Since the creation of Instagram, the platform has grown to be the most popular channel for sharing photos or videos. Instagram has more than 800 million active users every month and more than 60 million photos shared every day. Moreover, 1.6 billion “likes” are given each day. So, it is certainly a great marketing channel that can help you engage with your audience.
But it can be hard when things start to change and you notice an engagement decline. There are a number of things that can cause your Instagram engagement to drop. While sometimes it may be something that you are doing wrong such as changing the style or quality of your posts, sometimes it can just be a matter of something done to you such as mass spam or reports or even a change to the Instagram algorithm.
So, what can you do about it? First, don’t panic, you are not going to lose all your followers and their precious likes. All you need to do is to use a few tactics to get them hooked on your account and regain your high engagement rates. Here are 4 tactics that can be very effective when you are experiencing an engagement drop on your Instagram page:
First things first, it all starts with your audience. Your audience is, or should be, your main concern in this situation. Why? Because you share your posts for people who you expect to support you with their likes, comments, and all other actions you encourage them to do. So, if you want to rise your Instagram engagement rates, your audience is the one you need to start with.
Surprising or not, the poor-quality audience can be the number one reason that might affect your engagement rates. Surely, it is extremely rewarding to see that you have hundreds, or even thousands, of followers on your account. But how is that helping you if your followers are mainly fake accounts or inactive users? Obviously, it doesn’t. Inactive or fake users simply don’t engage with Instagram posts like the ones you have.
So, you can’t raise your engagement rates if you have followers that don’t interact with your posts. Like it or not, you may want to improve your efforts of attracting new followers, real ones, that will actually engage with your Instagram posts.
Yes, images can speak 1000 words, but can you imagine how many words videos can say? Instagram itself is a platform designed for photo sharing. And, data shows that more than 100 million photos and videos are shared on this platform each day. The feature of posting videos on Instagram has been introduced in 2013, and it had such a huge splash that more than 5 million videos have been shared on the platform in the first 24 hours.
So, videos can be the way to go if you want real engagement from your audience, be it IGTV videos, stories, live or video posts. Video content simply is the most powerful content for your marketing strategy because it is some of the easiest to consume.
Videos are engaging, dynamic, and fun to watch which is why they make followers stop for a second long enough until they get your message. Improving your video marketing strategy on Instagram is one of the most effective tactics to stop your followers from scrolling and actually engage with your posts.
Wouldn’t you like to just like and share a post and get free stuff in exchange for that? Most probably yes, and so would your followers. Instagram contests have become extremely popular these days and they are a great way to make followers feel appreciated for all the support they offer you. Moreover, it seems that accounts that hold contests to reward their followers can achieve 70% faster follower growth.
The trick with Instagram contests is the fact that they never fail to engage your followers to take further actions depending on what you ask them to do. Do you want them to comment on your post, tag their friends, or share your post in their Instagram story? They will most likely do it as long as you offer them a prize to get excited about.
It should be easy to see how holding contests will help you grow your follower lists. Imagine you are holding a contest for your followers in which you are offering one of the best products of the business you are promoting as a prize. It all starts with using the best writing services to create an engaging, fun, and comprehensive description of your contest. Next, ask your followers to leave comments to your post in which they must tag 2 or 3 of their friends to participate in your contest. Simply do the math and you will see that you have just managed to attract at least 1 new follower for every loyal follower that participates in your contest.
Moreover, apart from helping you raise brand awareness and attract new followers, holding Instagram contests is a great way to make your followers feel appreciates. Everybody likes free stuff, and your followers are more likely to become loyal and continue to take part in your contests because they are fun and make them feel important to you.
Since their invention is 2007, hashtags have become perhaps the most popular trend on Instagram right now for posts. They make the post look more sophisticated and make it more scannable. If used correctly, hashtags can help you raise your engagement rates for your Instagram posts simply by attracting users by helping them find and interact with your posts.
However, abusing or using random popular hashtags at your posts won’t do you any good. The trick with the effective use of hashtags in your posts is to use the ones that are not only relevant for your posts but also for your audience. Think about what your audience might be searching for and this is how you determine which words will attract them.
The accelerated growth of Instagram is a great opportunity for marketers to promote their products or services. Yet, make no mistake, this growth can also lead to saturation and more competition which can have a negative impact on your engagement rates. These 4 tactics will help you refresh your Instagram strategy and stop engagement rates from dropping.
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