Instagram is quickly becoming king of social media engagement for consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 years old. With more than 300 million users and 70 million photos uploaded each day, the photo-sharing app is taking social media marketing by storm.
In fact, Instagram blows all other social networks out of the water in terms of consumer engagement with brands. It boasts a 4.21% brand engagement, compared to a <0.1% brand engagement on other social platforms (including Facebook and Twitter). That’s 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter.
If you are currently using or are considering using Instagram to market your business, these eight tips will help you increase your Instagram following and engagement.
1. Stay Active
The more activity your brand has on Instagram, the more engagement you will receive. Top-performing brands post at least once per day. And with 50% of comments occurring within the first six hours, it’s important to stay top-of-mind.
2. Stick to a Theme
Instagram is centered on visual storytelling, so it’s important that your organization maintains a sophisticated visual presence. Stick to a limited number of photography styles and filters, as well as subject matter.
3. Keep Photos Simple
Studies have shown that the more simple your photos are, the more Likes they will generate.
- Lighter photos receive 24% more Likes than darker photos.
- Photos with more background space receive 29% more Likes than photos with little background space.
- Photos with a single dominant color receive 17% more Likes than photos with multiple dominant colors.
- Texture is the only exception to this rule. Photos with more texture receive 79% more likes than those with little texture.
4. Write as Much as You Want
Although many brands keep photo captions under 140 characters, including hashtags, studies have shown that caption length doesn’t affect Instagram engagement. Take advantage of the photo caption, and use as many words as necessary to help tell your story. It’s also important to include relevant keywords within your caption to help increase your post’s reach. Remember, captions are an accompaniment to your photo and shouldn’t include spam or blatant sales messages.
5. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are very popular on Instagram and help users find specific types of content and communities. Including relevant hashtags in your photo’s caption enables you to gain exposure to well-targeted audiences and increase your reach. Posts with at least one hashtag receive an average 12.6% more engagement than posts without hashtags. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, although most companies use seven or fewer.
6. Add a Location
Instagram posts that include a location tag generate 79% more engagement. Location tags help users search for posts near them and can help businesses target their content geographically.
7. Follow and Engage with Others
As with any social network, brands need to maintain two-way communication and engage with other posts. Follow other relevant Instagram accounts, like and comment on photos, and mention key influencers. In fact, when companies include strategic mentions within their photo captions, they increase engagement by an average 55%.
8. Maintain Quality
On Instagram, quality posts are defined by interesting and engaging subject matter, excellent photography, intriguing or inspiring captions and relevant hashtags and mentions. Quality posts always perform better and remain visible longer than average posts. In fact, top-performing posts receive 10% of their comments after 13 days. Therefore, if you have to choose between quality and quantity, choose quality on Instagram.
Have questions? Want to learn more? Contact the social media experts at GREENCREST!