5 Ways to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate
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It’s always a good idea to review statistics and decide on business and marketing strategies accordingly. The same applies to posting content on Instagram too. Engagement rates help you figure out what content is working for you and your audience. And your Instagram engagement rate does that for your company’s Instagram handle.
In this blog, we will discuss Instagram engagement rate, how you can boost it, and some important stats around it.
That being said, let’s see what Instagram engagement rate means.
What Is Instagram Engagement Rate?
Instagram engagement rate is a quantitative measure of how users interact and engage with the content on your profile. It considers your number of followers, likes, comments, and shares. Simply put, it tells you how many people in your audience engaged in some way or the other with your post.
According to the latest Instagram engagement stats, the average engagement rate for all types of posts by business accounts is 0.68%.
Why Is It Important?
It is crucial to measure your engagement rates on Instagram because they help you determine your audience’s interest, brand relevance, and social authority. It also tells you how much interaction your content is receiving.
Moreover, having quantitative data to look back on will help you create your Instagram marketing strategy more effectively. Thus, engagement rates are a source of information that will help you improve your content in the long run.
How to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate?
Here are a few ways in which you can up your Instagram game and ensure that your followers engage with your content.
1. Understand Your Audience-
Content would mean nothing if your audience is unable to understand it. To prevent this from happening, make sure to identify and decide on your target audience. Before posting content, think about how your target audience will perceive it. Understand their needs and preferences, and make a list of pieces of content that will be useful to them.
2. Consistent Posting-
Regular and consistent posting increases your Instagram engagement rate by a huge margin. Prepare and maintain a schedule as to how, when and at what time will you post. For example- post a story every Thursday at 4 pm.
Consistent posting helps your audience understand your pattern of posting. They will know what to look forward to and what type of content is coming their way.
3. Engage With Your Followers-
Posting content should always be a two-way street. For them to engage and respond to your content, you need to build a connection in order to communicate with them. You can do this by hosting live sessions and chatting with them, replying to their comments on your post, etc. You should ask them what content they would like to see and create content accordingly. Such content will help entertain them and boost your overall Instagram engagement rate.
4. Create Interactive Content-
The more interactive your content, the greater will be your engagement. Interactive content attracts and intrigues audiences. You can leverage interactive tools such as Quizzes, Polls, Giveaways, and Forms to engage your followers. Quizzes and Polls work well on Instagram stories, while giveaways help to increase your follower count. Feedback forms will give you an idea of what your audience wants. And when you give them what they’re looking for, your engagement rate will increase automatically.
5. Use Call To Action (CTAs)-
CTAs are a great way to increase user engagement as they prompt an action. The specific action you ask your users to take should be decided based on your product or service. Using CTAs is a great method for converting your leads into customers.
What Is a Reasonable Engagement Rate on Instagram?
Most experts agree that strong engagement falls around 1% to 5%. Follower count can also affect your engagement rates. Average engagement rates per count of followers for Instagram business accounts as of 2021 are:
PRO TIP:
Engagement rates are typically calculated by dividing an account’s engagement i.e. likes and comments by their follower count. In some cases, engagement rates may also be calculated by dividing engagement divided by impressions per post.
Brand Engagement Rate = (Likes+Comments)/No. of Followers
Some Important Statistics Around Instagram Engagement
- Largely, 91% of active users watch videos on IG weekly so having a video marketing strategy is crucial.
- Accounts with less than 5000 followers have the highest engagement rates per impression (8.01% for carousel posts).
- The average Instagram engagement rate for photo posts is 0.7%. And the average engagement rate for video posts is 0.47%.
- The most engaging type of in-feed content is a short-form video with a high rate of 66%.
- Different industries have different engagement rates too-
Fashion- 0.68%
Financial services- 1.42%
Higher ed organizations- 3.57%
Sports teams- 2.33%
Tech and software- 1.31%
Conclusion
Calculating your Instagram engagement rate will help you quantitatively review your content. It is a significant measure of your audience’s interest in your posts and will help you understand where you can make improvements.
So, to create more engaging and interactive content to up your Instagram marketing, sign up with Outgrow’s 7-day free trial and start creating amazing interactive experiences.
FAQs
Divya Garg is a Marketing Generalist at Outgrow. You will find her scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest in search of ideas. Art is her safe space; be it writing, music, or drawing.