The most popular social media platform over the last few years is definitely Instagram. If you have a professional account on Instagram and use it for promoting your products or services, now is the perfect time to rethink the way you drive traffic to your site with the help of Instagram.
The platform is filled with brands fighting for more customers by posting ads and using every opportunity for promotion.
However, this digital marketing approach is annoying to users that are looking for authentic content and will have the opposite effect on them.
Today users are craving honest, organic content they can connect with, and user engagement on Instagram is measured in the number of likes, comments, shares, and follows.
Below, we listed the 5 best tactics you should consider using to gain more engagement and drive more traffic to your site. Enjoy!
1. Use hashtags properly
The hashtags for your Instagram posts can decide if your content is going to rank among the top posts or get lost in feeds. Generic hashtags are used by most Instagramers, which means that all of them will be your competition. That is why common words like fashion or sunset don’t work well as hashtags. Instead of them, you should consider using trending hashtags and hashtags that are distinct for your niche. This way, you can reach your target audience and engage with them more easily.
If you want to achieve the best possible outcome, you should research every hashtag you want to use. By doing this, you can find out relevant information about content types and how many likes the best performing posts got. If a content type matches yours, the hashtag used with it is an ideal choice.
Also, hashtag research helps avoid the accidental use of a hashtag with unexpected meaning. You should always keep in mind that some hashtags are not what they seem at first.
Although Instagram permits the use of up to 30 hashtags, if you put too many of them under your posts, it will look unprofessional.
While it’s true that even one hashtag can boost your engagement, using more than 10 means that you are not targeting your audience properly. Once again, research can help you decide how many hashtags are enough for your post type. If you analyze similar profiles, you can get valuable insight into their approach towards hashtags and use the same for your posts. You can also try out different numbers of hashtags until you find what works the best.
If you don’t change the type and number of hashtags under your posts, your content could be categorized as spam. It is important to remember that Instagram doesn’t appreciate spam and bots, so you should definitely not risk compromising your Instagram success.
Creating a branded hashtag
Branded hashtags proved to be one of the most profitable marketing strategies on Instagram. A good and successful branded hashtag should contain your brands’ name but also be short and catchy. A branded hashtag can make your content visible, attract traffic to your profile, and help you create a strong fan base. It also makes your posts look organized and professional and your content easy to track.
One useful trick is to place a branded hashtag in your bio so that anyone who visits your profile can see it and remember it.
Also, you don’t have to limit yourself to creating just one branded hashtag. Consider creating different ones for campaigns, giveaways, competitions, or presenting brand supporters. This way, you will expand your reach and inspire the creation of user-generated content.
2. Find user-generated content
The best way to get users deeply engaged with your account is by using user-generated content. This type of content is the most clever marketing approach because it’s done and widely approved by users.
With it, not only can you save on marketing expenses, but you can also transform your followers into promotors, boosting your reputation.
The best way of getting user-generated content is by organizing content creating campaigns or contests.
3. Make the best out of video content
Video content is supported in a variety of formats by Instagram. You can choose between stories, going live, minute-long video posts, IGTV, and Reels. Since the popularity of video content is not ceasing, Instagram makes sure to offer a lot of different choices for video content creators, each with their own strengths:
- Instagram stories can be a perfect choice for posting ads, links to promotional articles or interviews, and fun facts. They are also ideal for connecting with your followers through interactive posts, reactions, or surveys.
- Instagram Live is a great solution for revealing news such as the latest products or events. It also works for Q&As, which are a perfect way to connect with your audience authentically.
- The classical 60-second video posts are ideal for campaigns and ads.
- The newest addition to the Instagram video family is Reels. Due to their similarity with the popular TikTok format, Reels can be useful to get in touch with a younger, modern audience.
To get the most from video content on Instagram, you should explore all of the offered formats.
Also, since a lot of users view videos without enabling the audio, it became important to include subtitles and closed captions. Adding captions increases the effect of the message and makes videos watchable in every situation.
4. Add links to your content
The option to add a link to an Instagram story used to be available only to verified profiles. Today you can include a “see more” link in your story if your profile is registered as a business and you have more than 10,000 followers.
Adding a link is simple; you just need to tap the link icon after choosing a photo or a video you want to post. Then you simply type in the link and, voila, it’s done!
You should also include a call to action so that your audience knows exactly what is waiting for them if they swipe up. Adding links to your stories is a great way to boost traffic and user engagement.
5. Choose the right captions for your posts
The best way of connecting with your fan base and increasing their engagement is by telling stories. You should get close to your audience through authentic mini-stories in your captions, videos, Insta stories, and profile in general. The audience will more likely share content if they feel emotionally connected to it. This can result in selling more products and expanding your community.
One of the leading storytellers and a great example of innovation is the popular brand Nike. They use their Instagram account to tell their customers’ stories, thus building a strong connection with their target audience. This way, they appear more human, and people can easily forget that Nike is just a brand selling their products.
One of the most powerful trends on Instagram is long captions. If they are done right, they can stop users from scrolling away and make them engage with your content for a longer time.
This trend is also called micro-blogging.
The advantages of these captions are increasing shares, saves, and user interaction in general. Long captions can give you authenticity and credibility.
All in all, Instagram captions should be used for telling stories that will resonate with your audience instead of just throwing ads at them. However, you shouldn’t connect with your followers only through captions. Why? Well, because, as we said, Instagram offers plenty of different formats to boost user engagement, including stories, IGTV, and photos.
Conclusion
There are plenty of tactics to boost user engagement on Instagram, and we named just a few. Understanding the always-changing Instagram practices and their advantages is the first step to make sure your content stands out.
If you try out the tips above, you can maximize user engagement and expand your audience by promoting your account to new followers.