Instagram, like Facebook, seems to always find ways to make it harder for businesses to get their posts seen and for people to engage with them. That said, there is plenty that you can do to increase your followers and your engagement with the right Instagram strategy.
The 2 Most Important Rules to Boost Your Instagram Followers and Engagement
1. Always Use Strategic Hashtags
There are countless studies and tests that looked into the impact of using hashtags on Instagram. Plenty of Instagram experts have come forward with optimum numbers of hashtags per post – but few agree on an exact number.
The truth is, the number of hashtags you should use will differ based on your particular audience and niche. There’s no “right” number; the only thing we know with absolute certainty is that using hashtags is better than using no hashtags – all tests and studies support that fact.
One of the most recent tests/studies I’ve read on the subject comes from the Social Media Lab; their test found that using up to 5 hashtags in your posts can lead to an impressive effect on engagement – particularly likes, but also comments.
For the test, they used 4 different Instagram account and posted 140 updates. The results showed a staggering increase in likes of 70.41% and a 392% increase in comments – although, they do admit that they weren’t getting a lot of comments to start with, but they clearly got a massive increase on posts with hashtags.
Of course, not just any hashtag will get you the results you’re looking for; the more strategic you are with your hashtags, the better.
First off, the hashtags you use need to be clearly relevant to the update you’re posting. If you’re going to tag a post with #food (over 250 million updates are tagged with #food!) but your update has no food, you’re just going to put people off – not engage with you.
Not to mention, the idea is to get targeted followers and engagement. If you’re getting likes from people who have absolutely no interest in your blog, or your business, then what’s the point?
Additionally, it’s also better to go with lesser-used hashtags. Some have hundreds of millions of posts (like #food or #cute – close to 400 million!), which means that yours will likely get lost. Focus instead on hashtags that get hundreds of thousands of posts, rather than millions:
