Instagram attracts people from all walks of life – from those seeking inspiration, influencers, friends staying in touch, or even proud parents!
As such an active platform, many deem this the ideal way to promote their business. Are you putting in the work but not reaping the rewards? Follow our simple guide below to help increase your follower engagement.

1. CREATE BETTER INSTAGRAM CAPTIONS

A good Instagram caption is essential to capture your follower’s attention and influence them to engage (like / share/visit webpage/buy). We understand that creating great captions can be a challenge – dedicate a bit of time to this when scheduling your social media posts for the week. This allows you to get creative and spend time researching what works best for you.

2. OPTIMIZE YOUR INSTAGRAM POST WITH HASHTAGS

Hashtags are a great way to get more Instagram users to see your post – plus more followers and engagement.

Customize your hashtags for each post. It’s fine to use your main hashtags in every post once they are relevant but add or change some depending on the post.
This will help increase your visibility to new social media users.

Posts with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag. To learn more about using hashtags, you can read our blog here.

3. SPREAD THE WORD WITH CUSTOM HASHTAGS

Encourage people who have purchased your product or service to add your custom hashtag to their Instagram post. You can also ask them to tag you in their posts. This will attract guests to visit your profile, especially if they have a larger following.

4. ADD POLLS TO YOUR INSTAGRAM STORY

Add a question, or poll, to your Instagram story to create engagement. The question should be relevant to your product or service or even what they would like to see from you next. Relevant content and engaging through fun is always a hit with the audience. They will feel listened to and a part of the company culture if you ask for their views and opinions of what they would like to see you do next.

Poll results can be your next post or story, which will engage followers further. Let them see that you have taken their opinions on board.

5. ADD A QUIZ

In your Instagram story, you can also add quiz questions for your followers to answer. This gives your followers the opportunity to give their opinion on your product and will be in a concise format for your team to read. Their responses will be seen only by you – unless you choose to share their responses on your profile. Here, you can be creative by making a contest for the best answer, ask what followers would like to see next or get product feedback.

6. ADD SWIPE-UP LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE

If you have more than 10,000 Instagram followers, you can add the option to ‘swipe-up’ on your Instagram story. This can then direct to your landing page to convert lookers to bookers.

If your page has less than 10.000 followers, a link can still be added to your profile bio.

7. USE IG TV FOR LONG VIDEOS

Instagram posts are no longer limited to a time allowance since IG TV was introduced. When scrolling through their feed, users can watch your video by clicking the “continue watching” option to watch the full video.
Use this to show your business in an engaging way, ensouraging your audience by encouraging them to continue watching the full video. Also, this is a great platform to re-post or link to videos if you have a YouTube channel.

8. ADD HIGHLIGHTS ON YOUR PROFILE

While you are able to view who has watched your Instagram story, stories are only available for 24 hours.

If you want your audience to be able to view them longer, mark them as ‘highlights’ so that they will stay on your profile for everyone to view at any time.

You can also rename your highlights and frequently change the thumbnails to make them consistent or just look keep them updated.

9. ADD WOW MOMENTS

Do you know what drives your target audience – is it wow images, informational posts, vlogging, or videos? The more your followers can relate to your content, the more engagement you will receive. If they find your content interesting, they may follow you or visit your website.

10. ADD YOUR LINK TO YOUR BIO

Adding a link to your bio for a landing page or special promotion can drive traffic. Simply post to your story with your message. If the user is interested, they can go to your bio to visit your page and claim their offer, creating engagement.

As mentioned before, if you don’t have 10,000 followers, you won’t be able to add a link to your story. The next best thing is to offer links in your bio and ask your guests to check your offers there.

11. RETARGET VIA SPONSORED ADS

Re-target marketing allows you to post sponsored ads on your Facebook or Instagram accounts. Sponsored ads give an option to “Learn more” and will divert the user to your website/post link. Though this is a paid feature it can be used to target a specific area.

Author Bio: Katie McGarr is one of the resident writers for SPRINT DIGITAL Agency Dublin, a firm offering an extensive range of digital marketing and website services to businesses across UK, Ireland, and Continental Europe. She enjoys sharing her insights about blogging, web design, SEO, and other forms of digital marketing.