Has your Instagram engagement plummeted lately? You’re not the only one.

The same thing that happened to Facebook is now happening to Instagram… Hooray!

According to a Trust Insights study, organic reach on Facebook went from 16% in 2012 to just 2.27% in 2015, and we’re predicting Instagram will follow much of the same trend.

In fact, since 2019, Instagram organic reach has been on a steady decline. In another Trust Insights study over six months, Instagram engagement decreased from around 1.2% to around 0.8% – a 33% decline in engagement.

We know that most social platforms operate on a pay-to-play model, which explains why they kill organic reach and encourage brands to pay to get their content seen.

But the question is, what can we do about it?

Of course you can pay to boost Instagram engagement, but there are other strategies you can use to increase it…

Here’s 5:

#1 Post Quality Content Every Day

Having had experience managing and growing large social media accounts of over 45K, we recommend posting one quality post every day.

What do we mean by quality?

High quality images that provide value to your ICA. Eg. infographics, memes, quality photography.
Quality copy that engages your audience.
Thoughtful relevant hashtags.

If you don’t have the capacity to post each day, you can reduce the number of posts, but do not reduce the quality of your content. By posting every day, you tell the Instagram algorithm that you’re an engaged user and keep a consistent presence among your followers.

It’s a simple tip, but ever so important.

#2 Focus on Meaningful Engagement

One thing we’ve seen a noticeable difference in when managing and growing client accounts is the reciprocation we receive when we meaningfully engage with other accounts.

We dedicate thirty minutes every day to responding to comments, commenting on other accounts and conversing with our client’s followers.

This doesn’t mean commenting the love heart eyes emoji on a bunch of photos and captions you haven’t really read, it means sparking meaningful, genuine conversations.

The more you give, the more you receive. Trust us!

#3 Build a Content Bank of Scroll-Stopping Imagery

It’s almost 2021, and our attention spans are shorter than ever.

In order to get your followers to stop on your content, you need scroll-stopping imagery.

Think about your ICA, and create and repost content that you know will capture their attention. Whether it’s a relatable meme, mesmerizing photo or a useful infographic, you should be asking yourself, is this scroll-stopping?

If you don’t already have imagery – you can:

Invest in a photographer and batch shoot content
Create a reposting content bank of other people’s high performing content (be sure to credit original owner)
Create your own graphics and infographics with tools like Canva.

#4 Use The Right Hashtags

There’s a tonne of information out there about how many hashtags to use to boost Instagram engagement; whether to put them in your caption or as a comment, and the types of hashtags you should be using. Much of the information is contradicting, so it’s understandable if you’re feeling a little lost.

After trying and testing many different strategies, here’s what we recommend:

Rather than focussing on the number of hashtags, focus on the relevance of your chosen hashtags to the image and caption copy.
Use a mixture of popular and more obscure hashtags to improve reach. Eg, if you post a photo of the book you’re reading, a popular hashtag would be #readingrecommendation and a more obscure hashtag could be the author of your book, for example, #sallyrooney. Don’t go too obscure or too popular, otherwise your image won’t be discoverable. Think about what your target market would be searching for.
Don’t use lots of the same hashtags on different images, this can look spammy to the Instagram algorithm.

#5 Think About Your Differentiation & Positioning

When you built your business, you hopefully came up with a differentiation and positioning strategy. You would have identified a gap in the market and thought “what can I offer that’s different to what’s already out there?” and “How can I position myself as a solution to my customer’s problem?”

Same goes for your Instagram strategy.

Why would someone want to follow your account? What do you offer that other accounts and competitors don’t?

You should be able to answer the questions above confidently.

If you can’t, you need to go back to the drawing board. Maybe you offer exclusive discounts and sales to your Instagram community, maybe you offer exclusive video content, maybe you position yourself as a relatable meme account or personal account where followers can see behind the scenes of your business.

Whatever it is, make sure it’s relevant to your ICA.

It’s a tough, saturated Instagram world out there, so if you’d prefer a team of digital marketing experts to help you boost Instagram engagement, get in touch about our services today.

Happy Gramming!