Want to boost your engagement on Instagram organically? This is the key to getting your business noticed.
Why is it so important to boost your engagement on Instagram as a photographer?
Love it or hate it, Instagram is one of the best ways to market your photography business. If you aren’t utilizing this powerful platform, you are missing out.
The best news of all – it’s completely free! Learn 8 ways to boost your engagement on Instagram organically so that you can reach new clients, connect with them and convert them to lifelong customers!
Social media is driven by algorithms. Algorithms are basically fancy calculators that analyze everything you post, guess how popular it will be and determine how much that content will be shown. Instagram uses them to customize every user’s feed so that they are engaged and want to keep coming back. Content that is engaging will get seen more!
So how do you create content that the algorithms will love? You need to make it engaging. But how do you do that? Here are 8 ways to boost your engagement on Instagram to leverage the best social media platform for your business.
8 Ways to Boost Your Engagement on Instagram
1 | Determine the best time to post!
2 | Make your content shareable.
3 | Be yourself and don’t over think it!
4 | Use stickers in your stories.
5 | Be a resource to your audience with “saveable” content.
6 | Ask questions or play games!
7 | Be a great storyteller.
8 | Be consistent. Show up for your audience on a regular basis!
1 | Determine the best times to post!
If you want to get your content seen, the best place to start is by researching the best times to post. You can easily find this under your Instagram Insights under your profile. When inside your Insights Overview, scroll down to the Audience section and click the side arrow for more info. From here you will see a bunch of different data pertaining to your audience demographics. At the bottom of this, you will find you find the “Most Active Times”. You can toggle between Hours and Days to see what days and times are the most active for your audience.
You want to post your content (both stories and posts) when your audience is the most active. Instagram favors fresh and new content so your content will be more likely to be seen if it’s posted at peak times for your audience.
2 | Make your content shareable.
Algorithms love content that is “popular”. Make your content popular among your audience by making it shareable. When others share your posts, this tells Instagram that it’s something desirable to others and it will get more visibility.
If you have an inspirational quote, great information to share or just simply something others would find entertaining, include it in your feed!
3 | Be yourself and don’t over think it!
Your audience wants to connect with you! As a photographer you should want to connect with your followers just as much. Be yourself in your posts and don’t overthink it.
Write candidly in your captions. Don’t over-analyze what you write by trying to make it perfect. When you share on stories, open up to your audience.
The more your audience feels a connection to you and the more relatable you are — the more likely they will be to engage with you on Instagram. When Instagram knows your followers feel connected to you, your engagement will go up.
4 | Use stickers in your stories.
Instagram has some wonderful built-in tools to help you boost your engagement organically. There are multiple stickers available for you to use in your stories that make it fun. Polls, questions, like-scales and more are easy to use, making it seamless to boost engagement.
As a photographer, you can poll your audience for their opinion on preferences for edits, location options, gauge interest for mini sessions. You can add like-scales to your photos. There are so many ways to easily build in small opportunities for engagement.
These small interactions could be considered “micro-conversions” or small building blocks in establishing a connection with your audience.
5 | Be a resource to your audience with “saveable” content.
The best way to build credibility with your clients and/or future clients is to be a resource to them. Give your audience content that helps them or inspires them.
Think of things that would be helpful to a potential client. This could be a posing tutorial, styling tips, a checklist of what to pack for a fresh 48 session. Think about your most commonly asked questions or hang ups for your clients. Answer their questions and they will naturally want to read it and save it.
Don’t forget to remind them to save the post for later reading. This is key in showing Instagram that your content is valuable!
6 | Ask questions or play games!
Instagram is a place where people go to entertain themselves whether it be finding inspiration, connecting with others or shopping. Don’t forget to make your content fun!
Ask questions or integrate games into your posts or stories. When you write a post, end it with a question to your followers. Create a post for your audience to get to know you better. Write a caption with two truths and one lie. Ask your followers to guess which one is not true. Run a contest for a giveaway by asking your followers to tag a friend.
There are so many ways to entertain and engage with your audience by playing games.
7 | Be a great storyteller.
If you aren’t utilizing Instagram stories – you need to be! Stories give you a casual way to get to know your clients without the stress of having to curate the perfect caption.
When you create a story on Instagram, don’t forget to be a good storyteller. All stories have a beginning a middle and an end. If you simply post one piece of the story, it will leave viewers asking what happened next. For example, if you are sharing a behind the scenes at a newborn shoot. You want to show them the shooting, the editing and the final photo that results. Sharing the end result closes the loop in your story.
8 | Be consistent. Show up for your audience on a regular basis!
Last but not least — to boost your engagement on Instagram you need to be consistent and show up for your audience on a regular basis! This not only tells Instagram that your account matters but it continues to build the like, know and trust factor with your audience. You need to be consistent. Period!
Instagram is a powerful platform to market your business, reach new customers and build rapport with your existing clients. The key to doing so is by creating engaging content that your audience can’t help but love. The more they love it, the more Instagram will showcase your account.
Follow these 8 simple ways to boost your engagement today and let me know what works best for you! I’d love some feedback so please comment below!
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