9 Top Tips for Boosting Instagram Engagement

Hello! I'm Charlotte, and I'm the founder of Blog and Beyond. I'm a slightly sarcastic 23-year-old grandma from Glasgow who loves The Sims, Hugh Laurie and programmes about airports. I've been blogging at Colours and Carousels for over eight years and am passionate about helping other bloggers grow.
Blog - Twitter - Instagram

Instagram. Bloggers seem to have a love-hate relationship with the site, and I can totally see why. It's probably my favourite social media platform, but it's also so frustrating to try and grow these days. I took a bit of a break from Instagram over the summer and tried not to force myself to post, and as a result, I found myself loving the platform even more.

Since my “return” to Instagram, I’ve been trying to implement a brand new approach to using Instagram and growing my account. I don’t think there’s any one size fits all trick for growing an Instagram account these days, but here are nine top tips which have helped me create a steady influx of new, engaged followers.

1. Use the hashtags 👀

Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, there's always a lot of scaremongering going on around the use of hashtags, but 99% of the time it's all a pack of lies. If Instagram didn't want you to use hashtags, they wouldn't let you. They cap it at 30 hashtags for a reason, and you should use all of them! Try to use a mix of big and small hashtags that are relevant to your audience for maximum exposure. 

2. Give and you shall receive 💕

Engagement is a two-way street. Take the time to thoughtfully engage with your audience (and their audience too!) in order to increase your recognition on the platform and start building authentic relationships. After you put up a post, spend half an hour or so liking and commenting on the pictures in your feed, and engage within the hashtags you use too. A great tip for keeping an eye on hashtags is to follow them, so that you get new content from the hashtag in your feed!

3. Check your analytics 📊

Your analytics are there for a reason! Sure, they're maybe not the most accurate, but they'll give you a huge indication of what sort of content does well, who your audience are and when they're online. You can use this info to optimise your content to get the most engagement.

4. Add geotags 🌍

Much like hashtags, the geotags or location tags are a great way to increase your reach. Posts with geotags typically see as much as SEVEN times more engagement than those without - so get tagging! Same goes for stories, too.

5. Post quality content 📸

At the heart of it all, Instagram is about the content. If you put out your best work all of the time, people will come to associate you with high-quality content. You don't need a "theme" or a fancy DSLR to create high-quality content - your photos should just be clear, in focus and relevant.

6. Be consistent 👋🏻

You do not need to post every day or have an immaculate theme that you never break from to have a successful Instagram. Sure, it helps some people, but you'll find that most people just don't give a shit. The crucial thing is to be consistent. Upload once a week? Cool, keep it up. Consistency does not mean frequent - it just means regular.

7. Tag relevant accounts ✏️

How frustrating is it when you see someone post a banging outfit but they don't tag the brands? Not only will tagging the relevant accounts help your audience, it'll also help get you on the brand's radar. Who knows, they might even repost your snap onto their feed 😏 

8. Don't ask, don't get 🤔

Want people to comment on your photo? Ask them to. Use a call to action at the end of every piece of content you put out and create a clear invitation to engage. Ask a question, tell them to do something, invite discussion - just make it clear that you want to chat. You can use this on your stories or your feed! 

9. Utilise Stories & the features there 💡

Stories are amazing for engagement. Not only do they allow you to share behind the scenes content (which people LOVE), they also give you some great ways to encourage your audience to engage. The polls and question stickers are really easy additions that are so useful for opening up discussions, and the ease of messaging on Stories is the perfect way to get building relationships. The same rules apply here, if you see an opportunity to engage with someone else's content - do it! You never know, you might make a new friend too.

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