Three years ago, an influencer’s “followers” on Instagram were the only metric that mattered. Marketers and brands alike may have incorrectly expected that a greater number of followers would result in a greater return on investment.

A new crucial statistic, the engagement rate (ER), developed as marketers made their way through the murky depths of influencer marketing.

The ER quantifies how interested a target audience is in an influencer’s posts. The cause of a low ER is unknown but should be investigated.
If your rate of engagement is low, what’s the point?

As I mentioned before, this indicator is highly regarded by marketers, who use it to determine whether or not to approach you and, if so, what kind of offer they will make. They are taking a chance with their advertising budget if their ER is low. Whether you use Instagram for personal or professional purposes, you should always aim to maximise your ER.

Six Surefire Methods to Boost Participation

Gain real, engaged fans to swell your following

In my tutorial on how to increase your number of followers, I explained that following and being followed is one of the simplest methods to do so. However, you shouldn’t count on this method as your primary growth strategy because it draws in a lot of bots and influencers who are just following and unfollowing.

In my opinion, it’s crucial to put time into your profile so you can amass a solid social proof base. Having more than ten thousand followers makes you more prominent. It’s now more probable that genuine Instagram users will follow you.

Improve the standard of your writing

The quality of your material is one of the most crucial aspects in boosting your ER. Make sure every image you share is vibrant, clear, and interesting. The importance of Instagram captions in making material interesting is also well-known. There should be a question in the caption, especially in the first phrase.

If you’re unsure of your abilities to curate high-quality information, it might help to look to other influential people in your field for ideas.

Tailor your content to the preferences of your target demographic

You should immediately convert your personal Instagram account into a corporate account. Having a business account has no restrictions and is available to anybody. You may use the audience data for several purposes. This can help you determine the optimal times to publish your content by showing you when your audience is online and most likely to see them. If your peak engagement time is 9 p.m. or later, you should schedule your posts accordingly. Because after a few hours, most of your followers will have put their phones away for the night and won’t see your post.

Focus on value

You, as one of our students, have probably heard me lecture several times on the need of giving something of value to your target audience. It bears repeating that the only thing that matters to other people is what they can get out of you; they could care less about you as a person.

Outside of your immediate circle, complete strangers won’t be interested in you unless they see that you can help them in some way. You must determine the set of skills that you possess that may be of use to others, whether they be in the form of entertainment, business counselling, fitness instructions, or technological guidance.

Put inactive threads in the archive or delete

Easily accomplished in a short amount of time. Remove or archive posts that don’t appeal to your audience or have generated little interaction. Without these comments, your ER would be lower. Now, it would immediately go up.

Use specific hashtags

You probably already use hashtags, but how much consideration do you put into choosing them? If you already have a sizable account and can appear in the ‘Top Posts’ for that subject, or if you’re really astute and pick specialty hashtags, you may find success using hashtags.
It is recommended that you prioritise hashtags that have between 50,000 and 500,000 unique tags while compiling your hashtag bank. If you just choose really popular ones, your content will only appear in the ‘Recent’ section for a short period of time before it drops too far down the stream for anybody to see it.
Extra! Participate in “engagement pods”!

The members of an engagement pod (a group of up to 32 influencers communicating through Direct Message) will like and comment on each other’s content when they are shared to the pod.

You may search for these pods on Reddit or in Facebook communities. You can find them in a few minutes at most. Participate in them by like and commenting on the postings of other users.

These have potential benefits, but they also have some drawbacks. Brands can readily notice when group members make generic comments like “OMG I need this” on sponsored postings. It’s obvious that they’re participating in engagement pods when the only individuals commenting on a post are other influencers.

What’s the talk about when it comes to Instagram bots?

Don’t. When Instagram deleted millions of accounts for purchasing likes and comments, did its users not learn their lesson? These Instagram bot automation systems are not only costly, but are typically operated by 17-year-old “marketing gurus” who make empty promises. They also violate Instagram’s TOS, so you might get your account deleted during one of the periodic purges the service performs.