My main account is a 1.5 years old, nature/landscape niche, with around ~12k followers, and averaging ~5% engagement. I’ve switched up hashtags multiple times, but don’t really get any drastic changes. I’ve tried to get in pods, but can’t find any worth joining; even when I think I’ve found one, it’s impossible to get someone to respond about it COUGHCOUGHTHE30GROUPSPOSTEDTHISWEEKCOUGHCOUGH. Even within this forum, there seems to be discussion about whether or not hashtags or pods actually work. So, with all this being said, what are the other options for boosting engagement?
We can probably also throw out the same old “comment and like other posts” thing, since that should be a given, but if you have some more interesting insight into the topic or how it interacts with the current algorithm, by all means.
Up until now, my strategy has been to post a single photo each day, Monday - Friday, with the occasional weekend post(s) that are typically carousels of images. My plan for this year is to start creating more video content. It will take up more time and end up with less content per trip (a single hiking trip lands me about 2 months of content, but my adventures with video have reduced my output to about 0.5-0.75 of what I use to get), but it seems like an avenue (in my niche) that isn’t being explored as much and since video has been on an uptick the past couple years, I’m going to finally hop on that wave. Also, to supplement the decrease in content, I am looking to delve much further into my use of Story and Highlights; mostly as a way to vie for as much screen time as possible, but also to encourage interaction with followers (“new post” images in my Story, videos/photos while I’m hiking, images that won’t get posted on people’s timelines, polls about where I should go, etc.).
Outside of that, I’m kinda at a loss for new/creative ways to boost engagement. Any of you have plans to switch things up this year?
Yeah, I get it, engaging with people is key, blah blah blah, but can we talk about everything else too? Is having a discussion about how people intend to use their Instagram Story also an inappropriate way to talk about social media marketing? Replying to people and also maximizing the potential of other Instagram features are not mutually exclusive; you can be an engaging content creator in several different aspects.
Also, I do all those things already. Like and reply to every comment, like and comment on random followers posts, like comments on other posts, watch stories, reply to every DM, have conversations, etc etc etc…All that stuff is ezpz, I’m more interested in where I can go from here.
It is hard to give you solid advice without seeing the account.
There are people, on this forum, who grow massive number of accounts (as a business) and with close to full automation. In a niche likes yours, they are pulling at least 10% engagement. If you are getting 5%, there is something missing in the puzzle, especially if you are replying to everyone.
You mentioned “as a business” if it were a bad thing. I’m in the nature niche also and just am on business for the analytics and the email button. Do you recommend just dumping it and going back to a normal account. If theres an article for this and you cant be bothered to answer thats fine. Just thought id bring it up since it was relevant.
Yeah, that’s why I posted this. I was interested in what everyone else was doing, so we could all learn from each other and potentially implement strategies that we haven’t thought of, because they weren’t as obvious to our needs.
I scrolled through the past few weeks and didn’t see anything on this topic, especially as one going into the new year, so if you would like to link them, go for it.
I misread your original post. I thought you were talking directly about business accounts. I have my niche page listed as a business profile.
Is this a bad idea. I just searched around for an answer but ultimately saw no thread concerning the matter. I only use it essentially for statistics and email. Am I losing engagement due to this?
Use the search function, not everything is the most recent section. Plus, stuff is not always in the right category.
The year is really irrelevant, at least in my opinion. Some of the stuff that worked this time last year is still working, despite the “new algorithm” wave of discussion sweeping the mass media.
I have no personal experience in this. I’ve never used a biz profile myself.
Most of what I have seen and read points towards it being a bad idea.
On a Skype call with some members on the forum, a few weeks ago, people were saying the opposite.
Mostly depends on if you have 10k+ followers or not. If you do, and you use Stories, then you have the option of putting a link in your Story. Otherwise, there isn’t a huge difference. Some people claim to get more organic engagement from personal accounts, but it’s not a HUGE difference. With the changes coming to the Facebook timeline, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of that bleed over into Instagram. If that happens, I would imagine having a personal account would be better, unless you rely on selling stuff through Instagram.
Yeah, I don’t actually sell anything. I feel as though business accounts are meant more for brick and mortar stores. I mainly use it for the analytics. But I’m sure there are other options to see your analytics.
I may try and see what the engagement is like on a personal account. I have 20k followers atm. So, who knows.
I do a hefty amount of content on different platforms, so it’s nice for me to post about it in my Story and give the loyal followers an easy way to check it out. People are more likely to read your blog or whatever if it’s as easy as swiping up. However, there is the ol’ “click the link in my profile” option you can always fall back on. I’ve been weighing the options for a while and might try it. It’s super easy to switch back and forth, so why not?
Well buddy you asked for help right?, and the engagement of your account depends directly of the type of followers you’re getting, thats why i asked you that question to give a better opinion, but good luck.
Where did I ask for help? Literally the only questions I asked was “So, with all this being said, what are the other options for boosting engagement?” and “Any of you have plans to switch things up this year?”.
At no point did I say “help me” or ask “what should I do?” I’m so confused with everyone’s savior mentality on this post. I’m not looking for a consultation on “Saving” my account. I’m only trying to discuss what people are thinking about trying this year. What features they’re excited to explore and what they’re looking to do with their own accounts. How is this such a difficult concept to grasp?
I mean, when you have 2 people misread your pretty straightforward post and incessantly talk down to you, try to fix your stuff for you, and hijack your post, it gets pretty annoying.
Unless you got big accounts liking your posts, your engagement will still stay the same with what you are currently doing. One post a day for a 12k page will not boost it, 2 a day will. You need to be proactive and its sound advice to like other accounts to follow you else you get lost in the feed. Todays Instagram feed is like based, not wish based. If your attitude is fuck you folks, I need new methods, got news for you…there are no new methods. Like more, post twice as much. Cause its simple, do what you’re currently doing get same results. Post 2 - 5 stories a day, not just to promote your posts… more importantly, is promote you… because you are the account. I don’t believe in hashtags also, however, I got back up from my other pages that like each other so it might be a very viable option. until you get to grow on your own, be it 50 to 100k, you should use EG and DM groups, like it or not. It will, ( read that part over) will increase your likes and explore showing…after all, that is what you want as the goal… followers coming to you…
