Struggling to improve Instagram engagement?
Here are 7 visual strategies to boost your reach and engagement on Instagram.
Some of them only take a few seconds to do!
DONNA MORITZ | AUGUST 6, 2017
If you are wondering how to get more eyeballs on your posts (and improve Instagram engagement) then listen up.
These Instagram Engagement tips can be implemented easily (some of them take just a few taps of a button).
Many of these tips are Instagram Engagement Features that you may not even realise are there.
Which is nothing to worry about. Let's face it… Instagram has added some pretty COOL features over the past year. I can barely keep up!
The thing I love about all of these features is that they link back to effective visual storytelling on Instagram.
Let's jump in and take a look at 7 Instagram Engagement TIps (with Visuals) that you can start using NOW in your Instagram Marketing:
7 Ways to Improve Instagram Engagement
1. Create an Engaging Photo Series
Instagram was built upon the idea of sharing beautiful, engaging photos. But how can you get people to come back for more?
Tease them with a photo or video series.
It's all about getting them to come back for (and engage with) more of your content in that series.
Someone who does this really well is Lauren Bath, a photographer and Instagrammer who works with tourism brands around the world.
Lauren posts her images as a series of photos over a few days which encourages her followers to check back in.
Whether it's the Rocky Mountains, Zimbabwe, Norway or Japan – Lauren posts stunning images. I've posted about Lauren's images before, but today I am going to give a shameless plug for my country, Australia.
Here are a few recent images from Vivid Festival in Sydney as part of a photo series:
Lauren is a skilled storyteller. She rolls her story out over many images. Be sure to click through to the actual images to read the longer captions.
Lauren's photographs speak for themselves. However, by continuing the story in the captions, she engages her viewers. This adds something special and keeps you coming back for more.
Want to do a photo series to Improve Instagram Engagement? Here are some ideas for you. You can post:
- images or videos around a particular location if you are a tourism brand
- tips or how-to images or videos
- a series of posts by your community using User Generated Content. Be sure you get permission using a tool like Tack. (See No. 7 below).
- Bonus points if you add a colour theme or filter style to your series so that it looks great on the feed.
2. Leverage Captions for Storytelling
Instagram is a platform where users like to stay “on” the platform.
If you ask someone to go to another site for something with a call to action, make sure it is really important.
For the most part, people like to stay on Instagram. So when storytelling, take advantage of everything you can. That includes leveraging your captions.
As with Lauren's example above, it's smart to tell stories in the captions to improve Instagram engagement – add more context, give detail, expand on your image.
Branden Harvey grew a huge following on Instagram by doing just that – telling amazing stories in the captions of his (amazing) photographs and portraits:
People love longer captions on Instagram. They want to immerse themselves in your storytelling.
It's different to Facebook, so remember that. You can tell longer stories.
And of course, you can send people to your Instagram story for more context, information, behind the scenes information. But more of that below.
3. Create a Slideshow of Images and Video
Instagram has always been about great images and videos. But have you heard about Instagram Slideshows?
It's another way that you can share content and improve Instagram engagement.
It's great for those times when you have more than one great image, or perhaps another story to tell visually.
Or when you just can't make up your mind about what to share! (Yep, that's me…. often).
Here's an example of an Instagram slideshow from the Indian Bike Touring company Trails of India. Click the arrow to “swipe” right” or if you are on a mobile, click through to their Instagram account and swipe right to view the entire slideshow. Their slideshow showcases tips for bike riding across India:
I like how Trails of India gets creative with their content – they use slideshows in many ways to encourage engagement with their audience:
They also showcase events and trail rides with multiple photos of the participants – sharing content about their community to improve Instagram engagement.
Slideshows work particularly well when you have extra (great) content that you want to share beyond the main cover image or video.
I speak around the world about visual storytelling, often at tourism conferences and the benefit is that I often get to go on some amazing tourism experiences.
Here's one such bucket list experience where I just couldn't choose the image to share…so I maxed out my slideshow with 9 images and one video (you can share 10 in total).
As you can see, a mix of photos and video works well on Instagram Slideshows:
Ready to create a slideshow to improve Instagram engagement? Here's some ideas:
- Add more information to your image or video – choose the best image or video to go first as a cover image, then add your supplementary images after that.
- Create a sequence of items, tips, elements into a slideshow
- Show an itinerary or tour
- Encourage engagement like Trails of India did in the above example. Share more than one example around a topic.
- Create an image series that flow from one image to another, like this cool creation from HP (swipe/click right to view):
Will you get creative with Instagram Slideshows?
4. Add Location Stickers to your Instagram Stories
Instagram stories are a great way to connect further with your audience and improve Instagram engagement. They allow you to tell a story that goes deeper than the image or photo you post on the feed.
And you can add stickers, filters, text to make your stories more engaging.
One type of sticker that is super important (but often missed) is the location sticker. It makes it easy to tag your location for your story to be found more easily on Instagram.
Check out this post to find out more about Instagram Location Stickers.
Here's an example of an Instagram Location Sticker feed for San Diego Zoo. You can see that there are stories to be discovered at the top via the circle icon:
And if you click on the circular story icon, you will see a whole bunch of stories featured like this one:
Anyone who uses a Location sticker in their story for the San Diego Zoo may get featured in the location story. And their story can also be found if someone searches under that location.
As I outlined in this post, Instagram Location Stories are a great way to get your content discovered.
All you have to do is add the location sticker to your story.
This is great for any business that has a physical location to post about their business. It also allows you to:
- Find people sharing stories around that location.
- Encourage and share User Generated Content by finding relevant content to share (and tag) on your stories.
- Join the conversation. You can direct message someone who has posted about a particular location or you can check out their profile, follow and engage with them.
And again, these stickers take just seconds to add to your content. Will you do it, now that you know how easy it is and how you can get discovered more easily with Instagram Location Stickers?
Oh, and the best part is this: If your story is included in a story round up by Instagram around the location you tagged with a sticker, your story views will usually get a huge boost. #Winning.
5. Add Hashtags to get found on Instagram Stories
Hashtags work in a similar way and allow you to get found on Instagram. This happens through the Hashtag hub or the Instagram Story hashtag.
These can be regular hashtags you type into your story, or you can one of the Hashtag Stickers on Instagram
Anyone that searches under a particular hashtag on Instagram will see search results for that hashtag including images and videos.
But they may also see Instagram stories featured in the hashtag hub. Hashtags are pulled in from captions, comments and stories.
I saw that my friend Rebekah Radice was speaking at an influencer conference called “Megaphone 2017” and I decided to search on the Hashtag #megaphone17 to see what the conference was like.
Instagram pulled in the following hashtag search results:
Just like Location Stickers, Instagram Stories will show in the search if someone is using that hashtag in an Instagram story.
Here's a story that came up about Rebekah speaking on stage:
If I tap on the hashtag it will also take me back to the hashtag hub!
This means that you should consider using hashtags in the caption or comments on your image or video …. and also in your Instagram Stories.
Use hashtags related to your industry, relevant topics or themes. Feature any topic that you are likely to be found “via” with a hashtag… including locations, events and communities.
Again, it just takes a few seconds to add a hashtag, so remember to consider this when creating your next Instagram Story.. and help your content get seen by more people!
Here's how a Hashtag Sticker looks on Instagram Stories. If you click it, you will be able to view the hashtag hub for that particular hashtag. If you want to make your hashtag stand out, use a sticker!
6. Get Creative with Instagram Story Tools
Instagram stories has some engaging tools that you can use to improve Instagram engagement.
These include the ability to add text, coloured text backgrounds, filters and stickers of all types.
You can also use the following two tools to create engaging content:
- Boomerang – Boomerang is a fun tool that allows you to create GIF-like short repeating-loop videos that can be fun, especially on Instagram stories. You can also use them in your regular Instagram posts as well. Be careful you don't over-do it with Boomerangs, but most Instagram users love them.
- Rewind – allows you to record video into your story and have it instantly reversed… you can create some cool effects with this!
You can find both Boomerang and Rewind at the bottom of your Stories home screen – just click the one you want and start recording by holding down the button. Super easy!
Below is an example of a “Boomerang”. My new friend Arun Singh (presenter at Shop CJ India) “Boomeranged” this recently (and yes, it is used like a verb) when I was speaking in Mumbai at the Indian Digital Media Awards.
I like to create my Boomerangs first with the Boomerang app. Then I can use them later in videos and on Instagram stories by importing them when I am ready.
Sometimes, however, it's just better to create a boomerang on the fly, straight from the Instagram Stories dashboard.
Note: Another tool that is great to use is Instagram's Hyperlapse which allows you to take longer videos and then speed it up. I have seen many brands use it effectively in Instagram Stories. Just import the video when you need it.
You can find both Boomerang and Hyperlapse in the iOS and Android apps stores.
7. Share User Generated Content
One of the best ways to grow a community on Instagram is to share User Generated Content.
It's important that you:
(a) get permission and
(b) give credit by linking to the Instagrammer when you do this.
It's becoming more and more common for big brands and tourism organisations to not just rely on giving credit but to get permission. Acquiring Usage Rights is super important if you are going to use it for your business.
You can get credit by simply asking or sending a DM, but one of the best ways to do it is to use a tool like Tack where you can get permission or usage rights around a clear set of T&Cs.
You can also keep a record of the permission in a media centre. I like that Tack allows you to download and reshare videos with permission too.
Find out more about Tack in this post.
A great brand who almost 100% posts with User Generated Content is AirBnB.
Here's an example of a post where they showcase a host and some of the reasons to stay in this gorgeous cottage in Japan:
It's a nice touch that the caption is in Japanese as well as English.
User Generated Content is one of the most powerful forms of storytelling and will definitely help you to improve Instagram engagement.
Customers and your community are always the best storytellers, so take advantage of it!
Extra Tips to Improve Instagram Engagement
I just wanted to share a couple of extra tips for you when it comes to visuals on Instagram:
- Less Posts More Quality – the Instagram Algorithm has changed things up a bit and you may notice a drop in your likes and engagement. One thing that is working for most users is to post less often and with better quality. Choose your best images and video to post to your feed and then use Instagram Stories and Slideshows to add supplementary content. Less is More.
- Post uninterrupted beautiful images – Stop the Regram clutter! I know many instagrammers and photographers who hate having their photos regrammed with an ugly “regram from.. sticker” covering thier image. They would prefer you to post the whole image, and add your own extra information or perspective in the caption, as long as you acknowledge them and give credit to them for the photograph or image. Just be sure you take the extra step and get permission to use the photo (either in writing or using a tool like Tack) and you are good to go. This way, you also get to build a great relationship with the instagrammer.
Over to You
Are you using these tools and strategies on Instagram to improve Instagram Engagement? What will you try?
Leave a comment below and let me know what you will try next!
Donna Moritz
