10 ways to increase your instagram engagement rate

If you want to grow your followers on Instagram the first thing you need to focus on is increasing your engagement rate. 

Why is this?

Because Instagram is a business… and the more people use their platform, the more ads they can sell, and the more money they make. 

The engagement rate is a metric the Instagram algorithm uses to gauge whether or not content and profiles are good and can keep people engaged on their platform longer. 

As such, posts and profiles with high engagement get “ favored” by the algorithm and pushed out to more people via hashtag threads, Explore page and increased hierarchy in the feed. 

Engagement is the currency of Instagram and any good content strategy should take this into account.  

Feel like you’re struggling with your Instagram engagement? Keep reading! 

After years of research, practical application, and data analytics, our agency has discovered how to increase engagement on Instagram.  

TIP #1: POST CONSISTENTLY [BUT NOT TOO MUCH]

Consistency is key when it comes to engagement on Instagram. If you want your followers to engage with your content, you need to have a strategy that’s consistent. 

Whether you’re posting 2x per week or 4x per week, creating a schedule that your followers can rely on allows for consistent engagement. Posting once every few weeks allows too much time for your followers to engage with other accounts in between, thus training the algorithm to prioritize other people’s content in their feed. 

Conversely, your followers can get overwhelmed with your content and disengage if you’re spamming them with too much content- too often. 

Posting several times a day (or even everyday) can overwhelm your followers and actually lower your Instagram engagement rate. 

Think about it this way, even if you love an account, if you see their content every day (especially if it’s the same type of content), you’re going to be less likely to engage with their posts. Some users may even get annoyed and mute posts-  or worse, unfollow. 

A general rule for posting on Instagram is every other day max. The lifespan of a post in the feed is 48 hours,  on average,  so this also helps the post get as much engagement as possible. 

TIP #2: GET CLEAR ON YOUR ICA

Identifying your ideal client avatar (ICA) allows you to create content that gets their attention and, in turn, allows them to engage with your account.  

The first step to getting more Instagram engagement is getting a user’s attention to begin with, and to do that you need to be clear on who you are targeting. 

TIP #3: KEEP YOUR PAGE MORE PERSONAL 

People are on social media to be social. They want to follow and engage with other humans.  That’s why we always recommend focusing on your personal brand page and using it to build brand equity for your business; NOT branding yourself as your business. 

YOU are your personal brand and your business is one thing YOU do. So don’t forget to show your face and connect with your followers. 

A good Instagram Strategy includes a mix of both personal and business content to position you as the go- to expert. 

TIP #4: USE GOOD VISUALS

Instagram is a visual platform and higher engagement starts with good visuals. 

Your visual ( picture, video, graphic) is the first thing Instagram users see, and is what determines if they stop to engage with your content or keep scrolling.

Busy graphics, fonts that are hard to read, and no margins… a few things that determine whether a visual flops or soars. 

For a full guide on how to create high converting graphics, check out our Creators Vault here .

TIP #5: TELL STORIES

People are on social media to relate and connect with other people and one of the best ways to do this is through storytelling. 

Humans are empathetic creatures and as such, we resonate and relate to stories. One of the best ways to increase Instagram post engagement is story telling. 

The best  stories trigger emotion in the reader and make people say things like …

This is so cool!
This made me cry.
I can relate to this. 
This is hilarious.
This made my day.
I don’t agree with this.   

OR.

I never thought of it that way…

TIP #6: USE OPTIMIZED HASHTAGS

Optimized hashtags are like SEO for Instagram and a great way for your ICA to find and engage with your content. With a solid hashtag strategy, you can land your post on the top of the big hashtag threads and get much more reach and engagement. We recommend using 15- 20 optimized hashtags in the caption.

TIP #7: INCORPORATE [PROVEN] USER-GENERATED CONTENT

When it comes to content creation, there’s no need to always reinvent the wheel. If you see content that did well on another page that’s similar to yours, you can reshare the content on your page and just give credit to the original author/ photographer etc.  

Some good examples of this are memes, viral vids and quotes.  

TIP #8: USE VIDEO CONTENT (REELS, STORIES, LIVES)

Instagram has been vocal about their strategy of pushing more video content in efforts to compete with other platforms like TikTok and YouTube. What this means is they are prioritizing video, like REELS, in the algorithm and coming up with more features to make the users video experience more engaging, like the LIVE Q & A feature and new story features. 

REELS are still getting a ton of space on the Explore page, and If you haven’t leaned into this video trend yet- it’s time to start!  You don’t have to dance or jump around and be silly to create a successful Instagram REEL. Simple pointing REELS have been some of the most viral content at our agency. 

A good hook, valuable content and trending audio can go a long way. 

For tips on how to create a viral REEL check out our previous blog post 

The Instagram stories feature is often overlooked, but is one of the simplest ways to engage with your followers. With more than 500 million people logging in to watch stories daily, this isn’t a feature you want to ignore.  You can use the poll stickers, question stickers, slider feature and quiz sticker to ask questions and play games with your followers, encouraging easy and fun engagement. 

Instagram LIVEs are a great way to educate, connect with and entertain your followers in real-time. You can encourage them to leave comments and ask questions, or just show a BTS of your life. 

TIP #9: USE SUBTITLES / CAPTIONS

Research shows over 60% of people watch Instagram with no sound on. This means, if you aren’t adding subtitles to your videos you’re missing out on a ton of potential engagement. 

Instagram now allows for you to auto-caption your videos (simply turn on the toggle switch before publishing to your wall feed).  You can also use the “caption” sticker in stories to automatically caption your Instagram stories videos .

TIP #10: USE a Call to Action

A great way to get your audience to engage is to give them a CTA (call to action). Tell them what you want them to do!

Some easy engagement CTAs include: 

1. Double tap if you agree
2. Share below
3. Drop an emoji below
4. Tag a friend who needs to see this
5. Save this post for later 

Remember- the more YOU can keep people engaging with your content, the more Instagram will reward you for it by pushing your content to more people… driving your reach, followers, and conversions.