Instagram is an effective strategy to use for business and in today’s world most creators know this. Boasting one of the highest engagement rates across any social media marketing channel, Instagram is one of the top choices for marketers that are trying to grow their business or brand.
With over a billion users on Instagram every single month, the platform is primed and ready to deliver a return on investment (if done correctly). That’s over 1/7th of the world’s population!
When Instagram launched, it was more about how many followers you had on your profile.
But as the industry standards grew, most businesses and brands put the follower count on the backburner and focused on another metric…
That metric is engagement. If you want your Instagram account to yield any kind of ROI, it’s completely understandable to care more about your engagement rate and less about your follower count.
Like Hootsuite says, “engagement only have value when it’s genuine, AKA, coming from real people and profiles.”
In order to reach even more users, your content needs to connect you with your current audience in a way that makes them want to engage with it.
By engage, I’m talking about commenting on your posts, sharing them, liking them, saving them, following your account, mentioning your account, using branded hashtags, click throughs on your links, and DMs.
All these engagement “signals” tell Instagram that your account is in demand. This, in turn, gives your content and account a higher “trust” score within the IG algorithm.
Because of this, you’ll start to notice even more engagement and reach from things like reaching the explore page or being higher in the Instagram newsfeed.
At the end of the day, getting better engagement isn’t easy. The good news is that it’s a straightforward task, but you have to be committed to it.
Read on if you want to know what Instagram classifies as a good engagement rate and how to increase your engagement rate by implementing these things right away!
Let’s first talk about what engagement rate is not. If you think your follower count is an engagement rate, then you’re wrong.
Instagram engagement rates are metrics of interactions that your fan base makes on the content you create and upload to Instagram.
Specifically, engagement metrics are measure by the following:
- Comments
- Shares
- Likes
- Saves
- Followers & Growth Trajectory
- Mentions
- Branded Hashtags
- Click-throughs
- DMs
When real people take these kind of actions, it signals Instagram that your Instagram posts matter to their community which gives your account more “weight”, or “trust”.
In other words, it means that your target audience is digging what you’re creating. This is powerful because it means that you have influence within your fan base and will increase your number of followers.
How To Measure Instagram Engagement
There’s a few different ways to measure your Instagram engagement rate. You can use an Instagram engagement rate calculator that will calculate any Instagram account’s engagement rate in a matter of seconds.
Before these engagement rate tools were available, brands and businesses had to do the math manually.
We actually used to do manual account analysis for our clients which included a range of engagement rate metrics.
For instance, we’d calculate the average engagement rate of their account, look at engagement rates of competitor accounts in the same space for reference, check their Instagram insights, look at their content and understand why they are creating content like that.
In addition, we’d look at their Instagram captions, video posts, audience interest, Instagram reels, and any other type of content they are using to drive Instagram engagement.
And once we gathered this information, we’d calculate their average Instagram engagement rate and have a one on one Zoom session with them.
That’s when these creators realized that Instagram engagement rate matter(s).
Fast-forward to today, it’s much easier to use the engagement rate calculator from Thunderclap.
What Is A Good Instagram Engagement Rate
While there are some baseline statistics for Instagram engagement rates, Instagram themselves tend to shy away from a direct answer to this question.
Luckily, we’ve done our due-diligence and spoken to a number of folks in our network, and we can agree on the following:
Instagram engagement rates average around 1% to 5%, generally speaking.
We’ve also found that engagement rates tend to vary depending on what kind of content type you use and also the follower amount of the account.
Remember: A good Instagram engagement rate doesn’t mean that you’ll have a good Twitter engagement rate, a good LinkedIn engagement rate, or any other social media engagement rate. These metrics are specific for each social media channel that you use.
Instagram Engagement Rates Vary By Post Type
Carousel posts on average tend to have the clear edge when it comes to higher Instagram engagement coming in at roughly 1.01%.
The next best post type for high engagement rate was photo posts, coming in at 0.81%.
Lastly, Instagram video posts came in with an engagement rate at roughly 0.61%
Now that we know this, let’s quickly look at why posting a carousel are the most best for getting good engagement rate (based on our opinion):
These posts are the most engaging because they give the user more than one chance to engage on the post.
Remember: Carousel posts, even though they have multiple images or videos, still count as one post.
How To Increase Instagram Engagement Rate
Tip 1: Get to know your audience
Your audience is everything. If you don’t know who you’re creating content for (hint, it’s not you…), then you won’t be able to connect with them at the deepest level.
And this means that your Instagram engagement will suffer as a result.
Things like knowing what kind of content type your audience prefers (ie: Instagram stories, Instagram photo pots, Instagram video posts, regular Instagram posts) will help you vibe with them and entice them to engage with the content.
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A post shared by Humans of New York (@humansofny)
Personalized content will increase engagement and give your brand relevance with your target audience.
This is guaranteed to help your average rate of engagement on your post which will help your vanity metrics and encourage users to post interactions with your Instagram accounts.
Tip 2: Get authentic
There’s nothing better than an account on Instagram with their own vibe. Being authentic helps your followers get a better idea of who you really are, which will once again increase your follower growth.
Relevant content that is *unique*, that’s what other users are looking for. Time is too precious for your target audience to waste their time period on Instagram by engaging on other posts that are carbon copies of somebody else.
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A post shared by Dunkin’ (@dunkin)
Take the Dunkin Donuts Instagram account, for instance.
Not only do they know that their audience loves pets (tip #1), but their content is funny and unique as well.
Just look at the healthy perspective and number of followers that are helping their total number of likes and comments shoot through the roof.
Tip 3: Share great images
At it’s core, Instagram is and always has been a social media platform based around visual content.
Creating great content starts visually. There’s never been an easier time to create great visual graphics and content, even if you’re not a graphic designer or photographer.
The amount of tools that creators have is truly awe-inspiring. Here at Thunderclap, though, we believe that less is more.
Average engagement rates soar when you post great images that are simple and easy to get on with.
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A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez)
As we mentioned above, a carousel post on Instagram is much more effective than any other kind of content, if you’re looking to entice your Instagram users to help increase your Instagram engagement.
Remember: Carousels give you up to 10 different chances to post something inside the same main posts to get your audience to engage. Think of a normal photo post, that only gives you the option to upload one piece of content inside one post.
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A post shared by SHEIN.COM (@sheinofficial)
Not only that, once you get your audience swiping, they’re already trained to double tap. This is another reason why carousels help with post impressions, and it’s one of the best new feature(s) that Instagram released in a long time.
Tip 5: Post video content
Videos, whether live video or recorded video, is a great way to have other accounts engage on your own content.
Dividing post interactions between video content and other types such as photo content helps your audience tab what they want to.
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A post shared by Kylie Cosmetics (@kyliecosmetics)
Video content is another great refreshing way for your audience to see how authentic (tip #2) and real you are.
And when they engage on this type of content, it helps the Instagram algorithm by giving your account more trust.
Tip 6: Write strong captions
Instagram insights prove that a good engagement rate is directly correlated to writing strong captions.
While we explained that Instagram is indeed visual, captions are one of the only times you get to influence your audience with the written word.
This can help them engage by not only the awesomeness of your content, but by the call to action from your captions.
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A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)
Writing these captions is a manual process and your followers will appreciate reading something meaningful.
Tip 7: Create saveable content
Saveable content helps people remember you. And when people remember you, they’ll come back to your post regularly.
They see your Instagram handle in their saved posts, and that helps you with getting a high engagement.
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A post shared by Girlboss® (@girlboss)
If you’re selling products or services, this is even more valuable.
Add a “Save This Post” CTA to help get people trained to save the content that you’re posting regularly.
Tip 8: Go live
Going live is self-explanatory. People love live video, so giving them what they want is a good idea.
Remember: Posting types fluctuate by niche. There’s never a set in stone content type such as using an Instagram story or going on Instagram live. Use what works best by analyzing the feedback you get on your content.
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A post shared by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus)
With that said, though, live video is great because it’s a direct way to engage with your audience. Doing this will not only get you a better Instagram engagement rate, but it will also deepen your connection with your audience and show them how real and authentic you truly are.
Tip 9: Craft compelling content
This is self explanatory. People are too busy to vibe with content that’s bland and boring.
Compelling content doesn’t mean that you have to spend days and weeks to create it, or even use high quality production.
Compelling content on Instagram means something that your audience and followers can “get”.
Crafting this content starts with knowing your audience (Tip #1).
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A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine)
Sharing content created from your audience is a great way to grab share of their followers and friends.
They will also be more likely to reciprocate by engaging on your content.
Doing this is one of the best methods to get indirect followers from these people’s network.
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A post shared by James Charles (@jamescharles)
Responding to questions and comments shows your audience that you actually care. This will help the total number of comments you get exponentially because people are more prone to comment on your content if they get a response back.
On the contrary, if you aren’t an A-list celeb that has a billion followers, then your Instagram engagement rate will suffer if you do not respond to your audience’s questions and comments.
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A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)
Tip 12: Get experimental
Trying new things is always a good strategy as it gives you insight as to what your audience does or doesn’t like.
The key when doing experimental posts and content is listening to the Instagram insights and engagement metrics. Try Instagram stories if you haven’t yet. Try sending direct messages to your audience and see what happens. Maybe using different hashtags will help you find the right hashtags.
Keep working at it until you’re getting the numbers you’re looking for.
The number of followers you get depends on how willing you are to try new things.
This is one of the most important times to remember that engagement rate makes a difference.
If your audience isn’t liking the route you’re going, then simply just go in a different direction.
Although, there’s also a chance of going viral or hitting that sweet spot of being a trend setter.
Tip 13: Post consistently, and at strategic times
I beat this drum like it’s going out of style. Consistent posting gives your audience more chances to engage with your content, thus increasing your engagement.
Even further, when you publish content at times you know your audience will be using the Instagram app, you give them, once again, more opportunities to engage with you.
A lack of content posting will isolate you from your audience and is detrimental if you want to increase your average IG engagement rate.
Tip 14: Drive traffic from other sources
Think of how many social media channels there are…
Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, etc. There are endless opportunities to use these horizontal mediums to drive traffic to or from one channel to another.
One big opportunity that I see a lot of creators missing out on is using their Instagram bio link to drive IG traffic to their websites or blog post(s).
Remember: Instagram isn’t your platform. Your account can be deleted, disabled, or shadow banned for any reason at anytime. Direct your followers to a platform (like a blog) that is yours. Where you can collect their contact information and market to them for life.
Final Words: How To Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate
Remember: You can instantly increase your engagement rate on Instagram by choosing our buy Instagram likes services. Save the trouble and go for the gusto!
The above tips are things that you can implement right away if you want to increase your average engagement rate on Instagram. These tips might now work to boost your Twitter engagement rate or other different platforms.
But to reiterate the exact method to increasing engagement on Instagram, here it is:
First: figure out where your account’s engagement rate is at by using a tool like our engagement calculator.
Second: Find the gaps in your content by reading the above tips and implement a strategy to include as many of them to give your audience a better experience.
Thirdly: Analyze your new content’s engagement rate by waiting 14 days and seeing the new metrics. If your audience is vibing with your new content, your new engagement rates will be better.
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