Hopefully you've heard this before but if not... follower count does not matter. It does not define who you are as a person. It does not make your account better than someone else's. And it does not give you more credibility. Engagement on Instagram is SO much more important than any other metric on IG (in my opinion). Follower count represents the number of accounts following your account whereas engagement rate represents how many people interact with your posts. This translates into the amount of people who are interested, engaged, involved in your posts you share.
Engagement on Instagram can be looked at as building relationships. If you have a tight bond with your community on IG who constantly comments, likes, saves your posts and messages you, that will translate into a higher engagement rate on your feed posts. This is so much more important than follower count because that is truly just a number. Say I had 50,000 followers and no comments/messages with any of my followers, I'm sure that wouldn't make me feel like I'm having much of an impact on your audience. If I had 8,000 followers with actual comments from followers and messages daily, that would makes me feel like I really am building connections with people!
I currently have around an 8%-10% engagement rate on Instagram depending on what website I use to calculate it. For your reference, an average engagement rate for accounts with 1,000-5,000 followers is around 5-6% ish, 5,0000-10,000 followers is around 4%, 10,000-100,000 followers is around 2-3%. You can check your engagement rate for free on any of these websites:
For the longest time (the first year and a half of having my account), I had no idea what my engagement rate was. I had no idea an engagement rate was even a thing and something to be conscious about. Flash forward to 2021 and I loveee finding new ways to boost my engagement on Instagram. It just makes me feel like I really am building relationships and trust with my audience. I want to share my best tips and some of the things I do that I feel have really helped maintain my high engagement rate!
Here are my best tips for boosting engagement on Instagram:
Switch your mindset to building relationships. Not gaining followers. I focus my posts and content I share towards truly trying to build relationships. If your focus is gaining followers, it really shows and can seem very ingenuine.
Ask a question in your IG post and answer the comments. Asking a question gives your followers an opportunity to comment something on your post! Then, try to spend the first 30 minutes or so after you post responding to comments! It shows that you actually want to see what your followers have to say; you aren't asking just to ask!
Post polls/quizzes/question boxes on your stories. I absolutely love doing this in my stories because it's such an easy way to learn more about the people following me.
Respond to your messages. I cannot stress this one enough. I can't tell you how sad it is to reach out to someone and have that message go unanswered. If someone reaches out to me you can bet your booty I'll be answering. It's just another way to connect with your audience!
Comment/interact with people you're following on their posts and stories. Instead of waiting for people to reach out to you, also return the favor and comment on their posts and respond to a story they have posted!
Post consistently so your followers are expecting your posts. I try to post at the same time every day (or every other day) so my followers have a general idea of when to expect my posts.
Post content that aligns with your brand. I'm primarily a Disney and lifestyle account so posting about fitness wouldn't align very well with my brand and would result in a low engagement rate over time.
Look at your insights. Post more of the content that is top performing. Some of my best posts are carousel posts and posts that include a heartfelt message in the caption. I try to post content like that more often because I know it does well!
Find your best time to post on IG in your insights and post around then! Note that your insights are in PST so make sure you translate this to your time zone!
Open up to your audience. People want to know you're a real person and can relate to you so share relatable content! I love sharing my life at home, what I do on a daily basis, where I shop, what I eat, things I get excited about, normal human emotions because I am human just like every one else on this planet! When I see people sharing a story from their day, it makes me feel like I'm really talking to them on FaceTime and I love that!
Utilizing all of these is truly how I've managed to boost and maintain my high level of engagement on Instagram. If you decide to try any of these out, please let me know how it goes! My best advice is to have patience. It takes time to see results because nothing truly happens overnight!
See ya real soon,
Danielle
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