Instagram engagement rate is a quantitative measure of how users engage with your content. It base on your number of followers, likes, comments, and shares. Engagement rates are typically calculated by dividing an account’s likes and comments by follower count.
Hence, Instagram engagement rates are important for Instagram brands, influencers,… the higher your engagement rate is, the more effective your content is. Right here we will show you how to increase the Instagram engagement rate.
8 ways to increase Instagram engagement rate
1. Maintain consistent branding.
The very first idea to increase Instagram engagement rate is keeping consistency with your content is strongly necessary, and there are many kinds of actions you could take to do so.
Firstly, your username needs to be similar to your other social media account. For instance, if your Twitter is @goodday, your Instagram should be the same if it’s available (or something very similar).
You should also be sure that your content is visually consistent as well, and you need to have a format that you use for all your posts. Check out Nike’s Instagram, for instance. 
Whenever they post content including typography, they use the same backgrounds and font. Once they update photos, they are high quality and use the same filter.
When your content has the same look, your profile becomes aesthetically pleasing, and users could easily recognize your photos as a consistent brand. If they come across your content on another social media platform and might realize that it’s yours then increase the chance they follow you there as well.
There’s data to back this up — WebDam found that 60% of the best-performing brands on Instagram used the same filter every time they update.
2. Understand your audience.
You could not start creating content without understanding your intended followers. Growing Instagram personas is a useful tool for raising your engagement rate. If you get who your followers are, creating content that they want makes them more likely to interact with you. Take the time to monitor your audience statistics, and update your personas accordingly.
You could use Instagram insights to get a demographic understanding of your followers. Setting your account to the Instagram business first, then navigate to the audience tab from the Insights menu.
From here, you could see the top locations your users come from, your users’ age ranges, and their gender. All this data gives you an understanding of your audience.
Regardless of your target audience, your content should be accessible. Using Instagram’s accessibility tools is a great idea, and you could use it to add photo alt text, subtitles, and captions to your content.
3. Post frequently.
Once you understand your target audience, post content they will enjoy and do it frequently. In 2018, 60% of Instagram users reported visiting the site every day, and 38% of those users visited multiple times a day.
The number of times you post relies on your marketing strategy, however, the average brand posts 1.5 times per day. Again, this metric is average, and it might not work for everyone. Posting too much content can overwhelm your users, and they will not hesitate to unfollow if their feed is clogged.
It’s additionally vital to know the best times to post for your followers. Instagram insights will also let you know the best days and hours to update the content.
Do remember that quantity doesn’t equal quality, which brings us to the next engagement raising strategy.
4. Create better captions.
If you are not @world_record_egg, who posted a photo of an egg with no caption that has generated over 12 million likes, you should focus on your captions. You could create short captions that are serious or light-hearted.
Also, you could create longer captions that tell stories and take your users on a journey. Take the Instagram account @humansofny for example. They frequently feature the personal stories of people all over the world.
Since engagement metrics factor in the length of time users spend on your posts, think about alternating shorter and longer captions.
Hand-in-hand with writing better captions is utilizing quality hashtags — Instagram was built on them, after all. It’s still the algorithm’s primary method of filtering via content. When you’re unfamiliar with hashtags, here’s a summary.
You could use up to 30 hashtags per post, however, there has to be a balance. Hashtag dumping, which is the same as keyword stuffing, the algorithm might think you are spamming for engagement, and you could get shadowbanned. The purpose is to figure out what works for you and stick to it.
Your hashtags need to be a mix of popular and particular, long-tailed keywords. For instance, when you’re running an Instagram for your hotel, you will wish to use common hashtags like #hotel and #travel. But those are also very broad, as a search for the #hotel tag has 31 million posts. Be more particular and targeted towards your needs, and maybe say #hotel, #travel, and #hotel + your hotel name + the name of the city you are in. So, for instance, #hotellisamiami.
You could discover the best hashtags to use by doing keyword research and categorizing those that work best for you and your brand. You might also desire to think about coming up with a brand-specific hashtag that users could easily recognize as yours.