6 ways to boost Instagram engagement in 2020
OMG! Instagram has hidden all my likes – what am I going to do?
Look, Instagram may have removed their like feature, but this isn’t the end of the world to boost engagement. The platform still has plenty to offer.
Instagram is one of the most effective ways to promote your product/service, and build a loyal community to support your business. Whether you work in construction or the modeling industry, Instagram can visually represent you and your business in a creative way.
As a Digital Marketing Agency in London, here are 6 ways to boost your Instagram engagement in 2020:
- Giveaways
- Takeovers
- Video Content
- DM’s
- Stickers
- Consistency
Giveaways
Hosting a giveaway is one of the most exciting techniques you can use to market your product/service.
A giveaway during a product launch will increase its visibility and draw more interest, allowing you to connect with your audience more easily than usual.
You can start building new customer relationships with an interesting opening message, but we will investigate this in more detail later on.
One of the most important benefits of a giveaway is that it tells your customers that you value them. When the attention is focused on your audience as opposed to making sales, your business reputation will demonstrate loyalty and trust, which are key elements to every successful business.
Domino’s: Prove You’re a Superfan with a Photo Contest:
Domino’s held a £10,000 giveaway on Instagram for which all an audience member needed to do was take a photo of them enjoying some pizza. With little effort from both parties, Domino’s had received thousands of new followers to target in future campaigns.
Although £10,000 may be out of your reach at the moment, Domino’s have demonstrated that the concept works extremely well.
Takeovers
Much like hosting a giveaway, organizing an Instagram Story Takeover is an effective way to cast your net into a wider audience and reach new followers organically.
A Story Takeover is generally very cost-effective as both collaborators are benefiting from each other by introducing themselves to each other’s audiences.
What does a typical Story Takeover look like?
A business who is looking to promote their product or service would normally collaborate with an influencer based in a similar industry. For example, a cosmetics company is likely to collaborate with a model or beauty influencer to showcase their product in front of a relevant audience.
What to do:
- Identify your goals
- Create a clear pitch
- Find an appropriate influencer within your industry
- Write up an agreement that everyone understands
- Communicate effectively throughout the takeover
What not to do:
- Don’t rush the process
- Don’t select an irrelevant influencer
- Don’t track the results of the takeover
Video content
Instagram has over 500 million active users logging on to the platform every week. So having an Instagram presence will be necessary for a successful 2020. Competition is inevitably rising, so implementing video content into your feed is essential to boosting your engagement and keeping your audience interested.
Instagram video content can help you:
- Increase product/service visibility
- Educate your audience
- Host promotional offers
- Build a loyal and dedicated following
- Showcase a new product
Instagram allows you to record different types of videos in order to achieve your goal.
Apart from uploading a video to your story or feed, Instagram offers a few other features:
- Live – Live streaming a promotional event or an activity that represents your business is a great way to display transparency. However, the stream must be engaging throughout or your audience may become bored and leave.
- Boomerang – A Boomerang is a burst of photos that create a short video, normally lasting 1-2 seconds. This content can add humor to your page and increase the likelihood of your post being shared.
- IGTV – IGTV is a video that can last up to 10 minutes for a regular account and 60 minutes for a verified account. These videos can be accessed through the IGTV tab on your account, or through a short teaser video posted on your feed.
Video content was a big deal in 2019, and it is only predicted to increase in 2020 – so get creating.
DM’s
Having built a strong reputation for its self in 2019, Instagram Direct Messaging is a brilliant way to communicate with your customers and is used widely.
Most of the apps, products, and services released into the world today are built for convenience. Consumers want an easy and simple solutions to everyday problems.
From a customer service perspective, Instagram DM’s mean that businesses are now able to respond to customer issues in a matter of hours.
Contacting your customers directly through Instagram allows them to feel valued and show that you really care about their loyalty. Communicating with them in a more informal setting, as opposed to a formal email, will help build genuine relationships that will stand you in good stead for the long run.
‘Threads from Instagram’ is a recent addition to the platform, allowing users to send video messages and images quickly to friends, expanding the platforms personal sharing capabilities.
Instagrams ‘user-focused’ approach shows that Direct Messaging features are going to take off in 2020 – so make sure you business is using it.
Stickers
An interactive way to boost engagement is by using story stickers. The story ‘Chat’ sticker is one of the best ways to engage with your customers and build your following.
By adding the ‘Join Chat’ sticker to your story, you are inviting anyone and everyone to a group chat, which you will first have to authorize. This is an efficient way to avoid spam and only allow humans to join (no bots allowed).
Instagram Chat sticker’s capabilities are:
- Gather consumer feedback
- Understand your audience interests
- Build personal customer relationships
- Organise a meet and greet/ pop up store
Later, Instagrams #1 marketing platform, raises an important point about the evolution of the Instagram Story. Businesses previously used a Story to receive feedback, using the ‘Question’ sticker. This was a useful tool but didn’t allow audience members to communicate with each other. The ‘Chat’ sticker allows businesses to communicate with their customers on a new level.
So far, it is safe to say that Instagram will be focusing heavily on its users in 2020, which serves as a huge advantage for businesses.
Consistency
Consistency is the element which ties all the points mentioned in this article together.
It is very simple, your engagement will not increase if you don’t post content regularly.
Put yourself in the shoes of a professional athlete – they definitely didn’t reach their goals by training only when they felt like it. No, they trained constantly, developed their skills accordingly and stuck to a disciplined resume.
This is 100% the case with Instagram.
Being consistent challenging, we can’t deny that. Life will get in the way as it always does. So, how do you stay consistent?
We believe consistency can be achieved by following 2 simple steps:
- Scheduling – Open a calendar and pencil in when and what you are going to post. Putting this in writing represents a commitment you must uphold. Using Google Calendar is an easy way to plan and set reminders, so you never forget to post.
- Content quality – Quality over quantity! If you find it hard to regularly produce high-quality content, try posting fewer days in the week instead of dishing out poor content that will have no benefit to your overall engagement.
If there was 1 single factor that led to a successful Instagram account, it would be consistency. If you create high-quality content on a regular basis, your Instagram engagement has the best chance of increasing.
Take-aways
Whether you’re using Instagram to promote your business or are trying to become a famous influencer, boosting your engagement is going to really help.
It is clear to see that Instagram is becoming increasingly user-focused, offering new features that allow people to connect, and build a community around them.
Already forgotten what to do? Don’t worry!
The 6 ways to boost your engagement on Instagram are:
- Giveaways
- Takeovers
- Video content
- DM’s
- Stickers
- Consistency
The Good Marketer is a Marketing Agency in London which drives more traffic, generates conversions and increases sales for SMEs.
