How to increase Instagram engagement the right way

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By now, we all realize that Instagram is just part of the blogging process. No longer is it suitable to be good at one thing, it seems like we need to be amazing at every single thing we do. With our social media channels an extension of our blog, it is the perfect place to increase Instagram engagement. If you read my recent post about deleting my Instagram account, then you know how important Instagram engagement really is!

Quality over quantity

I briefly touched on this in my previous post, but I wanted to bring it up again from a different angle. If you want real Instagram engagement, the quality of what you are posting matters. I think about it as if it were something I saw. Would I have something to say about it, or is the caption asking me something that I want to answer. Making sure that what you’re posting is amazing quality is only the first step.

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather see one amazing post from my favorite Instagrammer than a bunch of low-quality images. Instagram is a visual platform, and a great photo can seriously take you far. I love to use the Preview App to see if my post looks great with my current feed, and it has helped me maintain a theme that I like to look at.

You have to give to recieve

Seriously though. I cannot tell you how important it is that you are engaging with people as well. If you’re asking for Instagram engagement then you can bet that your fellow bloggers want it as well! I take about thirty minutes dedicated to liking and commenting on content that I love. I do this a few times a day so it equals out to over an hour per day. This has seriously made such a difference in the amount of engagement that I receive on my content.

Speaking of Instagram engagement, do you know how to measure your own? There are calculators online, but I think it is important to know how to do it for yourself. It’s actually really easy! Add the number of likes you received to the number of comments you receive. Divide that by your number of followers, and boom! You have just found your Instagram engagement rate. In some circumstances, this number is far more important than your number of followers.

Enhance your captions

You used to literally have to tie me to a chair to write an Instagram caption. I used to write one or two sentences at the most, but I have changed my ways! For the better part of the last year, I have been writing longer captions on every single Instagram post that I do. Not only does this connect me with my followers, but it also allows me to ask them a question which can open the door for engagement!

Having a longer caption also keeps the user on your photo longer. Additionally, the more you use Instagram, the more likely they are to push your content in front of your followers. I think we can all agree that the Instagram algorithm is super annoying, right?! Typically if I follow someone, I want to see their content!

Use your hashtags

This is different for everyone. For me, I use a rotating list of hashtags that work well for me. There are some people who say that a few specific hashtags work the best. Since Instagram is now thinking everything is spam, that strategy might be worth looking into!

If you’re looking for some hashtags, I cannot recommend the Tailwind Hashtag Finder enough! I mentioned how I organize my hashtag sets in this post right here, so be sure to check that out for some extra tips! Ever since Instagram introduced the ability to follow hashtags, I have used it like no other!

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