Author: Jamie Love
It’s quite interesting how much our perception of a good social media account has changed over the last few years. In my opinion, followers are a thing of the past, the most important metric in marketing is engagement.
So what is engagement? people will have many answers for this, the old-school way of measuring engagement is simply looking at how many likes are received on a particular post and dividing it by the number of followers. Now however, engagement has become a lot more in-depth and takes into account much more than just likes. Engagement is about any action that has been taken in result to the post being seen. Engagement for myself is likes, comments, saves and click to site, all actions which are the direct outcomes of a post.
I’ve seen some atrocious accounts where blurry pictures are posted and overly/poorly edited. It’s important to only post great quality pictures or videos with good editing. Instagram is a creative platform, therefore users won’t engage with poor quality content. Another bit of advice is to create a theme for your Instagram so there’s no confusion as to what exactly you’re about.
Captions create an opportunity to speak to your following so really make use of them! The easiest way to create engagement in terms of comments is to ask a question within your caption giving your followers a voice and a great way to obtain further ideas and inspirations.
Be shameless. Who cares if you hashtag? I spoke to many clients before who think hashtags cheapens the profile or looks desperate… I couldn’t disagree more. Hashtags are a way to reach people who are looking for your content! Make your insta-life easier by using RELEVANT hashtags in a bid to enhance engagement and attract more people to your posts.
I have spoken to many businesses about social media and more specifically Instagram and many think Instagram is just a tick-box – ‘yes I have an Instagram account. Done. Next’. WRONG. needs to be curated and taken care of, much like any other marketing channel. Initially I always recommend to clients to schedule half an hour in their diaries every day to be proactive on Instagram.
What do I mean by ‘be proactive’? Being proactive is about going out there and engaging with people that may be interested in your content and if they are interested in you, you will most likely be interested in them! For example, if my Instagram was all about food I would spend some time researching the most common food hashtags and liking, commenting and following accounts similar to mine, but on that note, please don’t post generic comments as they’ll just look spammy.
Engage with those who engage with you, when you start receiving more comments make sure you are engaging with them, either replying or liking them. It’s all about creating meaningful conversations and communities that share similar interests.
The main take-home message is to be proactive. Imagine Instagram as a shop, simply switching the lights on isn’t enough to attract customers, you need to go above and beyond; find people who are interested in you, like the same things you do and see value in engaging with you.
Happy Engaging!
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A Certified Digital Marketing Specialist
“Jamie has been described as a top 10% marketer in Europe as well as being nominated for multiple marketing and PR awards across the country.”
