5 Quick and Dirty Tips for Boosting Instagram Engagement

As one of the fastest-growing social platforms out there, Instagram has a lot of businesses jockeying for its users’ eyeballs. According to Hootsuite, 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile per day – and that’s just one small part of the total 28 minutes that the average user will spend per day on the platform in 2020.

So, naturally, a lot of these businesses are wondering how they can turn up the dial on their Instagram engagement. And the secret really comes down to two things: Content quality and strategy. There are, however, a few quick and dirty – but still squeaky-clean enough to not get you banned! – tips you that can employ to get that ever-elusive engagement rate above target.

Here’s our top five:

Brighten up

One study by the University of Vermont found that people who were in the healthy spectrum of mental health often chose warmer Instagram filters, such as Valencia, to showcase their world. And it’s no secret that exposure is one of the key elements of great photography, so brightening up your feed may just give people the mood-boost they need to tap that ‘like’ button.

Emoji-fy your captions

We’re big fans of the emoji family at Imperial Leisure. After all, why say something with just words when you could say it with expressions too? ?? But it’s not just about saving (or, rather, posting) face – emojis lead to up to 47.7% more engagement, according to a 2018 study by Quintly. Of the accounts analysed, those with the highest follower count used emojis in 83.3% of their posts. That’s something to ?about.

Optimize your hashtags

When you switch to an Instagram business profile, you can actually see the insights for how your hashtags are performing. So really, there is no excuse for not optimising them for which ones are giving you the most traffic! It’s important to switch them up periodically, as people can hide hashtags that aren’t relevant to them.

Post consistently

One study found that accounts which post consistently, at a rate of at least seven times per week, generated more likes and follows than those that posted less frequently. Of course, this strategy could backfire if you are spamming your audience with content all in one day! At Imperial Leisure, we design all of our content calendars and scheduled content to maximize your engagement, so your feed will look lively – in both content and engagement.

Schedule according to your industry

Not all industries are created equal, and that fact should be reflected in your content schedule. Hootsuite has found that some of the best times to post for industries like the travel & tourism sectors are between 11 am - 1 pm or 9 am - 10 am. There must be a lot of morning people in the travel world! ? But we can help you find the times that work best for your industry by always testing and learning from our campaigns.

These tips are simply the starter for the ‘main meal’ that is Instagram growth strategies. If you liked your first taste of it, get in touch to find out how you could get your fill of insights like these from our experienced team.