post.
In time, you’ll see a pattern emerge, even if it’s not immediately apparent what it is.
Advertise through other channels
Make effective use of cross-promotion if your brand is present on other platforms in addition to Instagram. In order to reach a wider audience and encourage greater participation in your Instagram posts, you should at least cross-post them to Twitter and Facebook.
It is possible to use social influencers as extensions of your brand’s network through networking with them.
Get better at posting at appropriate times
Different sources have told me that Sunday night is the “best” time to post on Instagram, while others say that weekdays between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. are the best. Your mileage may vary; therefore, you should study how your target audience responds and adjust your approach accordingly. And don’t be afraid to shake things up occasionally to prevent your account from becoming boring or predictable.
These strategies can help you locate the “sweet spot” for your target audience and company when it comes to producing an Instagram feed that elicits engagement, but there is no surefire recipe. Take the greatest images you can, share them frequently, and try new things out frequently, and you will see the results you seek.