Instagram, the social media platform we love to hate. It’s a complicated relationship, to say the least. We love sharing our content and getting our followers to respond to our posts, but sometimes it can feel like Instagram is against us (learn more about beating the algorithm here!). But that simply is not true. Engagement is down across the board for everyone for the simple matter that there are SO many people on Instagram (1.3 billion to be exact) – we’re all fighting for eyeballs.
As bloggers, we want to show potential brand partners that we have an engaged audience. It’s not only about the number of followers you have, but what those followers are doing with your content. Are they digesting it and engaging with it consistently? Sure having 100,000 followers is great – but if they’re all bots you purchased or unengaged followers from a Loop Giveaway you did earlier this year… then what’s the point?
How To Get More Engagement On Instagram
So that begs the question: how do you get more engagement on Instagram? It’s all about what you post! That photo and/or video and the caption make a huge difference in what gets your followers to “stop the scroll” continuously.
Here’s a test for you: go into your IG insights. Go to your posts and click the settings to see your “Post Interactions” or “Impressions” for your feed for the last 3 months or 6 months. What kind of content do you see the highest numbers from? Is it content that highlights your home, your face, recipes, text, etc. use that as a guide for what your followers are loving from you and replicate that to keep them happy!
Sample Posts That Earn High Engagement
TBS co-founders Cathy (@poorlittleitgirl) and Jessica (@anindigoday) did just that. They went through their insights to see just what their particular audiences love to see from them most. Breaking it down into Images and Captions, here are posts the performed well for them that they keep in mind as they continue to share more content on IG.
Image Ideas that Generate A Lot of Engagement
1. Funny or personal tweet or text
Any sort of text post is going to make people stop the scroll. They’re spending more time on your post and in turn, engage with it more. Especially if it’s funny or a controversial statement that people can relate to. Want to easily create branded Instagram post graphics? Cathy & Jessica use Canva Pro!
2. Video
Video is always going to be superior on IG, that’s just how it is. So if you’re not into creating Reels or any sort of video content on the regular that’s ok. But at least try to add in one as often as you can. Even if it’s just once a month or once a week!
3. Side by Side to Choose or Audience Poll
Followers want to feel connected to you as if you’re talking directly to them and need their advice. An audience poll or a side-by-side makes the follower feel important and needed in your decision-making process – which in turn leads to more engagement!
Caption Ideas that Generate A Lot of Engagement
1. Announcements
Everyone loves to be let in on good news or a big announcement! So if you have something exciting to share, turn it into an exciting Instagram post.
2. Introduction Posts
If you’ve seen a large influx of followers to your account, be it a viral Reel or being tagged by a popular brand, introduce yourself! The only trick is to not do this too often. It can feel a little too self-promotional and redundant. But for those new followers, they’re excited to learn more about you and appreciate the welcome!
3. Save This Post Captions
Sharing information and putting in caption first line “save this post” so they know there’s information they’re going to want to reference again. Be it a tutorial or a fun fact, people need to be reminded to save posts and all those saves lead to BIG engagement numbers!
