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The Easiest Way to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Starting Now

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What makes Instagram engagement special for your businesses?

The Easiest Way to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Starting Now

The #1 reason Instagram is HOT today is the Instagram engagement level. The engagement level on Instagram surpasses all the other social media networks today. That is huge.

Not only that, but Instagram has 1 billion users and ½ of them are active every single day on Instagram.

What does engagement really mean for you?

It means that people are spending more time on that social network connecting with others. They are not just strolling through the feed. They are commenting on their friends’ posts.

And they are messaging on Instagram. Businesses can message users as well. Many users who keep their profiles private use messenger only and never even post a thing to Instagram.

The engagement level on Instagram surpasses all the other social media networks today. #InstagramClick To Tweet

Instagram as a marketing tool for your business

Instagram is a great marketing tool for expanding the presence and visibility of almost any business.

It can be beneficial for any company that has a visually appealing aspect of their business, such as home decor, clothing, lifestyle, travel, pets, and much more.

Instagram allows every kind of business, from publicly traded big businesses to local mom-and-pop shops, to reach a worldwide audience.

The smaller businesses need to position themselves to reach their niche.

Many local businesses use word of mouth for their marketing. Instagram is similar online to the old fashioned word-of mouth marketing done offline.

People are chatting and commenting on Instagram daily about the products and services they love.

Be sure to have a social media listening tool to monitor what’s being said about your business.

People are chatting and commenting on Instagram daily about the products and services they love. #InstagramClick To Tweet

Where to start with Instagram engagement for your small business?

If you are not on this social network yet, it’s not too late to get started with Instagram.

Just be sure to fill out your bio completely and start with a nice profile picture.

Think about what link you will have in the bio as it’s your only link. (Unless you generate 10,000 followers!)

Then, make sure you have a business profile. You can have both a personal and a business or just a business profile on Instagram – unlike Facebook.

Lastly, this precious link in your bio can be changed as often as you want. It’s great to highlight a sale, promotion or new blog post.

Anything you are referring to in your Instagram post can say “see more in the bio above!”

Begin by sharing great images, photos and videos

Since Instagram is a visual social network, it’s important to really use your best photographs and images there.

Mix them up with video. Video does best on Instagram (as it does on all networks).

Remember, with video you have only 3-60 seconds on Instagram. (Stories can only be up to 15 seconds and IGTV up to an hour.)

Engage, engage and engage more

To really get noticed on Instagram you need to engage with others. You need more Instagram followers to reach your targeted audience and grow your Instagram profile.

Focus on your area and your niche. Follow those with like interests and in your area. (Unless you have an online store, then you can expand your area.)

Next, read their descriptions – some tell stories with their photos or videos. Then, respond and engage with them about the story, not only about the image.

Finally, use some emoji’s in your post description.

Then, respond and engage with them about the story, not only about the image. #InstagramClick To Tweet

Hashtags help engagement on Instagram

If that isn’t enough, next you have Hashtags to use. There are many guides out there explaining how to find the best ones.

Use some that are very popular and mix with some not so popular because if you only use really popular hashtags you may not be found.

Do not use emoji’s in your hashtags – you could be shadow banned.

What is a shadow ban? It is a ban that renders your hashtags undiscoverable by the vibrant users.

Only your followers will be able to see your feed and not the entire Instagram community.

What can you do to prevent a shadow ban? Refrain from using the same hashtags repeatedly. Do not use third party tools to gain followers and likes and/or comments.

If all else fails, give Instagram a few days break and do nothing. It will help the algorithm there re-adjust!

I love the tool by Triberr to check for shadowbanning.

The tool allows you to review your last 10 posts on Instagram. If you find you have a post shadowbanned you can easily edit it.

What is a shadowban? It is a ban that renders your hashtags undiscoverable by the vibrant users. #InstagramClick To Tweet

Instagram tools to help you

There are many tools for Instagram you can use to help you achieve more visibility as well.

There are tools and apps to create collages, others to create quotes with beautiful images and some that even repost for you.

A repost is when you share someone else’s Instagram post.

Use stories feature to increase engagement on Instagram

Stories are the rage today on Instagram and Facebook. They took a page from Snapchat and their stories disappear within 24 hours.

No one wants to miss out on their friends’ story!

These images are vertical, and you can use stickers and polls on them. Polls will increase your engagement level. Be sure to participate in others’ stories as well.

The stories feature can get you noticed more on the popular social network. They stand out on the feed and are easily scrollable.

Making money and shopping from Instagram

Many bloggers can make money from Instagram with influencer campaigns and sponsorships.

Niche bloggers can share products and tools for their audience and get paid at the same time.

Online businesses have shoppable grams available so people can shop right from your Instagram post to your product.

Yes, you can use Instagram Checkout now. Instagram Checkout is for United States businesses only to date.

Look for the SHOP icon under retailers’ Instagram profiles for this feature!

This saves Instagram users valuable time shopping and means less third-party payments for you.

Another way to shop is when someone clicks on the Instagram post and a shopping bag pops up describing the product.

You can save it to a wish list or make a purchase right from there. The saved items send people directly to the product page on the sellers’ websites to purchase.

This can be a little more time consuming for users than buying directly on Instagram.

Over to you

How are you increasing your engagement over on Instagram today? We’d love to know more in the comments below!

 

Originally published Jun 23, 2019; updated 9/16/21 to improve formatting for mobile devices.

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Lisa Sicard

Lisa loves helping others to thrive online through Content Marketing with Social Media, Blogging, and SEO. What good is knowledge if you cannot share it with others? She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 10 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
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Comments

  3. Hi Lisa
    Thumbs up for unique ideas and impressive writing skills! I have got lots of points that will use to get more engagement on my Instamixes Instagram account.

    Reply

  6. Wow! This is very helpful Lisa. If we properly engage with our audiences, we can get some good leads too, because Instagram is evolving as one of the best marketing platform.

    Reply

  7. Hi Author,
    Wonderful and impressive.
    A very good collection of information you shared about Instagram
    and how to increase Instagram engagement.
    Good work…

    Reply

  8. I just set up an IG account for a small business. Luckily, I stumbled upon this content and it’s very informative. I believe IG will be taking out the ‘Like’ feature, but I don’t think it will affect social media managers in any way. I appreciate you for sharing your tips!

    Reply

  9. Do you have any tips for growing b2b accounts? I think there’s still a big opportunity for b2b brands to engage with their audience on Instagram but how I’m not so sure about?

    Reply

  10. HI Lisa,
    This is a good piece of information that you have posted. As Instagram users are still increasing by the day, your informative content about Increasing Instagram Engagement helps a lot. After reading all the content i found it very interesting as well as instructional. As you said being worldwide social media platform many people are using it as a platform for their business as well and those who are new users on Instagram can get a great help from your tips that you have mentioned in the post. As it was very helpful for me, I would like to Thank you.
    Punam Maharjan would love you to read ..How To Get Year In A Review?My Profile

    Reply

  11. Hi Lisa, great article! After reading this article, I’ve realized my mistake that I was doing on Instagram, which is I expected high engagements for my posts but I failed to engage with other’s posts. From now, I’m going to engage more with other’s post. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  13. hey Lisa,
    loved your article.people have that mentality that Instagram is just for timepass mostly business gets to benefit from Facebook and LinkedIn only. but you have proved them all wrong and clearly proved that Instagram is important as well. your tricks to generate leads and engagement helps a lot. thanks for this amazing article.

    Reply

  14. Hi Lisa,

    I agree – Use stories feature to increase engagement on Instagram – Stories provide great engagement rate. You can stay on top of your customers mind by consistently posting stories.

    Reply

  15. Hi Lisa,

    Interesting post! Thank you for breaking this down so well. You have pointed out the most important factors to increase Instagram engagement. Instagram has become a very powerful marketing platform and it’s just time to take advantage of what it could offer. I couldn’t agree more with what you said here, especially the hashtags and the quality of images/videos. Hopefully, more people could learn from this post. Cheers!
    Cindy mcmillan would love you to read ..Instagram Feed Algorithm ExplainedMy Profile

    Reply

  16. Thanks a lot, Lisa. I read your article thoroughly and found out some mistakes I have been doing for months. I will try not to use the same hashtag more. I was not aware of that.

    Reply

  17. Hey Lisa,

    Thanks for the useful blog. Really nice to read. Now a days Instagram plays the the main role in Digital Marketing. This tips helps me to increase my Instagram followers.

    Reply

  19. Hi Lisa,

    Thank you sharing this informative blog post. I am sharing Photos & Videos on Instagram for more than 8 months now but my engagements are still not upto the mark. Well i will try your instructions and do as it is mentioned by you to boost my Instagram business profile.

    Reply

  20. Thanks a lot for this informative article about Instagram engagement.

    It’s indeed an eye-opener for me reading this.

    In particular I’m very surprised about the engagement level surpassing all the other social media networks.

    Five hundred million people active every single day is massively insane.
    Jay would love you to read ..Best Camera Smartphone to Buy Under 10000My Profile

    Reply

  23. Hi Lisa,
    Finally another well-researched post from your side, yes you are right social media is very helpful now a day in the growth of business .

    Here you shared all the very useful tips to increase engagement on Instagram but sometimes i feel waste because you can’t post link of web page directly anywhere apart from profile.

    Well Thanks 🙂
    Siddharth Sharma would love you to read ..StudioPress Genesis Black Friday Deal 2019 HUGE DiscountMy Profile

    Reply

  24. Hey Lisa,

    Nice piece of content Instagram which is getting engaged a lot now after Facebook and it can utilize for all our business as well.

    If you have good business model like T-shirt you can use this source to promote your business , we can engaged with

    influencers to give some shouts as goes on as like you mentioned many possibilities available on it.

    Thanks Lisa for such wonderful post!
    Shameem would love you to read ..20 Websites That Pay You to Watch Ads – Earn 1000$ a MonthMy Profile

    Reply

  26. Hi Lisa! I have noticed that some social sites does not really like Internet marketers, for instance Facebook and Twitter. I would not market my internet marketing blog on Pinterest either.

    I don´t have an account on Instagram yet, but I will definitely sign up and use your tips! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  27. Hey Lisa,
    Instagram became a very effective social media platform after 2k16. now peoples are engaging more on Instagram. and your article helped me to understand the tools used in Instagram marketing. thanks

    Reply

  29. I want to know about image posting through Instagram. Is it very effective that capture photo of our products with high resolution and post it to Instagram ? Will it be helpful to spread our business ?

    Reply

  30. As we all know that Instagram is growing very fast and everyone is using Instagram in their daily life style. So it like a part of our daily routine. This article is quite helpful for us to understand and improve our knowledge about Instagram. In current scenario business also can tackle by Instagram and if we increase it then it will be too good for in perspective of social view as well as business.

    Thanks again for the information.

    Harsh
    Harsh Singh would love you to read ..Check out the best FastPoke Map Alternatives for Pokemon GoMy Profile

    Reply

  34. Lisa, Thanks for crafting awesome post.

    And yes, Instagram can do wonder for your marketing and branding campaign. Lots of great tips I figured out over time and today I came across one interesting example, hope you guys would be interesting to know how a 20 yrs girl grab her dream job at Deloitte by crafting a creative resume using her insta feed: https://bit.ly/2XcPnjU

    Thanks again Lisa, have a wonderful weekend.

    -RajatChauhan

    Reply

  36. Thank you so much for such a useful post. I have followed your steps and guess what i am able to increase followers to my instagram all credits goes to you.

    Thank you so much. Keep the Good Work!!!
    SARA would love you to read ..Hello world!My Profile

    Reply

  37. Hi Lisa,
    Thanks for showing us a way to increase customer engagement through Instagram.
    You write awesome and your way of explaining to the point is really appreciated.

    Can you make a similar article for an engaging audience through twitter?

    Reply

  40. Hi Lisa,

    Thanks a lot for this informative article about Instagram engagement.

    It’s indeed an eye-opener for me reading this.

    In particular I’m very surprised about the engagement level surpassing all the other social media networks.

    Five hundred million people active every single day is massively insane.

    Wow!

    I have to say I’m one of those who hasn’t gotten serious with Instagram but with this type of engagement level, it’s time to get started.

    Thankfully there are tools to help with the process as you have said in this article. These tools will be very much appreciated by people like me not so good at making quotes with beautiful images, haha.

    Thanks again, Lisa.
    Joy Healey would love you to read ..Marketing Your Small BusinessMy Profile

    Reply

    • Hi Joy, yes, isn’t it amazing how this network has grown? I was out last night having dinner at the people nearby were talking about how they knew about someone kids dance recital because of Instagram. It used to be you would hear them say because of Facebook…. We have to keep with these changes as they effect how are businesses will be seen or NOT.
      Thanks for coming by Joy and taking the time to comment. Have a fabulous day ahead!
      Lisa Sicard would love you to read ..3 More Reasons You Will Love Agorapulse for Social Media ManagementMy Profile

      Reply

  42. Hi Lisa,

    When Julie Weishaar shared this content on LinkedIn, she got a response from Stephanie Dolce, one or her 1st degree connections:

    Stephanie’s profile says she is an Author, Blogger,Talk Show Host, Social Media Influencer, Ambassador and Guru.

    RE: “Do not use emoji’s in your hashtags – you could be shadow banned” she says:

    “This is wrong information- people aren’t being shadow banned because they are using emojis- they are being shadowed banned because they are copying and pasting the same hashtags!

    I wrote a column on this topic about a month ago! (I would link to it, but I have no idea where to find it.)

    Also engagement on Instagram starts with posting great content therefore that’s where the engagement comes from.” #socialmediaguru”
    Gail Gardner would love you to read ..5 Powerful Tools Every Entrepreneur Should Use in 2019My Profile

    Reply

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