Many beginner bloggers want to hack the secret of Instagram promotion. The overall strategy seems hard to embrace and understand at once. But in fact, it can be divided into categories which would be easy to work through one by one.
And one of the most important aspects that you must drive your attention to is the engagement with your followers. Without full devotion to this topic, it is impossible to reach your goal as a successful blogger. And along with the fact that now on Instagram the number of likes will be hidden, the strategy for an instant growth has to change too. Here we will describe the techniques that will be efficient in 2020 for increasing the level of user engagement.
COLLABORATION WITH OTHER BLOGGERS ON YOUR NICHE
Since Instagram is a social network, communication with other people that embrace the same range of topics is vital. Your active interaction amid the community will be helpful for being seen by potential followers. For starters, simply leaving comments, and tagging can do the trick. For example, as a food blogger one’s first steps should be tagging grocery shops and communication with other foodies from your region through comments and Stories. Also, a very powerful tool is to encourage followers to share their experiences with you.
CREATE CONTENT THAT IS WORTH SAVING
As we dropped before, the policy of Instagram is changing to lower down the pressure that likes were supposedly creating. For bloggers, it means that from now on they don’t have a possibility to show off their numbers like a peacock’s tail to attract a new audience. And the spotlight is on the feature that is called “Save”. It looks like a little bookmark in the right lower corner of your post, and after hitting it, the content is stored in the special folder. In 2020 it’s a very important metric that measures the value of your content.
It works well for posting useful information, like recipes, travelling tips, workouts, or basically anything that a reader would like to keep.
USE HASHTAGS WISELY
A hashtag is something that helps to increase your rate as potential followers are able to find you easily. A common mistake for newbies is using too general hashtags.
Let’s get back to our freshman food blogger. He doesn’t think that hashtags are that important, and just runs along with standard hashtags, like “#food”, “#cooking”, “#tasty”, etc. But he is losing his grip on followers, as his posts are just drowning in the flood of posts that are using those tags as well.
The proper thing to do if he wants to increase engagement is to choose more specific hashtags. Something like “#homemadeitaliancuisine”, “#veganmeatloafrecipe”, “#pumpkinseason” is a perfect match.
Using outstanding hashtags is a key to attract the kind of audience that you need for a better engagement rate.
SQUEEZE MAXIMUM FROM INSTAGRAM STORIES
By 2019 Stories hit the mark of 500 million everyday users, and this number is growing rapidly. That is the most effective tool for interacting with your followers! And Instagram Stories have impressing arsenal for that:
- Ask-me-anything format is a first-class thing for social listening. It helps a lot to define what your target audience wants to see from you. Or just start an interesting conversation.
- A good method to pull the engagement rate. Interesting trivia, along with other sorts of contests on Instagram is making people encouraged to watch your post closer and interact with it.
- A nicely wrapped candy for those who wait. Countdown is a classic move for attracting people to a certain event or sale. Works for personal blogs just as fine.
SHOW PERSONALITY
If you want your blog to be strictly devoted to the industry or niche that you have chosen, there’s a big chance that it won’t work out the way you want. Once again – Instagram is a social platform. It was created for people to share their personal experiences in the first place. Adding a bit of persona to your posts is a good hook for gaining more traffic. People love to feel involved. And when you drop a bit of sincereness to your followers they will return to you with a great willingness for interaction.
Again, our young foodie comes for the explanation! To get more interaction with his followers and attract occasional viewers, he should try going live on Instagram. As a blog that is about cuisine, the first thing that comes to mind is cooking with your followers online. To track the public interest, he can ask his followers if they want such a format.
And the most important thing for him to remember – reading and responding to viewers is a must!
TEST NEW TYPES OF CONTENT FROM TIME TO TIME
Even the best idea can die in vain if it is not evolving. Posting the content of the same type all the time will drive away even the most loyal followers. So you need to think outside of the box and roll out something new once a few weeks. People are easily addicted to consistency. So make a plan and categorize your content in order to divide your audience into target groups.
INCREASE RECOGNITION OF YOUR PROFILE
Instagram is a platform that is based primarily on visual perception. The human eye tends to notice organized and neat objects more likely than the chaotic dance of colours and forms. So what a blogger needs is to create a certain style that would make his profile outstanding and pleasant to watch. See a few tips for making your blog recognizable and cool:
- Choose one or two synergizing filters and use them constantly.
- Use a specific font for your texts
- Avoid too bright or acidic colours. Try using soft mid-tones instead
- Don’t overload your pictures with retouch (Especially since Instagram is up to regulation of editing programs and apps usage)
- Use objects as your thing (our foodie, for instance, can have a special handmade presentation dish. Or a saucepan 🙂
DON’T TRY TOO HARD
For sure you must put some effort into everything that you do. But remember that people get tired of constant accenting and self-promotion. Just relax and do your thing. There is no need to push your blog to the limits all the time. Let your followers see how you genuinely enjoy your work the way it is. People like seeing someone independent and self-sufficient as an influencer.
In general – not every post of yours is of high importance. That is what you have to deal with. But sometimes not giving a damn about it is what users find intriguing and worth to see.
AND THE OVERALL CONCLUSION TO THIS ARTICLE
Creating a successful blog is art. And user engagement is a big brush that draws on your canvas. Your main job as a blogger is to entertain people or provide information without being spammy and annoying.
In this article, we have shared with you a few secret techniques that will allow you to interact with your audience better. To wield the delicate matter of human interests, combine and experiment with these hacks. Eventually, you will find the most effective strategy for organic and constant growth.
