10 tips to boost your Instagram engagement

Est. Reading Time: 4 minutes, 39 seconds

Hey there 👋

We’ve just completed a round of Creator Camp, where we posted every day for 30 days, in the Buffer community with amazing results.

Some participants saw as much as a 500% jump in reach, and I’m no exception. My focus on video content across LinkedIn and TikTok paid off, with some posts going viral, and I have a lot of lessons to share (look out on the blog). I also have a stronger identity regarding what I want to share and how.

Overall, we had a great run, and I can’t wait to share details for the next iteration of the challenge.

💌 What’s in this issue:

• 💻 The latest content on the blog
• 📰 Social media news and features to note
• 📸 A handy tip for your next TikTok video
• 🪂 Dive into our top tips to boost your Instagram engagement

That’s it from me!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and see you next Friday!

Warmly, 

Tami & the Buffer team

👇 The latest from the blog

• Discover 29 essential digital marketing tools that help growing brands succeed without breaking the bank.

• Here’s a guide to using the Meta’s database of all ads on the platform.

• Get unstuck with 29 creative Instagram post ideas and examples from brands and creators who are nailing it.

🖊️ The deep dive

10 simple tips to increase your Instagram engagement

Instagram engagement goes beyond the simple metric of follower count — it reflects how your audience interacts with your content. Whether you're a creator or a brand, engagement is a key indicator of how well you connect with your audience.

Here are 10 simple tips to help you increase yours by making the most of various post types and features.

1. Diversify your content formats: Reels are a powerhouse for reach, boasting 36% more reach than carousels and 125% more reach than single-image posts. However, carousels are engagement leaders, driving 12% more interaction than Reels. So, you should be using a mix of any and all available formats on the platform.
2. Use Instagram Stories and interactive stickers: Add interactive stickers to Stories to turn simple views into meaningful engagements. Polls and quizzes, for example, don’t just grab attention; they make your audience feel involved in shaping the conversation.
3. Use carousels to spark conversations: Carousels outperform other formats when it comes to engagement. This happens mainly because they keep users swiping, which keeps them on the platform longer, which the algorithm loves. And now that you can get them into the Reels feed by adding music, you have more opportunities to boost engagement.
4. Lean into Reels to maximize reach: Focus on creating shareable Reels, which the Instagram algorithm loves. Encourage your viewers to send the Reel to a friend or share it in their Stories, increasing your chances of appearing in more feeds.
5. Find your best time to post on Instagram: While there is no universal “best” time to post on Instagram, our data shows that certain times of day tend to yield better results. For example, posts shared between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on weekdays consistently receive the most engagement.
6. Add trending audio for a boost: Tapping into Instagram sounds both places your content in the Reels feed and helps increase the chances of your post being seen by a wider audience.
7. Stay ahead by adopting new features: Follow the @creators account or CEO Adam Mosseri’s updates to stay on top of Instagram updates.
8. Focus on shareable and save-worthy content: Make your posts more shareable by encouraging followers to tag a friend who would find the content helpful.
9. Write compelling captions: Use your caption to tell a story, ask a question, or invite your audience to share their thoughts—and always include a clear call-to-action. For example, asking followers to tag a friend, leave a comment, or share their opinion encourages them to interact with your post.
10. Place Instagram hashtags strategically: Aim for a blend of 5-10 hashtags per post, and use larger hashtags to tap into broader trends and niche hashtags to reach the right audience.

⌛ "We grew a client's accounts by 400 percent"

We pride ourselves on being an excellent tool for creators and business owners to grow on social media — and our users are more than happy to back us up. 

Jayak at redpigeonmedia says: “Over the past 3 months we've managed to grow one of our client's social media accounts by 400% from 6k to over 23k followers!”

Want to skyrocket your growth? Get started with Buffer today!

📱Social tip of the week

Try out the TikTok teleprompter feature to add in a video script

1. Open TikTok and click to ‘+’ button on your screen
2. Go to your Effects in the lower left of the screen and swipe till you see the ‘Tool’ option
3. Swipe down the selection of icons till you see the icon with a big ‘A’ — select it
4. Then tap on your screen to add your script, and you’re ready to record!

Light scripts are a creative hack for recording videos, so this will save me (and hopefully, you) many re-recordings.

🤳 What's happening in social?

• Instagram saves the best video quality for the most popular content
• Instagram says photos and carousels with music are now eligible to appear in the Reels tab
• YouTube tests a homepage without upload dates or view counts
• The fediverse is getting its own TikTok competitor called Loops
• Forbes just released its Top Creators list for 2024

Thanks for reading! 💟

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