If you’re running a small business but aren’t on Instagram, you’re really missing out. It doesn’t matter if you sell products or offer physical services, you need to get on it right now. In these days of easy access to Spectrum internet plans, everybody’s using the “gram”. But what happens if you are already on Instagram but getting no engagement? This blog explores 5 tips that can help small business owners get more engagement on the popular image viewing network.
How Can I Get Better Instagram Engagement?
Instagram has gained a lot of popularity since its early days. In fact, it’s so popular, it’s foolish if not suicidal to ignore its importance. Whether you want to sell physical products, have a digital store or want brand recognition, Instagram is the tool to use. Instagram is a daily part of most internet-savvy people’s lives. It is a way to reach your potential customers anywhere they are, through their smartphones. For many businesses, the ‘gram is absolutely vital. To get the most engagement out of your efforts, you need a good Instagram marketing strategy. Here are 5 tips to help you do that:
- Know Your Audience
- Insights Help
- Listen In
- Involve Your Followers
- Regramming and Contests
Let’s look at each tip in some detail.
Know Your Audience
Knowing your target audience is the first step in any marketing strategy, and Instagram marketing is no different. What is the point of your efforts if they don’t appeal to your market? The first step to getting more engagement is to do your homework on your audience. Take the time to examine what your existing audience is. Then visualize who you’d want your target buyer to be. High net worth individuals? Middle-income families? Urban center residents? Is the audience you’re targeting likely to be buyers? Can they help with the brand building? Two things that can help you with this are:
Insights Help
Instagram Insights is a lot like Facebook Insights. It lets you review insightful information about your followers. You can see the number of impressions your posts made. You can also judge your reach or how many unique people viewed your content. You can also get insights on how many clicks you received on your website link in the business profile. It also lets you see video views and how many people saved a particular post. Finally, Instagram Insights lets you know how often your followers use the app. All these insights are extremely valuable when you’re trying to define your target audience.
Listen In
Social listening lets you keep an eye, or rather an ear, on conversations involving your brand on social media. A good tool lets you know what your audience think about your brand on Instagram. Use these tools to get a feel of what your audience wants. Search for keywords relevant to your brand or business. Check out hashtags that are popular with your competitors and industry. Use the tool to look for relevant posts that others have already engaged with. Try to make similar posts for your brand. Once you know the type of content your audience wants, you can start producing it.
Involve Your Followers
Many businesses make the mistake of bombarding their audiences with promotional posts. Sales material can get really annoying for people if that’s all you post. You should be engaging with your followers, not spamming them. Your business should come across as human rather than a corporate sweatshop. The more engagement with your followers, the more visible your posts. Instagram has an algorithm that prioritizes high-activity content.
Regramming and Contests
“Regramming” is a great way to market and engage with your audience. For example, you could ask your buyers to share their images using your product. You then share these images on your Instagram page. Not only do you get free marketing material, but you also prove to your audience that you care about them. This builds a positive brand image. Just be sure to credit the original owners of the images.
Contests are another great way to generate audience engagement. People love healthy competition, and contests help everyone participate. Some easy contests to get instant engagement are “Caption this” posts or “Share a time when” posts. Encourage your audience to come up with creative answers. You can offer a giveaway to the winning responses. You can also run polls to let your audience decide which the best posts are.
Instagram works best for physical products but many businesses market services like Spectrum bundles as well. The important part is not what you’re selling, but who you’re selling to. If you know your audience, listen to their needs and engage with them, you will get results. You just need the right tools and patience to let it build up into Instagram success.