If you’re looking to promote your business or build an online audience, Instagram is one of the most important tools that any consumer-facing organisation can utilise.
In recent years, the world of marketing has changed significantly. The rise of social media influencers and video sponsoring have given businesses new mediums for promoting themselves and making connections.
Currently, Instagram has over one billion monthly users and is among the leading social media platforms for online businesses. When it comes to making Instagram work for you, there’s lots of noise and distractions to contend with. But if you take anything from this article it should be that while follower numbers and reach can be important markers of success, the number one priority as you build your account is that engagement is king.
What is Instagram engagement?
Engagement refers to the interactions other Instagram users have with your content and profile. It’s measured through likes, comments, shares, saves, follows, mentions, clicks and direct messages.
Engagement shows that your audience (and prospective audience) are actively interested in your content. Instagram’s algorithm is directly tied to engagement, the more interactions you have, the more your content is boosted.
How to measure engagement
Your engagement rate measures how many interactions your content is receiving compared to your reach.
For example, you may post content and lots of people may see it, but if none of them are ‘liking’, ‘commenting’ or ‘sharing’ it, your engagement won’t be very high.
There are different ways to measure engagement, depending on the stats you’re looking for and how you use Instagram. Luckily, Instagram has its own analytics.
The immediate statistics show you: accounts reached (the number of accounts that have seen your content at least once), accounts engaged (the number of accounts that have interacted with your content), total followers, your content and your promotions.
You can also view your content individually to see how well it’s performing. There are more in-depth metrics depending on what statistics you’re looking for. You can filter your posts, stories, reels and IGTV videos, by stats such as follows, reach, impressions and more.
How do I see my Instagram analytics?
You’ll need an Instagram Business or Creator account to see your analytics. It’s simple to switch to one of these accounts: all you need to do is tap Settings, then Account, then scroll to the bottom of the menu where you’ll see Switch to Professional Account.
You can use any of Instagram’s analytics to calculate your engagement rates, but to start with there are two important rates to keep an eye on: Growth and Post Reach. To calculate them:
Growth = New Followers/Total Followers X 100
Post Reach = Post Reach (found in Instagram analytics)/ Total Followers X 100
5 tips to improve your engagement
- Know your audience. In the analytics tab, you’ll find information and statistics about your followers, such as where they are from and when they’re most active online. Simple things such as question stickers, discussion posts can start conversations about what your followers view and what content they’d like to see.
- Be authentic in your content. Your engagement means nothing if it isn’t genuine, and this goes both ways. You don’t want to post click bait, and you don’t want your audience to mindlessly ‘like’ your posts as they scroll by. Showing your growth and behind-the-scenes is a good way to involve your audience
- Customise your feed. Having an inviting profile page is a good step towards attracting followers. Not only does it make your business look more professional, it creates consistency. Having a colour scheme, a border you add to each post or something similar will make your audience notice your context quicker, rather than just a collection of unalike images.
- Utilise different types of posts. There are many ways for you to post content to Instagram, and on top of these many ways to encourage interaction. Try posting a variety, such as reels, carousels and stories.
- Encourage your audience to action. The saying, you don’t ask, you don’t get is especially true for Instagram. Asking your audience to share your posts, click a link or comment something down is much more effective than say thing nothing at all. Once people are interacting, build a rapport with them, then they’re much more likely to do it again!
If you’re struggling to create content that gets you noticed, let the team at Clear Editorial help. Get in touch with our team today by clicking here.