Trusted Instagram engagement matters, it doesn’t matter what era you’re from.
Don’t believe me?
Well, if you had to buy an anti-tick shampoo for your lovely dog, whose recommendation would you rather believe: the guy next door or your brother – provided they both have and keep dogs as pets?
The most common choice might be to follow the recommendation of the one closer to you. Even if your brother and neighbor actually recommended the same brand of shampoo, you would be compelled to believe in the power of the said shampoo when it was your brother pitching it to you.
Yes, I’ll say it again: getting recommendations or opinions would matter more if they come from the people that we know and trust.
By knowing and utilizing this fact to your advantage, you can help your business grow. And one of the most effective ways to build engagement with your customers, by being that someone that they ‘know’ and can trust, is to be on Instagram. On average, Instagram produces an average engagement rate of 3.21% when compared to other social networks out there (which average about 1.5%). This makes it the ideal choice of helping your business prosper with social media.
Where Should You Start?
First things first: know what the challenges are. Instagram is known for being one of the most ever-changing social media channels. It constantly changes its algorithm, altering users’ experiences. While this might be good for their users, if you own a business account there, this means you might also have to adjust your strategies to be always up-to-date with these changes. If anticipation is late, engagement numbers in one’s account could drop significantly. And if you do nothing, it could be even more detrimental.
However, if you knew the latest changes that Instagram made, things wouldn’t be so hard.
Here are some of their most recent changes and how you can best utilize them, making them tools for growth rather than changes that bring digital destruction to your account:
Instagram Question Sticker
In this update that has been around since July 2018, Instagram now allows their users to add a sticker to ask a question to their followers. These followers can then provide answers, building quality interaction with the poster’s account.
An idea of what to do:
- Decide on a relevant topic to your business. If, for example, you run a used car dealership, try to post a certain car brand/model that’s currently popular, and ask your followers to describe it with one word.
- Prepare a contest regarding point a. With the same business, you can probably run a small-scale competition that will give one lucky winner a free car wash at your dealership. If you have more budget to spend and would like a bigger competition, you can probably have your followers share their answers while tagging your account at the same time for a bigger incentive – maybe one of those cool used cars you’ve been talking about! The exposure you can get from this contest can be beneficial to build users’ engagement.
- Finish your contest with an engaging announcement. Don’t only congratulate the winner, but give a short line or two of why you think he/she deserves to be the winner.
IGTV!
As the name suggests, IGTV provides you with access to Instagram’s very own TV channel. This is actually a stand-alone app for watching long videos in a portrait landscape – and these videos are those of Instagram creators.
An idea of what to do:
- If you haven’t partnered with one of those famous Instagram creators, it’s a good idea to start a partnership with one. Look for someone relevant to your business. If you have a joke/gift shop, you can probably hire King Bach to create some comedic stunts.
- Sit down together with your new partner and creative team, and create a concept that’s attractive and engaging to your followers.
- Post it and voila! See how many likes you get, and you can use this data to measure the effectiveness of your Instagram campaign. If anything, hiring the right partner could also help expose your brand to his/her followers.
Sharing Stories
Instagram now makes it possible for you to share stories that other people tag you in.
An idea of what to do:
- Go through the stories you’re tagged in. Choose one that you think is interesting (as in it’s getting a lot of views) and comes from a user with a huge following.
- Re-share that content to your page.
- However, before re-sharing, customize it. Instagram allows you to get creative with it so that you can edit it to fit your brand’s image. With this, engagement could increase.
The bottom line is this: while the changes that Instagram regularly makes and implements can bring quite a headache, they don’t have to be the killers of your Instagram account. In fact, if you could just take a little time and sit and learn, they can become useful benefits. The next time Instagram launches their new batch of changes and new features (as we all know they will), use them and consider how they can still help your brand get engagement from your followers.
See, it’s no longer a scary world in the Instagram universe. Keeping up to date with these digital trends for your personal marketing doesn’t have to be so hard and mysterious after all.