If you are using Instagram for business, you know it is more than just a platform to save all your product pics. It is a powerful tool to build your brand and cultivate an audience online.

With 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram has serious potential for ROI.

But to reap all the rewards of Instagram, you don’t just require an audience, you need engagement. You can buy Instagram likes to increase engagement on Instagram.

Engagement is calculated in the form of likes, comments, shares, saves, mentions, etc., you receive on your posts.

Importantly, engagement has value only when there is an organic Instagram growth, i.e., coming from real people who support you. We have prepared a list of 7 engagement tactics for Instagram backed by research.

1. Know Your Audience

It is hard to create great content if you do not know who you are making it for. Knowing your audience is the first and most crucial step in social media marketing.

The demographics of your target audience will define the type of content you post, the voice of your brand, and even the days and times to publish your content.

Suppose if you are a makeup brand, your target audience will be mostly makeup artists, influencers, Gen Z, etc.

You need to identify your target audience to find the people who genuinely like your content and will try your product and services.

2. Be Authentic

On social media, it is the best practice, to be honest, and relatable. Some marketers create content that is completely polished and fake.

Share content that goes ahead of your marketing campaign and introduce real people, stories, and experiences behind your brand.

You need to be honest with your audience as much as possible. You can share behind-the-scenes videos in an Instagram story while writing a caption that reveals a cheeky, humorous sense or taking ownership of any mistakes. The audience really appreciates honesty more than perfection.

3. Share Great Images

Instagram, in case you didn’t acknowledge, is a visual platform. And while you are not required to be an Annie Leibovitz to shine on the platform, it is important to create images that stand out from the news feed.

Even if you are not a great graphic designer or photographer, there are a million tools to help you give your picture a little oomph.

For instance, Canva has design templates that can add layers of text or add filters. The audience engages with high-quality and clear images the most and you should make sure to upload the best pictures in your gallery.

4. Post Carousels

Once you have gotten the hang of creating high-quality, eye-catching images, try to post a few with carousels. Carousels are Instagram posts with multiple images and are a great way to build engagement.

Carousels have become extremely popular on Instagram these days and people are telling stories through pictures.

Storytelling builds an emotional connection between the brand and the audience that eventually results in more engagement.

If you are a fashion blogger or a fashion brand, you can post outfit pictures or model pictures in the carousel. Use this tool more often to gain the best results.

5. Post Video Content

Videos are trending, eye-catching, and engaging.

As a matter of fact, videos receive over 38% more engagement than images on Instagram and every other social media platform. Try to experiment with your content and post more videos.

Do not overthink creating perfect videos, remember Tip 2?

Authenticity over perfection, right? Shoot or create the video, include your message or all the necessary information, give it a quick edit, and upload.

In fact, there are a million tools that can help you combine scenes or add in music or text. InShot and Magisto are some of the most popular apps for video editing.

Using user-generated content is also a great idea for videos. You can ask your customers to shoot small videos about their feedback or their testimonials and ask for their permission to upload them.

Customers convince potential buyers the most, and instead of using youTube for uploading video content, you can try Instagram.

6. Write Strong Captions

Though a picture is worth a thousand words, a thousand words are not less. Instagram allows you to write captions of up to 2,200 characters, and include up to 30 hashtags.

Use them wisely and good captions can help you add context to your content. It will also allow you to showcase your brand’s personality.

Try to use a decent tone in your captions that encourage the videos to comment under the post. Also, use relevant hashtags so that your posts reach the target audience.

Strong captions can help you boost your brand’s engagement on Instagram and also get more Instagram followers.

7. Create Savable Content

Saves on a particular post are also a type of engagement. Create relevant material that your target audience desires and wants to save in their Collections. This will help you earn a great engagement boost.

Some statements encourage users to save Instagram posts in their Collections. For example- adding a “Save this post” call-to-action to your carousel post.

You can also create a recipe video or how-to guide to encourage users to take a “save” action on your post and visit it again in the future.

Conclusion

The reality is, there is no shortcut for quality engagement. You receive what you put in, from social media.

So invest time to craft a great post, encourage conversation, and connect genuinely with your followers. This will surely help you boost your Instagram engagement.