Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard

Instagram has proved strong since its conception in terms of community engagement. Not only is the app beneficial to your average user, who explores new profiles through various hashtags and tagged content, but it is also very valuable to many social media marketers. Instagram’s incredible opportunity to seek out new audiences, connect with valuable accounts, and build significant relationships is second to none. 

What might be the point of maintaining your engagement on Instagram? Well, as the app continues to grow in popularity, it seems to be quite evident that it is not going anywhere anytime soon. So, maintaining high engagement on the app is crucial in connecting with both your current followers and potential new audiences. 

As you continue to engage more with this blog post, no pun intended, you will gain a better understanding of what community engagement on Instagram is, discover helpful strategies for engaging with your community, and find ways to engage with your followers directly.

 

Understanding Community Engagement on Instagram

What exactly is engagement on Instagram? Engagements may consist of likes, comments, direct messages, shares, saves, hashtags, and tagged accounts. For Instagram pros, this information is a piece of cake, and for those of you who are Instagram newbies, you’re welcome.

According to Brian Powers’ article Why Instagram Engagement is a Top KPI and How to Boost it, he mentions that engagements on Instagram are paramount because the platform’s algorithm will highly rank a user’s content based on how much engagement they’re receiving.  

Now that we understand what engagement is and why it is so valuable to social media marketers, how in the world do we measure such a thing? Chloe West of Sprout Social highlights in her blog that we can measure engagement through Instagram’s metrics. Some of them include impressions, reach, engagements per follower, follower growth, comments received, most engaged hashtags, referral traffic, and Instagram Stories metrics. 

 

Strategies for Engaging a Community on Instagram

As community engagement is easier said than done, we’ve provided you with some practical strategies below to step up your community engagement game. 

• Crafting High-Quality Visual Content: First and foremost, creating captivating, high-quality visuals is of utmost importance if your brand wants to engage with an audience. In fact, for your target audience to be reached, you must repeatedly have compelling and high-quality content for them to engage with. Additionally, your high-quality content should always align with the values of your brand. In adding a personal touch, when I see high-quality photo or video posts on Instagram, even from brands that I do not follow, I will take a second to see what it is they have to offer. Who knows, maybe I’ll become one of their top community members! 

• Consistent Posting Schedule: Why is this step essential? Sticking to a consistent posting schedule on Instagram will not only get a routine put into place for you and your team members, but it will also keep your audience on their toes. This is so because they will generally know when to anticipate a new post from your profile. Do you look forward to a specific time or day or day of the week because you know when your favorite brands post to their Instagram?

• Leveraging Instagram Stories: With Instagram’s stories, you can certainly take advantage of the app’s interactive features. Some of the features include polls, question stickers, and swipe-up links. Furthermore, increased interaction rates, more involvement and credibility, and boosted visits and community interactions can result from these actions, respectively. Also, sharing any behind-the-scenes content can showcase a more ‘human’ side of your brand, while sharing user-generated content from your followers demonstrates your brand’s recognition for them. These are just two more ways you may leverage your Instagram stories to increase community engagement.

• Encouraging User-Generated Content (UGC) and Community Hashtags: According to Suleyman Eminbeyli’s article How to Boost Engagement with User-Generated Content on Instagram? this type of content creates authenticity for users on Instagram. That is, some can make their judgments about a brand based on the sincere beliefs of other individuals. Additionally, Mordecai Holtz’s blog on NISM mentions that according to a Stackla report regarding millennials, just over 50% of them were influenced by some sort of user-generated content that led to them planning a vacation. Regarding encouraging engagement through community hashtags, the following can be beneficial to your community engagement efforts, using hashtag research tools can aid in finding relevant and trendy hashtags you can use to boost your post’s visibility, and using your own, branded hashtags help with UGC, in addition to creating a community centered around your unique brand-specific hashtag. 

• Utilizing Instagram Reels for Engagement: Thanks to Instagram’s helpful way of telling stories through short videos, somewhat TikTok-esque, social media marketers should consider these five ways to increase their community’s engagement via Instagram Reels, which has been recommended by SocialPilot’s LinkedIn blog.

1. Understand what your goal is.
2. Take advantage of using the music and sounds Instagram provides you with (Note: Using trending songs can assist you and your brand in increasing visibility.)
3. Brighten up your Reels with eye-catching text and fun stickers.
4. Keep your audience on the edges of their seats with interesting effects and transitions.
5. Use a captivating cover and catchy caption for your Reel. 

Did you notice Instagram’s recent switch to showcasing thumbnails in a 4:5 ratio instead of the square 1:1 frame? This adjustment makes vertical compositions more prominent, a clear sign the platform is revved up for video content.

 

Engaging with Followers Directly 

What are some of the best ways to directly engage with your followers? Provided below are three ways to do just that for your brand. 

• Responding to Comments and Direct Messages: By engaging with your community through comments and direct messages, Alejandra Mondragon suggests in her blog 5 Easy Ways to Build a Loyal Instagram Community that you form a much stronger and deeper relationship with your audience. Additionally, ways to strengthen these connections include responding to comments and direct messages in a timely manner, which shows your commitment to active community involvement, and showing your recognition of your community by regularly commenting on their posts.

• Hosting Instagram Live Sessions: Just today, I got notified by my Instagram app that a health and diet-oriented influencer I follow was live. I jumped on this opportunity to tune in and see what it was all about. In his livestream, he was answering viewers’ questions and promoting a new beef tallow he had just released. Because the announcement of his beef tallow was news to me and something I use daily, I jumped on the chance to purchase it before it sold out. Thanks to Instagram Live, I am sure he sold his beef tallow to far more people than me.

• Collaborating with Influencers and Brands: Whether they’re nano or mega, linking up with an influencer can be a great way to get that community engagement you desire. Jenna Zark highlights that the power of an influencer is so great that the use of one can help boost the number of people who find out about your brand, increasing community engagement. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Hopefully, you have a better grasp on what it takes to keep your community engaged through having a better understanding of what community engagement on Instagram is, what strategies to use when engaging with your community, and how to go about directly engaging with your followers.

What strategies do you or your company like to use when keeping your community engaged in the conversation? We would love to know down in the comments!

 

Author: Sam Cuellar

Digital Marketing graduate from DePaul University, Marketing & Sales Coordinator at the National Institute for Social Media, and professional bass player with a passion for music, weightlifting, traveling, and social media marketing.