Boosting Engagement and Engaging with Your Audience (So Important!)
I’m going to let you in on the secret to getting more comments and likes on your posts. (Hint: it’s really easy!)
It’s not enough to ask people to comment and like your post without giving them anything in return! I always do my best to block off 15-30 minutes after a post to read people’s comments, look at their profiles, and truly connect with them! Not only does this help your post, but way more importantly, you get to truly interact with your followers and customers! Isn’t that what these little apps are about after all?
I try to like and respond to EVERY comment on our posts. In turn, it doubles the number of comments on a post and puts it in more people’s feeds because it’s telling Instagram it’s a highly engaged post.
How do I do it?
I spend 10 minutes per day just commenting on people’s feeds and “liking” posts of my friends and followers. If you want people to engage with you, you’ve got to engage and lead the way!
I also check out our hashtag #bestofthebull and the geo-tag for Durham, NC to find new people to engage with!
Head over to the feeds of three people who liked/commented on your last post and do the same for them! A little cheerleading can make a huge difference! Like three of their posts (and if you really like their vibe, follow them!)
Check Your Geo-Tag
If you have a brick and mortar business then check your geo-tag for your location and be sure to like and comment on the photos people tag you in. (If you don’t know how to find your geotag, just head to the search bar in Instagram and type in your business name.)
Tell your customers THANK YOU for coming in and supporting you. These customers came in, spent money, THEN took the time to take a photo and share with all of their followers. Free advertising for you. You can take the 3 seconds to say thank you and it will keep them coming back!
Take it a step further and repost their photo to your page or your story
There are plenty of apps available for free to repost photos. Since I batch and schedule our content on the computer, I use an extension for Google Chrome called Downloader. It’s free and allows you to download the photo from Instagram without losing any quality. (You know when you screenshot a photo then crop it, the photo tends to look blurry.)
See below when I’m on the browser and hover over a photo it allows me to download directly!
Don’t know how to repost to your story? Head to the post and click on the arrow.
You can then click add to your story!
Owning your Engagement
Review the last three posts on your feed and look at the engagement, what you’ve been sharing, and which posts are rockstars among the others. Start to pay attention to your metrics so that we can hone your message and images!
Review your last three posts that you shared on Instagram. Answer these questions:
PHOTO #1:
What was the image of?
What was the main point of the caption?
How many likes did it have?
How many comments did it receive?
PHOTO #2:
What was the image of?
What was the main point of the caption?
How many likes did it have?
How many comments did it receive?
PHOTO #3:
What was the image of?
What was the main point of the caption?
How many likes did it have?
How many comments did it receive?
Which photo had the best engagement (the most likes/comments?) Do you have any idea why it performed better than others?
- Did you use any hashtags when sharing these images? If yes? Which ones?
- Was there any strategy behind the top three images you shared?
- What about the last nine photos? The last twelve?
What’s obviously working for you and where are people not really responding?
Sometimes you just need to tell people what you would like for them to do!
I simply put at the bottom of a lot of our posts, “Tag a friend who would love this place!”. It makes them think for a second about someone who WOULD love this place and tag them in it. Then that person sees the post as well when they might not have before.
Post a picture today and ask your followers a question! Don’t panic if you only hear crickets, we’ve got to warm people up to the idea of responding to your invitation (think of it as an RSVP that might take a few days to get in the mail!)
And remember, lead the way with your engagement! If people see you actively commenting and responding to their posts, I promise they’ll do the same for you!