Created 10 years ago, Instagram is today one of the biggest (and busiest) social media platforms.

With 90% of users following at least one brand, Instagram has become prime real estate: it’s a highly visual platform that can help you grow your community, build a reputation and increase revenue. 

But you know that already and if you’ve been looking to do all these things with your Instagram account, you’ve surely heard about engagement rate.

A few months ago likes were a big measure of success on Instagram, up until Instagram started hiding the number of likes for posts. This led to a shift in how we measure the performance of content and it’s now crucial to look at other metrics to understand how your content is performing on Instagram.

It’s now important to take into account comments, saves, shares but also DMs and profile link clicks.

So how do you keep up with Instagram nowadays? And with so many brands on Instagram, how do you make sure your content is being seen by your ideal clients?

Today I’m sharing 10 easy tactics to increase your Instagram engagement so you can level-up your social media strategy!

What is Instagram engagement rate?

The Instagram engagement rate is a measure of the effectiveness of your content. It allows you to quantitatively measure if and how your followers are engaging with what you post on Instagram and help you have an idea of the quality of your Instagram content.

The Instagram engagement rate typically takes into account all the interactions on your posts: likes, comments, saves, shares.

How to calculate your engagement rate

There are really two ways to calculate your Instagram engagement rate: 

( Total number of interactions / Impressions ) x 100

or 

( Total number of interactions / Followers ) x 100

According to Hubspot, using impressions to calculate your engagement rate is best for brands on Instagram as it considers the number of people who have seen your content rather than the total number of followers.
Another easy way to do it is to use an online calculator. My favourite is Phlanx, it even gives you an average engagement rate depending on the size of your audience.

Image by Phlanx.

Why you should care about your engagement rate

Your engagement rate should help you get a clearer idea of your audience’s interest in your content. If no one’s interacting with your post, no one’s commenting, linking, saving or sharing, is your content really right for your audience? Is it what they want to hear from you? Is it really helping them solve their pain points? If you see a low engagement, it might be time to rethink your Instagram strategy and the value your content is bringing.

Engagement rate is a great measure for your business, but it’s also a subtle indicator to potential new followers who might discover your account. Would you trust an account with lots of followers but only a couple of comments? Maybe not. Interactions, and especially comments, help show your ideal client you can be a trusted source of information.

10 tactics to increase your engagement rate

Improving your Instagram engagement rate is not as hard you think!

Create engaging content

We’ve already established that likes aren’t the sole measure of the performance of your Instagram posts. Comments, saves and shares are now even more important. Which means you should create content that encourages these types of interactions.

“Saveable” content means posts that your audience will want to save to remember and go back to later. It’s usually content that is valuable or inspiring. Carousels with tips and information can be good drivers of saves, quotes are also interesting. When creating “saveable” content, think about what your audience would want to remember or be reminded of.

Shareable content is posts that your audience will want to share in their stories (which will also help you improve your reach). Memes, quotes, GIFs are good examples of shareable content.

Again, creating fun content and using memes or GIFs of relatable situations or common thoughts/feelings when doing certain things is another great way to create engagement. 

Use video content

Video content has been getting more and more traction in recent years. 2020 was particularly huge with the introduction of Reels.

Creating video content shouldn’t be scary, in fact, it can be super easy! Reels are a great way to test out fun or educational video content. Their short format makes it super easy for anyone to create.

And because they’re so new, they’re getting even more traction than other types of content.

Writer longer and better captions

According to Fohr and Later, the average caption length has more than doubled since 2016, and posts with longer captions get more engagement.

In fact, Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 words long, which is plenty of space to share valuable content with your audience.

But writing longer captions isn’t enough. Your captions should be built to prompt your followers to engage. This includes a thumb-stopping hook, a body that adds value, but most importantly, an engaging CTA. Let your audience know what they need to do next: save, share, like, comment, ...

Encourage your audience to engage

As we saw just above you need to prompt your audience, tell them what they need to do and encourage them to engage with your content.

For your posts, you can ask them questions, ask for their opinion or what they think about your post. In your stories use the stickers that are available: polls, questions, quizzes, …

Give your followers the space to engage and interact with you.

Show your face, be authentic

Now re-read the last sentence of the previous paragraph: “Give your followers the space to engage and interact with YOU”.

Yes, people interact with people. They don’t interact with faceless stories and posts, so show yourself regularly. Be authentic, share your story, your successes, your failures.

Give to receive

Instagram is a SOCIAL media platform, so in the end, you have to be social. Connect and engage with your competitors and your ideal clients’ posts and stories, respond to DMs and comments, and simply start building relationships!

Delete followers

Controversial opinion here. Deleting followers might seem scary, especially if you have a small audience. But hear me out. If you have inactive accounts or even bots following you, they’re not engaging with your posts. Which means your posts’ engagement rate is decreasing, because when you do the calculations, you’ll have fewer interactions relative to your number of followers.. Which means Instagram won’t show it up to other people that aren’t following you yet. Which means you won’t grow. 

So, go through your followers, delete the inactive accounts and bots. This should in turn increase your engagement rate.

Test and track

Try the tactics mentioned above, track the performance each time and see what works for you and for your audience. Maybe your audience is responding really well to memes, maybe not. Try different things over time, especially new features, like Reels, and build your strategy.

Have fun

This is my most important tip: have fun! Yes, you have objectives, deadlines, sales you have to make. But try to have fun with Instagram. Again, Instagram is a SOCIAL media platform, it’s a great tool to build a community, help people and find your tribe. So try to have fun with all these tactics and with content creation! 

Be consistent

Okay, maybe THIS is the most important tip: consistency is key. There’s no point in spending 2 hours engaging with your audience one day, but not doing anything the rest of the week; or posting 10 times in a row, but then not posting anything for 5 days. Be consistent with your actions, engage a bit every day, maybe start posting every 2 days to start with, and then build from there.

Why engagement rate isn’t everything

So now that you know how to drive engagement I must tell you something: your engagement rate isn’t everything. Yes, it’s great to get people to like, comment, save and share your content. But if you have a business, engagement alone can’t pay your bills.

Engagement is a great way to get people to know your brand and see your offer, but you also need a strong sales system to back your content up and sell your product or services.

So while it’s important to keep an eye on your engagement rate and make sure your content resonates with your audience, at the end of the day, you should also keep an eye on your sales metrics.

Instagram is a competitive space, but that doesn’t mean you can’t increase your engagement and make your voice heard. So, what tip are you going to implement first?