As you know, engagement on Instagram affects the ranking of posts in the feed. The more engagement, the higher your posts are shown. The higher they are, the more users will see them.

In this article, we’ll show you how to calculate engagement on Instagram and how you can increase your ER. Many of the tips can be implemented within 10-15 minutes.

Read also: Step-by-step instructions for promotion on Instagram

What is ER on Instagram and what indicator can be considered good

ER abbreviation stands for Engagement Rate and translated as engagement rate. The indicator is calculated as a percentage and serves as an indicator of audience activity on the Instagram page.

In simple terms, how actively subscribers and the audience reached are responding to your posts. An active reaction is considered:

• like;
• comment;
• repost;
• saving a post to bookmarks.

At the same time, there is no exact value, which ER can be considered good. It all depends on the size of the audience. For an account with up to 10,000 subscribers, an ER of 10% will be good, for a page with an audience of more than 1,000,000 – 1% will be normal. It is also worth considering whether a commercial account or a personal one. Commercial pages have lower engagement.

How to calculate ER on Instagram

There are 2 ways of calculating: based on the number of followers (ER) and based on the post reach (ERViews – Engagement Rate Views). When analyzing the effectiveness of promotion on Instagram, both indicators should be taken into account.

ER. It is calculated as the ratio of the average number of all interactions on posts to the number of subscribers over a certain period of time. It is important to count to understand the loyalty of your followers. The downside is that the reaction of other users who saw the post is not taken into account.

• Calculation example: for a month on an account with 1000 subscribers, we published 30 posts, which received a total of 2000 likes and 100 comments. It turns out 2000 + 100/30 = 70 reactions per post. Accordingly ER, 70 reactions per post / 1000 subscribers * 100% = 7%…

ERViews. It is calculated in the same way as ER, only instead of the number of subscribers, the average reach for one post is taken. Shows the level of interest of all audiences who saw the post. Including hashtags, recommendations, and more.

• Calculation example: the same input as in the example above. The average reach of each post is 500 unique users. It turns out ERViews = 70 reactions per post / 500 average post reach * 100% = fourteen%…

How to increase impressions and engagement on Instagram

Ask for feedback

Subscribers appreciate when their opinion is taken into account. Especially if you don’t need to spend a lot of time to leave a comment and study additional information. Ask simple questions directly in posts, for example:

• Ask if it’s worth a discount promotion or give small souvenirs instead
• Find out what subscribers think about the latest sensational event
• Describe the situation in detail and ask for advice
• Ask any thematic question – for example, ask how subscribers feel about sex on the first date or what they saw first this morning

Choose the type of feedback based on the characteristics of your account. For example, a question about attitudes towards a certain event would be appropriate for a blogger, and a survey about a promotion would be appropriate for small business accounts.

Run a comment contest

If you have something to offer subscribers as a prize, run a comment contest. Its mechanics are extremely simple: everyone who left a comment under a certain post participates in the drawing, and the winner can be chosen at random or using special applications – for example, a service Giveaway…

To maximize engagement, you can ask users to not only write a comment, but also like or subscribe to an account. A good way to increase your reach is to ask the contestants to mark two of their friends in the comments below the post.

Related article: Games for Instagram followers

Run a contest for the most active subscriber

Getting proactive is harder than leaving a short comment or answering a question in a post. Therefore, the prizes in such a competition should be more serious than in a regular drawing: for example, give the most active subscriber a 50-70% discount, jewelry or a travel certificate. The more valuable the prize, the more active the participants will be.

Contests and sweepstakes on Instagram

You can be active in different ways. For example, ask subscribers:

• Like
• Leave comments
• Tag friends in comments

Clearly write down on what indicator the winner will be selected – for example, the winner will be the one who left the most likes or scored the most points in total. And special services will help you to see accurate statistics, for example – Giweawation…

Find the perfect time to post

Just publish your posts at the right time – then a large number of subscribers will see them, which means that the likelihood of getting likes and comments will increase significantly. You can calculate the appropriate time yourself – for this, look at the posts for a week, month or year, and collect statistics.

Or go the simpler way – use special services, for example, Popsters… It shows the success of a post made at a specific time in relation to all posts. Forms the result as a percentage and builds a graph of the successful time for the release of new posts.

Related article: Better time to post on Instagram

Get rid of bots

The engagement rate on Instagram is generated based on statistics for all subscribers to your account. To increase ER, you can simply get rid of those who spoil statistics – from bots and inactive accounts. You can find them manually, but it will take a lot of time, or using the services:

• SpamGuard;
• Instaplus.pro;
• SocialKit.ru;
• OneMillionLikes.

Boost live subscribers on Instagram

Using the same services, you can remove inactive subscribers, bots and mass followers from the list. But we recommend doing this in several stages, gradually clearing your account of inactive users. If you remove all bots at once, your organic reach can drop dramatically.

Announce posts in Stories

Instagram Stories are published at the top of the feed, so they get more views than regular posts. You can attract the attention of subscribers by publishing in Stories, namely, by announcing the upcoming post. For example, tell your story that you will be posting soon with:

• A description of a new product or service;
• The drawing of valuable prizes;
• Own research;
• Helpful infographics.

How to post Instagram Stories using all the features

The main thing is that the upcoming post is useful to the target audience. Then subscribers will follow the updates in your account, which means that the engagement rate will increase.

Provoke discussion

Touch on the “hype” topic that is being discussed. Ask subscribers for their opinions and enjoy the result in the comments. For example, you can cover a high-profile political news or discuss a bill that has made a lot of media hype. You can also use regional news that caused a public outcry.

Conduct a flash mob

A flashmob in its purest form will not help increase engagement on Instagram. In order to be logged into your account, put likes and leave comments, you need to ask the participants of the flash mob to mention the link to your account in the post. Then many of its members, being your the target audience, will go to your profile, perhaps subscribe and like. This will increase ER for a short time, and our other tips will help you keep it high.

Depending on the specifics of your account, you can come up with different ideas for a flash mob, for example, ask the participants:

• Find an original way to use your product, take a photo of it in action and post a photo
• Create a simple picture with a mention of your company in any editor and pass the baton to several friends
• Ask them to tell you why subscribers follow any of their friends and pass the torch to the next member

The mechanics of the flash mob are quite complex. You will have to think about how you can attract subscribers so that they want to start the relay, and how you can attract followers and increase ER through publications.

So what can you do to boost ER:

• Ask for feedback – an answer to a question, a story about a product, an opinion about a situation;
• Conduct a comment contest;
• Conduct a competition for the most active subscriber;
• Find the perfect time to post using Instagram statistics or third-party services;
• Get rid of bots manually or using special services;
• Announce upcoming useful or interesting Stories posts;
• To provoke a discussion with a “hype” topic;
• Conduct a flash mob.

How do you work with Engagement Score and does it help you grow organic reach and attract new followers? Share your opinion in the comments – we are very interested!