In today’s age, it’s impossible to run a truly successful marketing campaign without knowing how to grow your Instagram. Developed and launched back in 2010, Instagram has long been one of the world’s biggest photo and video sharing apps. The app’s focus on photographs taken specifically on mobile devices has allowed users to share their day and favourite snaps with ease, with the advancement of cameras in mobile devices only further supporting the platform’s success: users’ engagement on Instagram grows tenfold each year!
In short, Instagram gives its users the freedom to share whatever they want, and many companies have seized this opportunity to grow their teams and revenue – we’re no different! At FM, we advise using Instagram as a business tool from the very beginning and beyond, growing your business, nurturing your audience and following, and even building your team.
Instagram is a relatively simple platform to use once you get the hang of it, and has many amazing features for you to utilise. With this being said – simplicity doesn’t mean automatic success. There are over 1 billion active members on the app, which might sound like a great thing if you’re using it to find new customers – but it also means standing out is becoming harder than ever.
What can you do to set your business apart from the rest? Keep reading and learn our tricks to take your profile to the next level. Whether you’re just starting out or a social media professional, we’re here to share our knowledge on how to boost engagement on Instagram.
Our Top Tips for Great Instagram Engagement
Not all social platform optimisation has to be super complicated and time-consuming. Many users on Instagram are captivated by familiarity and prefer to quickly recognise and identify with your brand. So how do you achieve that with your audience? Here are some simple factors to keep in mind when creating your content:
Grow your Instagram audience with high-quality photos and graphics
Instagram was created as a photo-sharing platform. Even from its very conception, the aim of the game has always been to share images that make an impact. While regular posting matters, it’s quality that takes priority for most audiences today. This is especially the case if you’re representing a professional brand or trying to sell an idea that you want people to believe in.
Luckily for us, the world of smartphones has kept up to speed with our demand for high-quality graphics and photography. It couldn’t be easier to capture incredible images, even for novices who know nothing about the ins and outs of a camera lens.
Here are our top tips for taking photos:
- If you’re photographing products, always take your photos in a well-lit room with natural lighting, or invest in some good ring lights for added brightness
- Keep it simple – especially when your posts are showcasing products, you want them to stand out so avoid photographing products with a cluttered background
- Editing is also a viable option, but you should be careful about making things look too artificial. Free apps such as Lightroom allow you to access free preset filters, helping you edit your photos to perfection in just minutes!
The best FM Instagrams have a consistent look and voice
One of the unique benefits of Instagram is that it allows you to craft a lasting brand image. While Facebook and other platforms are great for channelling your brand message, there’s nothing that’s aesthetically comparable to the iconic grid formation that Instagram has to offer. Consistency is key if you want to learn how to grow your Instagram. If you’re posting a new graphic daily in a rainbow of clashing colours or changing your aesthetic style every week, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
One of the amazing aspects of the grid layout on Instagram is the chance to create a portfolio unique to your brand. Instead of going rogue with random posts, upload images that look and feel familiar, adding a caption that represents your personality and has a consistent tone throughout. It’s easy to maintain once you get into a regular flow, and it’s guaranteed to ensure your followers instantly recognise your posts when they see them.
We recommend:
- Using a visual planning app like Preview or Planoly so that you can see how your feed will look before posting.
- Use preset filters to ensure your photos radiate the same vibe on that all-important grid!
- Applications such as Canva have templates at your disposal, allowing you to create imagery e.g., main feed posts, stories and reels etc with a cohesive look
Use new Instagram features to grow your following
Like most online platforms, there seems to be a new feature available for use on Instagram every week. In the good old days, you could simply post a picture, write a caption and collect your likes and followers, but the time for that is over.
To grow your Instagram, you should aim to utilise the latest features to enhance your content. For network marketers, this can be a great opportunity to switch things up and try something new to entice your community to engage with you. Lives, IGTV and Instagram Reels are all designed to keep people on the platform for longer. It’s how Instagram makes money, and it’s how you could make money selling FM on social media too.
These features are pretty much guaranteed to improve engagement rates, with some content creators enjoying follower increases of almost 3000k per month just by posting reels!
Try:
- Posting one Reel a day (if you can!)
- Experimenting with new features as soon as they’re released
- Going live to show your followers your true personality
Showcase products in creative ways to improve engagement
Whether you’re building a personal brand or using Instagram to showcase your products, it’s important to get creative to stand out. In recent years, Instagram has become the best place for product demonstrations, community engagement, and interactive posts, so it’s important that you get the market involved to help you stand out.
If you’re testing out a beauty product for your audiences or trying to explain a new perfume scent, why not get them involved too?
Boost engagement by promoting yourself
A brilliant way to get noticed and stand out from the crowd is to utilise the in-house Instagram explore page. This is a tab that your audience, current and prospective, use to find new inspirations and solutions to their problems. One of the best ways to make sure your content is featured on the explore page and captures people’s attention is to use hashtags. For example, an Instagram user may search #bestperfumes – so why not insert a hashtag like this one into your post captions? Coming up with your own memorable hashtag, specific to your brand, will also make it easy for people to find all of your content if not visiting your profile.
Promoting yourself doesn’t always mean showing off your post; you can boost engagement via your profile with a bio link. Linktree is an amazing free tool we suggest using to your advantage. In simple terms, this platform lets you put each and every one of your links to other social media platforms, websites and blogs under one easy, clickable link. This will assist greatly in building a sense of trust with your audience – as nowadays, having alternative media that enforces what you say from one profile to another is highly valued.
Instagram Story Ideas to Increase Views
With the recent changes to the Instagram algorithm, standing out from the crowd on your audience’s feed can be tricky. Utilising Instagram stories is one of the most effective ways to combat this – boosting engagement and ensuring you connect with your audience as much as possible, but knowing how to unlock their full potential is important. Here are some ways to increase story views and engagement:
1. Poll your audience
Polls are the perfect way to get your followers engaged with your profile. By using multiple-choice questions or a sliding react button, you can quickly gather the opinions of your audience, all while encouraging them to take an active interest in your Instagram stories.
2. Promote freebies and discounts
If there’s one thing that gets people talking, it’s free stuff. Offering samples, discount codes or pointing people in the direction of sales is a great way to provide value through your Instagram stories, all while encouraging your followers to take a closer look at your brand.
3. Tease new products
This is a big one. One of the most effective ways to keep people coming back for more is by building anticipation for what you have to offer. New product reveals are the best way to do it. If you’ve got a new perfume on its way or you’re selling a fresh new beauty product, start teasing your followers early. If your Instagram stories are exciting enough, they’re guaranteed to keep coming back for more news.
4. Ask and answer questions
Whether we like to admit it or not, being nosy is part of human nature. One of the best ways to allow your audience to get to know your brand on a more personal level is by answering the questions they’ve always wanted to know about. Answering them with short, snappy and honest videos as well as static stories adds an element of personalisation.
Asking questions is also a great way to show your followers that you’re interested in what they have to say, as well as provoke organic engagement. Whether you ask your followers what they’re having for dinner, what their favourite beauty products are or where they think you should go on holiday, opening up the floor is a great way to show them you care about their existence.
To do this successfully, add an ‘Ask Me a Question’/’Answer Me This’ button to your story and watch the queries and answers flood in.
5. Announce an event
Hosting a virtual event is one of the best ways to increase engagement with your brand, whether you’re a network marketer, a small business owner or a budding influencer. Instagram stories are an exceptional method of building traction and selling tickets because you can signpost your followers directly towards ticket sales or a sign-up link. Try creating an eye-catching graphic and sharing it on your story to let people know the time, date and agenda for your event.
6. Create a countdown
Staying current is important for increasing engagement through Instagram. A fail-safe method of posting relevant content is by sharing countdown buttons to your Instagram stories to build excitement for upcoming occasions, events and launches. One of the smartest things about this feature is that your followers can engage with the countdown, ensuring they’ll also be reminded when the date or time arrives. If it’s your latest product reveal on the cards or an upcoming sale, you’ll be securing yourself new customers with little to no effort at all!
7. Go live to start a conversation
Want to start a conversation and open up a dialogue with your audience? A fail-safe method of increasing engagement is by going live on your story. This not only enables you to showcase your personality or latest brand news, but it also empowers your online community to start a discussion in the comments. If you’re feeling extra spontaneous, you could even invite a follower to join your live and be part of the conversation. Just remember to let your audience with a countdown so they’ll know that you’ll be going live – you don’t want to be left hanging!
8. Share your location
This might seem like a strange idea, but sharing your location has a range of benefits, especially for network marketing. When you use a location button on your Instagram stories, your posts will be circulated to the people in your surrounding area, encouraging local people to engage and follow your page. More local engagement = more local customers!
9. Start a regular series
Consistency is key to achieving increased engagement, so why not try starting a regular series on your Instagram stories? This could come in the form of a weekly advice session, a monthly Q&A or sharing your most loved posts from the past 7 days, but whatever you decide to do, make sure to stick with it. A memorable hashtag could be a great way to get your followers involved too!
10. Promote a blog or Instagram post
If you’re promoting your business via social media, backing your efforts up with a blog is the way forward. Writing regular blogs and posting them to your Instagram story is the perfect way to direct traffic to your site, all while providing value to your followers. The same applies to Instagram stories, so make sure to share your latest feed additions to your story to send people in the right direction.
11. Highlight your collaborations and feature other accounts
If you’re lucky enough to be working with brands or promoting products on behalf of another company, be sure to highlight them effectively on your Instagram stories. This could be as simple as posting a picture and tagging their account, but doing so legitimises your presence and boosts your reach when they inevitably share it to their own story.
The same goes for featuring the work of others, which is possibly one of the biggest ways to advance your own brand. While it may seem self-sabotaging, if you’re shouting out a fellow small business, it’s quite possible that they’ll repay the favour and expose you to a completely new audience.
12. Post relatable quotes
Increasing engagement isn’t just about getting a conversation going. It’s also about being relatable enough that people feel connected to you. Posting quotes on your story is one of the best ways to get people resharing your content, as well as reacting to your sentiments.
Funny or emotional quotes always do well, so try a mix of the two for the most successful results!
13. Document your day
Growing a platform for higher brand engagement isn’t just about posting every day. It’s about sharing content that people are interested in, including what you get up to throughout your day. Whether you’re planning your latest product launch, rebranding your business or perfecting the beloved poached egg, be sure to share it on your Instagram stories and see an increase in story views!
Your Turn to Shine on Instagram
From photography tips to story ideas, we hope you have learnt exactly how to boost your engagement on Instagram and are ready to grow your business! Remember to stay consistent and positive with everything you try out and in no time, you’ll be standing out from the crowd! For Facebook tips and general social media selling, make sure you read our other blog posts to become an expert.