7 tips to increase interaction on your Instagram profile
Instagram is a social network that can enhance your advertising strategy, so today we want to share with you some tips to improve Instagram engagement so you can take full advantage of what this social network can offer to your business.
In recent years more and more companies are opening a profile on Instagram and the truth is that it is not for less, because it has numbers far superior to other social networks, one of them is its engagement ratio, plus users are more loyal and use it more frequently than other networks.
The Instagram algorithm
When this social network emerged in 2011, the images displayed on the wall obeyed a chronological order, i.e. the most recent publications of the profiles you followed appeared on the wall, but since 2016 this has changed, as only the publications that can arouse more interest in users appear on the wall.
From that moment the strategy changed, to answer the question: what makes a publication important or not, Instagram measures three things: the timeliness of the publication, the relationship that the user has with the publication and the probability that you are interested in it, so in this new algorithm comments and interaction are very important.
What is engagement?
This seems a bit obvious, because who sells something they don’t know? However, if you want to make a 100% effective sale, you have to really know it, that is to say, you must know how to quickly answer questions such as: What is it? What is it for? What distinguishes it from others?
If you can’t fully answer these questions you won’t be able to highlight the qualities of your product compared to your competitors’ products. So a good idea is to start by listing the qualities and highlighting those that are superior or different from those of other similar products.
Knowing the shortcomings of your products helps you to know what their weak points are at the time of offering them, and knowing the weaknesses of your products helps you to constantly improve them.
[(likes + comments on a post) ÷ followers number] x 100
The result indicates the percentage of followers who participate in a publication, ideally you should have above 3%. If you want to learn more tricks in this regard we recommend reading this blog on Instagram metrics.
Here are some tips to increase the interaction of your followers in each publication
1. Create attention-grabbing images
Creating images that grab attention at first glance is the backbone of any profile that wants to succeed. However, we know how complicated it can be, so here are some tips that can inspire you to upload novel and eye-catching photos to gain more “likes”.
Spatial inconsistencies: something that catches everyone’s attention immediately is to see something that is far from what we understand as “normal”, so in your photographs try to create spatial inconsistencies, for example create compositions that mimic the lack of gravity, or with reverse reflections or create impossible perspectives, that will help you stand out from the hundreds of publications.
Smiling faces: another thing that causes more empathy is to see a smiling person, that is why when you include people in your photographs you should prioritize smiling faces. Especially if you include people who enjoy your product, you will not only gain more likes but you will be sending a positive message to your followers,
Pretend to be amateur: those who use social network at the end of the day expect to be communicated with their friends and acquaintances, so it does not matter if your account is business, it has to give that feeling of friendship, empathy, so your images should not look too produced, in the end it should look like there is a human behind the account.
Size: it is a feature that seems obvious, but we often forget, and it is that the images we publish have the ideal size, that is, they should not look pixelated.
2. Hashtags
Using popular hashtags in your caption can help you increase your engagement, but they are also very important to reach a greater number of new followers.
Remember that in these social networks the keywords are hashtags, so it is important that you analyze the most popular tags, so you can start using them in your posts.
3. Timing
Maybe you have already noticed, especially if you usually upload your publications at different times, that some publications have better results than other similar ones and it is no coincidence, because this is due to the schedule.
We cannot give you a calendar with the best times and days to make publications, because the truth is that there is no universal and perfect formula. The best times and days depend on many things, but mainly depend on the type of account and above all on the community. What we can tell you is that you should take advantage of holidays, weekends and evenings, which are times that we sometimes forget but have good results for most profiles, because that is when people can be more attentive to their networks.
The best thing to do is to check which are the times and days that work best for your profile, you can even check your competitors’ profiles to get an idea of their posting schedules.
The fact that the best times are variants does not mean that you are going to publish randomly, the important thing is that you keep making calendars for your publications, this will help you to be consistent.
4. Interact
One of the things that make a follower happier is to get responses in their comments, that’s why you should interact with your community as much as possible. Liking comments is fine, but it is always much better to respond, even short replies or greetings are very well received, this will make your community more loyal than it already is.
Also, it is important that you greet and follow your new followers, so that they do not become mere spectators and encourage them to participate with your profile.
5. Don’t forget about captions
Sometimes it happens to us that we work a lot on a photograph, we plan it for several hours, we wait for the best moment of natural light to get the best shot, we plan the colors, textures, poses, we spend hours planning everything, and when you finally upload them you end up putting in anything in the description and this is a big mistake.
Captions are an excellent opportunity for your followers to know a little more about your proposal and your personal style.
For your captions to be as successful as your images the suggestion is to always try to be original, try to find your personal style.
6. Ask questions
As we have already explained, for the new Instagram algorithm, now comments and likes matter more, that’s why your strategy should focus on gaining likes and motivating your followers to interact in the comments.
The easiest way to engage your community in a post is to ask questions in the captions.
7. Don’t forget about stories
Another strategy that can help you gain more comments are stories. As they are short video posts that disappear in 24 hours, their potential is much greater than the publication of a photo, as they create a sense of urgency to see content that is going to disappear.
In addition, it is easier to get comments and opinions from the public by implementing polls within it.
I hope that with these tips you can give the boost you are looking for in your Instagram profile, especially I hope that the new followers you get are valuable followers who interact with your account. Do you know any other tips to improve the engagement of your profile?