Boost Your Instagram Engagement With These Handy Tips!
Updated: Aug 17, 2020
Are you a small business owner (or even a large business owner) and wondering how you can boost your Instagram engagement? You're not alone!
With Instagram having tonnes of companies all competing for their audiences attention, it can be challenging to be seen in the crowd but don't let this put you off! Instagram is one of the best platforms to build a loyal following to support your business.
Not all of these tips might be applicable for your business, but even adding one or two to your way of thinking when it comes to using the platform can have a huge boost!
1. Story Stickers
Exclusive to Instagram Stories is the 'sticker' function (polls, questions, countdown, etc.).
With over 500 million accounts making use of stories daily, Instagram Stickers are a great way to encourage your audience to engage with your profile. Which, in turn, will make them feel more connected to your brand and increase your social proof!
here are a few stickers that you can utilise for your page:
The Question Sticker
Possibly the best Instagram tool to allow your customers to get to know your company better, by putting a simple story with an 'Ask Us Anything'. This can give your audience a better insight into what your company does by allowing them to ask you questions about what they want to find out.
Alternatively, you can ask your customers what they want to see next, and get them to send in their suggestions - thus giving you great insights and feedback to what your audience want and like.
That will get you engagement, feedback and conversation all in one.
The Poll Sticker
The Poll sticker was one of the first interactive tools Instagram launched for Stories, but it is still one of the best if used correctly.
You could use the Poll in numerous ways, be that getting feedback about upcoming launches or to find out if any of your audience would be interested in a particular service.
The great thing about polls is you can view who voted which way. So, for example, if you ran a story poll asking which of your audience is interested in a particular service - you can see which voted yes and possibly use this to send them a message with more information or special offer.
2. Add an element of Fun to your profile.
This one isn't for every business, and you'll have to know your audience well to know if it will suit them and your profile. However, if it does and its worked correctly it can be huge!
Memes on social media are huge and can go viral if it hits the right notes, which will all help in getting your profile and company out there and improving your reach and engagement.
3. Get those captions longer!
One of the many things that goes into Instagram Algorithm to see how your post will perform is the time spent by users on your content.
Captions on Instagram can be up to 2200 characters long, meaning that you can give a lot of value to clients and also increase the length of time they are viewing your post. This isn't to say you need to write an essay for each post you do, but posting a sentence than a few emojis may make a huge difference.
While we are on captions, you can also use them to pose a question and get a response from your audience, which helps in boosting your post. For example, if your business is a restaurant or bar you could ask your audience to comment what their favourite food/drink is. They comment, you get a better performing post and also great feedback - win-win.
4. Use Your Insights.
If you have your Instagram profile as a 'business' page (If you don't, you should!!), then you get access to some great insights and data about your post, stories, profile and audience.
Insights can be tremendous in performing better on Instagram. One insight that can help boost your engagement is your Audience Insights, and more specifically, the days and hours they are most active.
You could have the best aesthetically looking post, with the best value in the world to your audience but if you are posting when less of them are active on Instagram, then they aren't going to see it and its wasted effort and time on your part.
By having a quick look at your insights, you get to gather information about what day your audience is more active and what time, then use this in your strategy and post around this period - increasing views and engagement.
5. One of the most overlooked tools, Hashtags!
Hashtags have been around on Instagram since the beginning and were initially very popular for improving likes and followers. However, recently they have died off with fewer people using them - which is crazy!
Hashtags can get your content out there to people that don't follow you and with the right content get you placed in the 'Top' section for that hashtag (which could then lead to 1000s of views depending on the hashtag).
With that being said, you must be using the right ones for your post, profile and intended audience. If you are a construction business, using #Mercedes isn't going to work for you, is it? But the use of #homerenovations could land your post in front of the correct people and your audience.
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The beauty (maybe) of Instagram is that it isn't a one size fits all platform. The best way of improving and growing on the platform is to use strategies that are best suited to your audience - however by using some of the tips above and tweaking them for your audience, and I am sure you will receive a great response and a considerable improvement.
For a more in-depth and bespoke strategy for your business - get in contact at:
and we will be more than happy to help!