Engagement rate is a key indicator of an Instagram account. The days of massfollowing and massliking are over. It’s the era of quality, not quantity. What happens to those who continue to work the old way? Rapid loss of audience.
Let’s face it, Instagram is not a commercial, educational or news platform. Its function is primarily entertainment. That’s why subscribers “get tired” of the abundance of selling and informational content. It must be diluted with something “light”.
This is where entertainment content comes in, one of its varieties is engaging content.
In this article, we’ll tell you:
- What is an engaging post on Instagram;
- What the mechanics of engagement can be;
- What to write and how to engage your audience;
- Writing rules for a personal or business profile.
Engaging content – what it is and why you need it
“Shake up” subscribers – today the task of every blogger, author, SMM-specialist. It does not matter what kind of account you have: a blog of a nutritionist or an online store. If you don’t make an effort to increase (or at least maintain) engagement, your reach will drop and you will “disappear from the feed.
The goal of engaging content is this user action. Likes, comments, and post retention. The more of them, in relation to the number of subscribers, the higher the engagement rate and the more successful the account.
SMM uses a variety of tools to increase engagement, but engaging posts remain the most effective. On the one hand, the method is simple and obvious, and on the other hand, it is reliable and versatile (suitable for any product and target audience).
Engagement Mechanisms
Question/questioning.
Agree, it’s easier to answer a question asked than to figure out what to say on your own. Open-ended questions allow you to learn something new about your subscribers. You can offer a choice of answers. It helps to find out specific information, conduct an opinion poll about a product/service, and compile useful statistics for the account. Answer choice is especially suitable for “not much” audience.
Riddles/games
Gamification in social networks is a trend today. You can ask a trick question, offer to play a guessing game, or hold a quiz. Of course, you shouldn’t post problems from higher mathematics or tasks for a narrow circle of people, but “children’s” riddles aren’t suitable either. Let the test will not be as simple as it seemed at first glance. Then the subscriber can ask for “help from a friend” and send the post to him in Direct. Or save it for himself to show the challenge from the screen.
“Tag someone in the comments who….”
Put a post in your account with a challenge like this. Kills two birds with one stone. Both comments and potential new subscribers show up. Can be timed to almost any text or photo. It works without fail.
Generate content with your subscribers
Come up with a hashtag. In the post, invite readers to post photos or texts with this hashtag in their own accounts. Wake up the “competitive spirit” by making sure you only repost the best posts. Again, the upside: more content, more discussion, new subscribers.
Contests/raffles
A good old-fashioned but still relevant way to engage your audience. Raffle something among your followers in exchange for a like, comment, or save post. Try to do it in an unusual, creative way. You can combine giveaways with guessing, “tag a friend…,” or using a hashtag.
Trending Topics
Notice how many themed posts there were when the last season of Game of Thrones came out? Surprise your subscribers by being interested in the same thing. Cover a high-profile event or the star of the latest news release. Don’t forget, ask your audience’s opinion. The comments won’t be long in coming.
Challenges
Support current Instagram Challenges. Encourage your followers to participate in them, too. You can do something bolder and come up with an author’s challenge with your own hashtag. Who knows, maybe it will become a trend!
How to write an engaging Instagram post
The principles of writing engaging posts depend on the type of account (personal/commercial), the topic of the blog and the target audience.
For a personal blog
- Determine the target audience of the blog and offer those interactives that are close to them. If you are blogging cooking recipes for housewives, it would be strange to discuss car trends or Internet marketing.
- Consider the “intrigue” of an engaging post. This can be a headline, a visual component, or something else.
- Remember about readability. Break the text into paragraphs. Avoid long sentences.
- The law “one post – one topic. You should not cover several events or run several interactives in one post at once.
- Feel free to engage. At the end of the post, feel free to ask questions and ask customers to leave a like. Remind them that useful posts can be saved for themselves.
- Make a beautifully designed post. Add paragraphs, spaces, hashtags, emoji.
Commercial Profile.
- Business profiles “bore” readers faster than personal blogs. There needs to be more engaging content.
- Call your subscribers to action. For a commercial account, “disappearing from the feed” is a disaster.
- Distract from sales. Refrain from a direct call to “buy” in engaging posts.
- Add “humanity.” Keep your posts simple, add emoji.
- Run contests. This is a great way to introduce winners to your product/service and get a new customer.
Engaging Instagram posts are the secret to a successful account. Practice writing and publishing them, with the help of the tips from our article. See how your blog or business profile’s stats change positively.