Boosting Instagram Engagement: Optimization and Goals

There are several social media channels that may be extremely impactful on your business and its bottom line, and Instagram is a top candidate across many industries. Knowing how to maximize engagement on a platform like Instagram, which functions as a heavily visual channel, can make a significant difference in how effectively you reach and retain your target audience.

At Be Locally, we proudly offer a wide range of SEO and digital marketing programs to clients around Utah, including social media marketing campaigns that utilize various channels to drive customers to your site and draw conversions. This two-part blog series will begin by going over why Instagram engagement is often very important for businesses marketing themselves, then will dig into various tactics for boosting your engagement.

Why Instagram Engagement Matters

Before we delve into tactics for increasing Instagram engagement, it's important to understand just why this particular platform is so significant when it comes to social media marketing. Instagram is popular and potent for several reasons:

• It's visual: As we noted, Instagram is highly visual in nature. This makes it a great platform for businesses that have visually appealing products or services, as well as those that can present their offerings through images.
• It has a large user base: With over 1 billion active monthly users, there is a huge potential audience on Instagram. This means that no matter what your industry or target market may be, you are likely to find a significant number of potential customers on the platform.
• It's highly engaging: Instagram boasts high levels of engagement among its user base. In fact, studies have shown that engagement rates on Instagram are significantly higher than those on other major social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Our next several sections, and on into part two of our series, will go over some basic tactics for boosting Instagram engagement.

Profile Optimization

One of the simplest and most impactful ways to increase your Instagram engagement is by optimizing your profile. This includes:

• Profile picture: Your profile picture should be clear, on-brand and eye-catching.
• Bio: The bio section of your profile is a great place to introduce yourself or your brand, describe what you do, and add links to relevant content.
• Profile highlights: This feature allows you to pin stories to your profile, giving interested users a quick look at what you have to offer.

Overall, taking the time to make sure your profile accurately represents your brand and is visually appealing can go a long way in boosting user engagement.

Setting Goals

Another basic tactic for increasing Instagram engagement is setting clear goals for your account and content. This might include:

• Increasing followers: One of the most common goals for businesses on Instagram is to gain more followers. This can be achieved through various strategies, such as running contests or collaborating with influencers.
• Driving website traffic: If your ultimate goal is to drive conversions on your website, make sure your Instagram content and captions include strong calls to action that encourage users to click the link in your bio.
• Boosting engagement rate: As mentioned earlier, engagement rates on Instagram tend to be higher than other platforms. Setting a goal for increasing your engagement rate can help you track the success of your overall strategy.

In part two of our series, we will dive into specific tactics for achieving these goals and boosting your overall Instagram engagement. At Be Locally, we have extensive experience in creating and executing successful social media marketing campaigns, and we can help your business reach its full potential on Instagram and other key platforms. Contact us today to learn more about any of our digital marketing programs.