How to Make Your Instagram Engagement Go Through the Roof

It’s not exactly groundbreaking to say Instagram is where it’s at these days. Brands and individuals are using it tirelessly, trying to get every and any bit of attention they possibly can. So, it’s only natural that many, many people have been working on finding that perfect formula to get their posts to be loved by masses. But, fear not! You don’t have to spend hours combing through hundreds of pages to figure out what works and what doesn’t, because we at Archie did just that for you.

So, let’s get down to business, shall we? Here we will discuss a few handy tactics that will help you dominate Instagram. The information you’ll find is backed by data and experience, so we’re sure you’ll find some tricks that will help you, no matter your current status on the platform.

• First, let’s talk looks. Engagement rates heavily depend on what’s out there to interact with in the first place. We’re talking about a platform that is completely dependent on visual content, so obviously that will greatly impact your success. Pixel Perfect did a study where they went through all the different aspects of a photo in relation to the engagement it gets. Here’s what they came up with:
  • Bluish pictures have 24% more likes than the ones predominantly red

• • Lighter images receive 24% more likes compared to darker ones

• • Pictures with visible texture get 79% more likes than the smoother ones

• • Pictures with a single dominant color receive 17% more likes

• Now that we went over the looks of the pictures, we should say a word or two about the actual content. Believe it or not, product shots beat both lifestyle photos and the photos featuring influencers. This doesn’t mean you should ditch the latter two (Instagram loves diversity after all), but be sure to have your product photos have a comfy seat in the throne.

• OK, time to talk about timing and frequency of posting. Here we can keep it simple: content receives highest engagement rates when posted on Mondays and Thursdays while Sundays should be avoided like plague. But! This is all relevant if you decide to post things less regularly than optimal. Since Instagram introduced Facebook-esque algorithm where not all the content is visible to all the followers, you really really really should try to post at least once a day. When it comes to time of day – the highest engagement is seen when posting at 2 AM, 5 PM or 8-9 PM.

• Instagram is the place where you should go wild with the hashtags. The more the merrier! TrackMaven did a study where they found that engagement spikes when there are 11+ hashtags per post. Sounds like a lot, but the numbers don’t lie, do they? You could try putting some basic words that are relevant to you, then scrolling through the other posts using the same ones and seeing what else is used so that you can add those other ones as well. Whichever way you decide to go – play around, have fun and be generous.

• Another thing that works? Emojis in captions. By this we don’t mean that you should slap random smiley faces all over your text. Put as much effort in the choice of emojis as you do for the actual caption text. So, here are the most loved ones – put them to good use:

• Do not forget about the good ol’ call-to-action. Make it crystal clear what do you want people to do for you. That can be anything from redirecting people to go ahead and click on the link in your bio to double-tapping the beautiful picture they’re looking at. One that works particularly well is the Tag a Friend one. Ask your followers to tag the person with whom they would like to do something cool and fun that involves your product, for example.

• Instagram is a place of mutual exchange. You can’t expect to only be on the receiving end of the equation, you’ll have to make sure that you spread the love as well. Liking other people’s content is an ever so elegant way of doing this. And since we know you’re already spending a decent chunk of your precious time on creating that top-notch content, we’ve created Archie – a tool which will do all of that for you on autopilot. It’s a set it and forget it kind of thing, and who doesn’t love those?

• One last thing that you can do if you want to increase people’s engagement (and this time on an ever higher level), you can introduce community generated content. Ask your followers to send over a photo or a short video of them in a certain situation and feature the best ones on your profile. You can even offer a symbolic prize. The point here is to interact with your community as intensely as you possibly can.

There you go, you’re now equipped with all you need to go ahead and take your Instagram game to the next level. Just don’t forget to play around and have fun while you’re building that amazing following that’s right around the corner now.