Each month I analyse how social media content I have created for my clients has performed. Last month I was delighted to see that engagement on Instagram had increased by 35% for one of my clients in just four weeks.
So first of all what does ‘engagement’ mean?
It just refers to the number of times someone has liked, commented on or saved one of your posts. Good engagement means the content was good enough for someone to take the time to respond to or interact with it. This, in turn, means that Instagram’s Algorithm (the techie part of Instagram) sees the content is good and shows it to more people.
If your target market is on Instagram then this is vital - new people seeing your content means more sales or bookings.
I am used to seeing increased engagement when a client or an account is new – it makes sense that if a business suddenly starts ramping up its content and posting more, engagement would increase. Here’s the thing though… this account is two years old and Comms Kick has been working with this client for a while now, posting consistently. Increasing engagement was a new target for 2020; the business was entering a key time for growth and its target market are on Instagram in their droves. So I was really pleased my strategy saw immediate results. Here are some tips for increasing your engagement too:
Start a regular blog
I always advocate for blogging - it can have a real impact on your business for many reasons. I make sure blogs are relevant to the target market and useful or interesting. They aren't just ‘sell, sell, sell’ and that is so important if you decide to start blogging yourself instead of hiring an agency like Comms Kick. When I then created an instagram post that talked about the blog or mentioned the link in bio people commented to say how they’d enjoyed it or found it useful – hence engagement increased.
Make content timely
I plan general social media content for client’s one month in advance, for specific campaigns it can be much further in advance. This is so I am not panic-creating content and can be sure I have good images to use. However, this still remains a loose plan that I can switch up and change as necessary. As trends developed that were relevant to the client’s business I added in posts to join in with these trends as well as switching content so it went live earlier if it became more relevant due to trending blogposts or current affairs. What conversations could you join in with online? Don't wait to get involved! Do it while the topic is hot!
Collaborate and share
It’s lovely being recognised right? Where appropriate I tag in other accounts and this often leads to those people sharing the content either on their grid or stories, as well as commenting or reacting. For example, an image might have included another businesses’ work (this is just good practise anyway) or I might have started a post by quoting someone who inspired the content or recommended another account when posting about a specific topic. So get tagging! Just make sure the person would be happy about being included and if you’re not, why not drop them a DM to check?
Use relevant hashtags but not generic ones
Don't just stick to using the same old hashtags. I see people using the same hashtags day in and day ut, this is not going to get you seen by new people. For this specific strategy, I thought about the client’s target market and the sort of hashtags they might search for rather than just using obvious ones. Often instagram users search for specific terms using hashtags and not just generic ones. These are usually aspirational so think about the lifestyle you are selling or the problem you are solving when creating hashtags.
Don't forget to interact too
Instagram is meant to be a community so use it that way. Don't simply post and go. Take a bit of time to look at other content and comment on it or react to it. This isn't just a good way to support other businesses and interact with your customers; it will also mean that pesky algorithm recognises the account isn't just selling.
And that’s it! Let me know if you implement some of these methods and get more engagement – just tag me using @commskick
Chloe, Founder and Consultant
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