Instagram is a highly effective marketing platform, especially for brands who are looking to have a strong and looming presence on this social media platform. However, it is not enough to just create a profile. You must get actively involved to become successful and drive engagement.

Anything from likes, comments, reactions, or sharing on Instagram posts or Stories is considered engagement on Instagram. This measures the percentage of your Instagram audience that actively responds to what you’ve posted. It shows you what type of content performs best and allows you to refine, enhance, or diversify your posts to meet your goals.

If you’re looking to increase Instagram engagement on Instagram but are unsure how to go about it, below we list 4 useful tips you can use to your advantage.

Plan Your Content

Continuity, and creating more content are important when trying to grow the number of your Instagram followers and engagement rates. If you wonder how to get people to share your content on Instagram, you must create valuable content that your followers want to share with their following.

To get real control over how often you publish posts and get variation in the content, it’s good to create a content calendar. It provides structure and variety both for the person performing the work and also produces quality. Because if you don’t create value for the followers, they won’t follow the page. The content calendar should contain themes for different posts, campaigns, and dates for when each campaign and post will go live.

A calendar helps you to get structure at work and a good flow. Try to keep a steady flow with a couple of posts a week. What should be displayed at the top of the flow is decided by Instagram’s algorithm, which prioritizes new posts over old ones. But if you post too many posts in a row in one day, it can cause your posts to appear less and less in your followers’ feed, due to Instagram’s algorithm disliking a too high frequency.

Unclear content can also have a similar consequence with reduced visibility, which is why proper planning is important. To avoid getting caught up in Instagram’s algorithm, it is important to not publish too many pictures at once, create clear content, use relevant hashtags, and sponsor content that is appreciated by the target audience.

Share Images With Clear Messages

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High-quality images with clear messages are important if you wish to succeed in increasing engagement, retaining followers, and gaining new ones. Also, keep in mind that each image has its purpose. Don’t just publish a picture because you like it without thinking about what value the image brings. Don’t be afraid to test different creative solutions by, for example, adding text to the image to emphasize the message even more, either in an image editing program or straight into Instagram Story.

If several images are needed to emphasize a certain message, it’s possible to create a series of looping images. By embedding the images in a video editing program and turning the images into a video sequence, it is possible to creatively highlight a message that cannot be understood by just one image.

Invest in Videos

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There are many ways to work with video and it’s an extremely effective format for successfully creating greater reach in most channels. Instagram is especially suitable for shorter videos with clear messages. With video, it is quite easy to create engagement and get measurable results. Putting short text messages in videos can also be effective.

On Instagram, it is also common to watch videos without sound, and in such cases, text can be essential to get the message across. Statistics also show that video makes many people stop looking at the post for an extra-long time.

Write Longer Captions

One of the easier ways to increase engagement on Instagram is to write longer captions. Did you know that the text of your Instagram posts can be up to 2,200 characters long? Pictures and videos are key to creating engagement but captions are equally important. Captions provide context, add personality, and inspire your followers to act, especially if you use a CTA.

By writing longer captions, users will stay longer on your post and this will be recognized by the Instagram algorithm. The more engagement a post receives, the greater chance that it will appear in the Explore Page or higher in your followers’ feeds.

Final Thoughts

Instagram is constantly coming up with new features. Try to keep up and read about all the news that is related to both features and algorithms and don’t be afraid to experiment and see what creates engagement with your target audience.