If you haven’t heard of Instagram marketing by now, then we’re sorry to ask: where have you been? (but seriously, where? But also, hello welcome – you’ve come to the right place!)
Instagram is a visual social media network that first launched back in 2010 and made the hashtag symbol what it is today. But when did it transform into such a powerful marketing tool?
As of 2022 there are 1.3 billion active users every month using Instagram with a huge number of these small business and social media marketing agencies – operating Instagram professional or business accounts.
So, what makes Instagram so special? Why is it a social media platform worth investing time and money into?
Thanks to its highly visual nature, Instagram is a great platform for businesses in many industries that value aesthetics such as eCommerce, fashion, beauty, food and beverage to showcase their products and services.
There are lots of different ways to show up on Instagram including grid posts, Stories, Lives and Reels. With a strong social media marketing strategy behind you, the sky is the limit with Instagram!
You can make your Instagram marketing even more effective by taking time to collaborate with content creators and complementary businesses with branded content, or dipping your toe into paid Instagram marketing (Instagram ads generally have a higher return on investment than advertisements across other digital channels).
However, if you’re just starting out on Instagram and/or don’t have a budget for paid marketing, there is still plenty to be achieved with organic posting– provided you have a solid content and posting strategy, that is!
Did you know? 92% of people act in the moment of seeing something on Instagram! This shopping mindset makes Instagram users the perfect audience because they’re high-intent and quick to convert!
Are you an Instagram newbie and don’t know where to start, or perhaps you’re just a tech noob struggling to keep up with Instagram’s constant new feature releases? Either way, we’re stepping you through the most commonly used and loved Instagram features.
User Profiles
We’ve all done that thing where we get a new follower and stalk our own user profile to see how it looks to others. And why not? Every Instagram user has their very own profile space. This is your space to shine. It’s the highlight reel for your photos or a dedicated space to market your product and services. You can update your bio and add a link where your followers can go to find out more information about you or your business, or to shop your products and/or services.
Instagram Image Posts
The original and the best! Instagram image posts have been around since the first inception of Instagram. To post, just tap the + icon, choose a photo from your library (and, if you like, a suitable filter) and the viola!
Carousel Posts
Instagram Carousel posts allow you to add 10 images at a time. We love the creativity that comes with being able to add up to 10 images for a single post, especially that it means you’re able to tell (or sell!) more of your brand story. Learn how to create a carousel post.
Instagram Video Posts
With the majority of users spending three or more hours watching videos and more than 80% of users deciding to purchase a product or service based on that brand’s video content, video posts are where they’re at! Instagram ditched their IGTV feature awhile back and streamlined into one, easy-to-understand video feature that can be added to your grid and accessed in the video tab on your profile. Learn more here
Instagram Stories
Nearly 87% of the 1.3-billion active Instagrammers actively use and create Instagram Stories, that’s a lot of daily active users. There’s no denying that Instagram Stories rock.
As an instant platform to grab your followers attention right at the top of the feed, this is a platform of its own accord, that allows you to share those important announcements or must-see and behind-the-scene moments. Instagram Stories can now be up to 60-seconds long (increased from 15-seconds)
Instagram Reels
Imagine a world where you can create one snappy video, reach millions of people, and increase your brand’s engagement. That’s exactly what you can score with on-brand Instagram Reels. Instagram Reels are short-form video content that can be up to 90-seconds in length. Yes, the feature may have originally been inspired by TikTok, but Instagram has made its own and Instagram Reels are here to stay!
Wondering what size all of your different posts should be?
Here are all the social media dimension sizes you’ll need to know. The good news is, you don’t have to be a professional graphic designer to make your content work across every platform, we’ll take you through the easiest way to resize your images and videos so you can easily repurpose across platforms.
Instagram Lives
In a nutshell, Instagram Live enables accounts to host live broadcasts, connecting brands with new and existing audiences in real-time. When a user hosts an Instagram Live, the feature will notify their followers with an in-app notification designed to boost reach and the number of attendees watching each broadcast. Live videos also help to boost engagement rates as these videos will be bumped to the front of the Instagram Stories feed. Find out more about Instagram Lives here.
Shoppable Posts & Product Tags
Shoppable posts is a feature that’s only available to brands and lets you turn an ordinary post into a shoppable feed. It opens you up to earning money without having to cross your fingers and hope people will click the link in your bio. Shoppable posts allow users to buy your product or service without leaving Instagram, making it a seamless experience that encourages conversions. You can also create a shoppable tab on your Instagram feed, or tag your products in Reels! How to Set Up Instagram Shoppable Posts.
Instagram Story Highlights
“Where your feed meets your Stories.” Instagram Story Highlights extend the “life” of your 24-hr story post. Highlights occupy top real estate just under your account profile (attracting alllll of the eyeballs) so are a great way of eternalizing the important information you absolutely want visitors to know about you and your business.
We recommend customizing your story highlight covers to get more clicks. Find out how to make Custom Instagram Highlight Covers here
Stickers, Quizzes & Polls
Story Stickers are one of our all time favorite Instagram features.They are not only a whole lot of fun, but they can also help you increase engagement and build your brand. Of course our all-time fave is the new link sticker, but we also are fans of the quiz sticker where you can put multiple choice questions to your audience to quiz and therefore educate them about your products and offerings, collect feedback and dig deeper into their interests. The question sticker is also a great way to start a conversation with your audience and show them some behind-the-scenes. And let’s not forget the ‘Add Yours’ sticker which became popular for its virality when it was released in 2021.
Here’s your guide to every Stories Engagement sticker on Instagram
Location Tags
Also known as ’Geotagging.’ If you don’t know how to add your location to your Instagram post – lean in closer. Geotagging is literally the bee’s knees for Instagram marketing as it allows users to search for posts by location, or to locate specifically where you posted from. We love this feature as it allows you to increase your reach beyond hashtagging and elevate your promotion of a particular place like a cafe or restaurant or show off that visit you took to an iconic destination (like your business!). Simply tap ‘Add Location’ when you go to post your pic, then find your location (you can be as specific or as broad as you like) choose it or customize it from the options available and hit share. You can even take a look and see other users’ posts from that location, too.
Instagram & AR Filters
Filters have become one of Instagram’s most popular features. From “taking that edge off” before you jump on Stories after rolling straight out of bed, to just making your world more sparkly they are used on the daily by literally billions of Instagrammers.
The extra fun part is that with Spark AR Studio you can create filters of your very own!
While Spark AR Studio was initially closed to the general public and restricted to a beta test group of artists and celebs alike, they have now opened their cyber doors to the rest of us allowing users to take our imaginations to the extreme and create fun AR filters for your own personal (or business) use!
Not only can you create AR Effects (and put them on your face) but you can also access the entire existing effects gallery right there on Instagram, which means that you get to discover all of the unique effects from the wider creator community too. How cool is that?
What are Instagram Story Filters and how can you use them?
How to Edit Instagram Photos: A Step-by-Step Guide
Instagram Collabs
Instagram Collabs allows your post to natively appear in another account’s feed, helping you and your collaborators to drive likes, shares, comments, and views to the same post. Think of it like co-authoring a book. Both of your handles will appear on the post, and it’s shown on both profiles. The result? You get to reap the rewards of pushing out a single piece of content to two audiences without having to repost. All the likes, shares, and comments appear on the same post, allowing you to engage with each other’s communities and double your reach instantly.
Pinned Posts
Pinned posts (one of Instagram’s latest feature releases) sit at the top of your Instagram grid to give you more control over the appearance of your own Instagram profile. It’s not just image posts that can be pinned to your profile: Instagram Reels can also be pinned to the top of your profile, too.
Instagram Marketing in 2022 is definitely a wee bit trickier than it was back in the ‘golden days’ of the ‘gram. There are a lot of things that you need to know to get the best results, including how to work that Instagram algorithm!
The Instagram algorithm seems to be the thing everyone loves to hate.
When the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, makes new claims about hashtags, engagement, or new secret rules, most people respond with a less-than-joyous reaction…and don’t get us started on the chronological feed being switched out for a more relevant, curated feed…
According to Instagram, with more and more users joining the platform daily, people missed an average of 70% of their feeds when it was chronological so the reorganization of your feed was necessary.
Take a deep breath, friends! Most of what you’ve heard about the “Instagram algorithm” is false. That’s right! When it comes down to it, there are only a handful of factors that influence the visibility of your content. These include:
1) how much engagement a post gets
2) how long people spend viewing your posts and profile
Both of these factors help Instagram determine interest and how much your followers (or potential followers if your content is being shown as Suggested Content or on the Explore Page care about you
Timeliness and frequency of posting is also relevant. How long ago was a photo or video posted? The new Instagram algorithm will prioritize recent posts, so you’ll hopefully see fewer posts from over a week ago. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out then, that the more often you post the greater chance of your posts showing up in people’s feeds.
With the recent emphasis on ‘Following’ and ‘Favorites’ you can now manipulate your feed so that it is more chronological (oh, the good old days!) and you’re seeing the content of the people you want to. To achieve this, you just need to ‘follow’ the accounts you’re interested in and they’ll be added to a list.
Vice-versa, if you want to ensure your content is showing up for your followers, do a call-out asking them to add you to their “Following” list!
That’s like asking how long a piece of string is! To set yourself up for success, the first thing you’ll need to do is identify your goals and objectives.
Are you using Instagram to build awareness and influence and reach more potential customers? Are you using it to create a sense of community with existing followers or and loyalty? Or, are you hoping to make direct sales? It can be a combo of all three, but it’s essential that you know what you’re shooting for.
Once you’ve determined what you’re looking to achieve, you will need to understand how to calculate and analyze results to determine your success rate.
In order to win on Instagram, you need to be regularly analyzing your results. There’s nothing better than tracking and measuring so you can optimize and grow your following authentically, while having real results backing up your decisions for what to do next. That could either be doubling down on a strategy that’s working well, or it may prompt a re-think.
Mastering social media marketing involves more than simply creating stunning content. It takes a lot of testing, trying, creating, failing and succeeding to know what will work best for your business. You can do it– we believe in you!
Read more:
If you’re feeling a bit ‘meh’ about your Instagram account it may be time for an audit. To make sure you’re making the most of your Instagram marketing, you should be auditing your accounts regularly. Here are the key steps we recommend you follow:
1. Uncover your purpose
Create a mission statement for your Instagram account of who you are and what you do. Continually refer back to this when creating and scheduling content and ask yourself “does this align with my business or brand.”
2. Rewrite your bio
Use your mission statement to rewrite your service offering, making it as clear and concise as possible.
3. Look at what’s working
Yes, we’re talking analytics again! Jump into Instagram’s insights or Planns analytics and look at your top performing posts, try and identify what worked about the content so you can duplicate (again and again!)
4. Choose your content themes
Now you know what content types are working well, identify the common themes and add them to a content posting strategy
5. Refine your highlights
Story highlights occupy top Instagram profile real estate so make sure they consist of your very best content and organized into themes, or a way that makes sense with a professional image cover.
6. Update your profile picture
This may feel irrelevant, but your profile picture is as important now as it was back with Facebook circa-2007 – how do you want your business or brand to be portrayed?
7. Find your aesthetic
Instagram is first and foremost visual first, so even if you are partial to raw and real content, you should still be aiming for a cohesive look and feel on your Instagram grid, so that new followers can easily understand your brand and offering. Choose an aesthetic that best fits (dark and moody, bright and bold?) and try to stick with it.
8. Pick your filters
Again, this will assist with your cohesive look. A color filter or preset is a quick way of ensuring your grid is nice and matchy-matchy (basically photo editing the cheat way!)
9. Select your bridging photo
If launching a new-look Instagram feed, consider selecting a “bridging image” to seamlessly merge the two aesthetics.
10. ‘Plann’ out your feed
We have to say it … the best way to maintain your new look Instagram account is to plan out your feed Instagram strategy using Plann’s drag and drop editor.
It’s a question that pops up a lot – should I switch over to an Instagram business or professional account?
Wondering what all the fuss is about with Instagram business profiles? In a nutshell, it’s all about added features! You can add link stickers to your Instagram Stories, have the ability to use Shoppable Instagram Posts, can add a ‘Contact Button’ to your Profile, access Analytics and Insights– and you can use Plann to auto-post to Instagram!
That all sounds too good to be true, right? Now there is a rumor on Instagram that if you switch from a personal to a business account, your engagement will tank. However, we have seen absolutely no proof that Instagram’s algorithm punishes business accounts.
If you ask us, the advantages kinda outweigh this one rumored disadvantage!
Switching from a personal to business account takes less than 60 seconds. Here’s how to do it while you wait for the kettle to boil:
1. Login to Your Instagram Account on Your Phone
Navigate to your profile and tap on the hamburger menu in the top right corner. Next, tap on “Settings” and select “Account.”
2. Switch to a Business Account
In the account settings, scroll down until you see a blue call-to-action that says “Switch to Business Account” or “Switch to Creator Account.“ The Creator Account is for influencers or public figures. A business account is best for brands or businesses that sell a product or service. The tools around the different accounts are slightly different. For example, a business account can create shoppable posts, and an influencer can tag the products they’re recommending to their audience.
3. Connect Your Facebook Page
Save time by seamlessly sharing your Instagram posts and Stories to your personal Facebook timeline or Facebook Page. Make sure you have admin access to the page to connect your Facebook Page.
The secret to skyrocketing your Instagram growth could be in optimizing your Instagram account for search. It literally takes 10-minutes to check your account is working as hard as it can be:
Choose a Quality Photo
It sounds simple, but start with your Instagram account profile photo! Your profile photo sets the first impression a new follower has of your brand.
You want to pick a photo that makes your brand instantly recognisable. It should stand out from the crowd, show people what you’re all about and use your brand colors, or logo.
Use Keywords with Your Business Name
Instagram is a search engine. While it’s not as robust as Google, you can still take advantage of its SEO to boost your visibility and attract new followers. For example, our account is Plann | Effortless Instagram Scheduler – as we want to be found on Instagram for “Instagram Scheduler” (#1 scheduler, preferably!)
Add More Keywords to Your Instagram Bio
You can add more keywords in the bio section of your profile. It’s a great place to add more related phrases to your brand. For example, if you’re a business coach for influencers, you could write a bio like: “Learn how to monetize your personal brand.” You can also take advantage of hashtags in your bio. It’s a new feature that Instagram has rolled out, and it’s a fantastic way to promote your branded hashtag.
Use an Enticing Call-to-Action Before Your Link
Use the power of your one and only link to convert those social media lurkers into paying customers.
The best way to get people into your marketing funnel is to attract them with an enticing call-to-action, literally spell out what you want those lurkers to do “Get my guide to 1000 followers in 10 days here!”
Add a Link In Bio
Consider using a linking tool, so you can link out to multiple places and even customize the link.
Hashtags! They’ve been around since Instagram’s inception and they are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Hashtags are like traffic signs directing people to your Instagram profile. With the right keywords, you can get your content in front of relevant users who are craving the exact posts you’re sharing! Trying to expand your audience? Want to increase the engagement and reach of your posts? Using the best hashtags can help you do just that on Instagram.
Hashtags are an important part of your marketing strategy to ensure your posts are getting the attention they deserve! Whether you are trying to boost the visibility of your brand to a wider audience or simply find your niche on Instagram, hashtags ensure your content is discoverable to your target audience and are key to boosting your reach and engagement (and getting your brand in front of relevant users).
How many hashtags should you use?
This is another highly debated subject! Instagram allows for 30 hashtags to be used on each post, however they recently changed their advice around hashtags and now recommend sticking to five or so tailored hashtags per post. However, from what we’ve seen your content won’t be penalized for using the full 30 hashtags …Our tip? Use all 30 to gain maximum visibility on your Instagram content!
How do you identify “good” hashtags to use?
Hashtags are a bit of a Goldilocks situation. You don’t want to use ones that are too big, or too small — but rather, a mix of small-to-medium competition ones that are just right. If you’re using hashtags that are too popular (think, hundreds of thousands of mentions), you risk your content being swallowed up in a sea of posts and nobody seeing it. But, if you are using hashtags that are so niche and specific that it only has a handful of mentions, it’s unlikely anyone will be searching for it.
To figure out the number of photos posted on a specific hashtag, simply type the word you’d like to use as a hashtag into the search bar on Instagram. Then check the number under the hashtag, as shown in the photo below. This number tells you how many photos using this hashtag are floating around Instagram right now.
Plann’s Suggested Hashtag Tool is a great place to start when locating the right hashtags for your business!
Quality content is the backbone of a powerful Instagram marketing strategy.
The great news is there are shortcuts you can take that can help you pump out quicker content without sacrificing the quality of your posts. Not only will they save you oodles of time, but they’ll also make your content creation process feel way more simple, streamlined and stress-free.
Coming up with content ideas each day can be exhausting, so we’ve created a resource to help you do just that. Visit Plann’s calendar and you’ll find a caption prompt for every single day of the year. Seriously.
These daily post prompts are complete with done-for-you captions, hashtag sets, free hand-picked assets and ideas for how to repurpose each post across other social platforms. From social media holidays, to promoting your upcoming events and driving sales, this is the perfect place to find inspiration for your next piece of content.
Plann’s wildly popular Canva integration also streamlines the content creation workflow. Here, you’ll have access to free templates for every type of social media platform, including stylish Instagram Stories, Pinterest Pins, and more! Oh, and have we mentioned Plann’s royalty free image and video libraries?
On the days when you’re feeling uninspired, having content pillars to reference can also be a huge help!
What is a content pillar?
Content pillars are 3 to 5 topics your brand will consistently discuss, amplify, and create content for on social media. You pick the handful of areas you want to niche in and double-down!
Basically, content pillars make content planning so much easier!
Instagram stories are a lot of fun and a fantastic way to keep your audience engaged and entertained. But there should be a method to your madness!
Your stories last for 24hrs, however, it’s not only those who follow you who will see them, in fact, they’re also discoverable so in the same way you might see accounts you’re not used to in your stories feed, other users will see yours. Enter a new opportunity to attract new followers (and convert them into raving fans!)
If you have a business account, you
What to Post on Instagram Stories
There is some freedom in content that disappears 24-hours after you’ve posted it! You can use that to your advantage and try pushing the boundaries with your content– experiment and have some fun!
Showing your face helps people relate to you much faster. People love buying from people they know. You can also show your followers ‘what you’re working on’, and give them ‘sneak peeks’ of what’s happening behind the scenes for a sense of exclusivity. Everyone loves to feel like they’re special – and you’re also creating a bit of hype behind what you’re working on.
When to Post on Instagram Stories
Guess what? There’s really no “good time to post” because Instagram Stories are available for 24-hours. We’d recommend using Instagram Stories at least twice a day so that you’ve always got something in the stories news feed within any 24hr time frame. Even if you’re re-posting content you love (that fits with your brand) to keep that awareness up and your account top of mind!
How to Increase Engagement on Instagram Stories
There are many ways to increase engagement on your Instagram profiles, but if you’re looking for brand awareness and engagement through your Stories, stickers are the way to go.
Whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness, boost traffic to your website or improve e-commerce purchases, there are Instagram Stories stickers for you. Some of our favorites include the Quiz sticker, Questions Sticker and Poll Stick– there are more than 20 different stickers types (some more useful to businesses than others!)
Of course, the Link Sticker is EVERYTHING. It’s still a relatively new addition to Instagram Stories (remember having to have 10,000 followers to access the “Swipe-up” Link and is an amazing opportunity for you to refer your Instagram followers to your other digital channels– like your latest blog, your website or even your online store.
Pro tip for link stickers: Edit your link text so that it clearly states its online destination and aligns well with your brand and content goals.
Instagram Reels are becoming an essential part of any marketing strategy, and are some of the most engaging content formats available to brands, businesses and creators. If you find yourself asking “well… how do I even start?” you have come to the right place!
Since hitting the platform in late 2020, Reels have transformed the Instagram experience to prioritize short-form, vertical video content. We are still seeing Instagram boosting this feature with higher organic visibility on your Feed and Explore pages.
Instagram is currently testing a full-screen immersive feed, no doubt designed with Instagram Reels in mind.
Trends are constantly changing, and the Reels algorithms can be confusing to get the hang of. Save time scrolling through videos trying to find what’s trending, you can also hop on over to where we give you a step-by-step walkthrough of Trending Reels Sounds to use for your brand.
Rather than sticking to existing songs or trending audio tracks, creators can now import audio files directly from their own device into the Instagram app to be used in their next Reel.
Whether you film all of your Instagram Reels content in one day or want to batch schedule your Reels in advance, you’ll find planning your Reels content is easier than ever with Plann. By creating a Reels strategy, planning out your content, and scheduling Reels in advance, the Reels planning tool can help you maintain brand consistency and make sure you never forget to post engaging content regularly.
And yes, we definitely recommend re-purposing your Instagram Reels to TikTok, too!
How to Add a Cover to Your Instagram Reels
Reels cover photos can give viewers a sneak preview of your Reels video without exposing everything in it, and this encourages them to click on your link. They also make your feed look neater and more uniform in appearance, which elevates your entire profile aesthetic– and brand recognition.
When you upload a new Reel, Instagram will automatically pick a default thumbnail, you can work around this by adding a cover image:
Step 1: After you create an Instagram Reel and select the ‘Share’ option, you’ll be asked to ‘Crop Profile Image’ on the ‘Reel Preview Page.’
Step 2: You can either select a frame of your Reel by scrubbing through your video and stopping at the frame you want or you can add a custom cover photo by choosing the ‘Add From Camera Roll’ option.
Step 3: Once you’ve selected the image you want as your cover photo, you need to align it to make sure it fits perfectly in your profile grid.
If you’re looking to get more eyeballs on your content, expand your audience and boost your visibility on social media, it’s time to learn the best times to post on Instagram.
The best times to post on Instagram are between 11 am and 2 pm on Tuesdays and 11 am on Monday through Friday. But…and it is a huge BUT best posting times are also account and audience specific.
Remember to cross-check our suggested times against your own Instagram insights to ensure you’re posting content at the exact times your unique audience is online and active. You can do this using Plann’s ‘Best Time to Post’ feature: we’ve taken the hard work out of posting your Instagram content at the right time.
When you schedule a post through Plann, you’ll automatically be given a set of recommended posting times for each day of the week, based on when your specific audience is most active. Pretty handy, right?
Instagram “Live” (livestream) is the ultimate tool you can use to engage with your audience in real-time using live videos–it’s perfect for FAQs, Q+A sessions, behind-the-scenes, celebrations or even takeovers! Having influencers take over your Instagram Live is a great marketing strategy, especially if you get them to direct traffic to your feed too (hello, now audience).
Joint Lives basically facilitate two Instagram accounts on the same live stream – think of all of the fun you can have with your business bestie or even a valued follower!
Live videos appear on the app in the Instagram Stories section and Joint Lives will appear as two profiles coupled together in the overhead stories bar – another fantastic way to access new audiences!
How to invite someone to join a Joint Live:
1. Tap at the top or swipe right anywhere in Feed, then scroll to Live at the bottom.
2. Tap at the bottom, then tap at the bottom.
3. Tap next to the username of the person you want to invite or search for their username at the top, then tap ‘Send Request’ – hold your breath and wait for them to accept!
Have you seen “people going live” but haven’t tried it yourself? Grab your camera, tripod and halo light and learn more about it here.
Our motto? Work smarter, not harder! If you create an Instagram post and repurpose it for multiple different platforms (yes, we’re thinking Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok– the works!) where you have different audiences? That’s the gift that keeps on giving!
There’s absolutely no shame in repurposing the same content across multiple different platforms. In fact, it’s the smart and savvy way to be more visible online without spending more time on content creation.
Data makes the world go round, especially on Instagram! By reviewing stats and analytics, you can get a clear insight into what your audience is doing on social media and how they interact with your profile and content.
Thanks to Instagram’s own built-in analytics tool (available to Business Profiles) you can easily assess what content you have been putting out into the world that is getting crickets?
Everyone loves feeling good about themselves, so spend some time admiring your vanity metrics. These are the numbers that make you feel good but don’t serve any real useful purpose like follower growth, total reach and impressions.
Instead, we recommend looking at metrics like engagement rate (the holy grail!) and in Plann – the best performing post & palette, time to post and performing hashtags.
By looking at and analysing the numbers you can immediately see what works and take immediate action to give your audience what they want.
Tracking and measuring means you can optimize and grow your following authentically while having real results backing up your decisions for what to do next.
How to calculate your engagement rate
Tracking and measuring means you can optimize and grow your following authentically while having real results backing up your decisions for what to do next.
Calculating your Instagram engagement rate is much easier than it looks.
Say you have a following of 2,500, your ‘engagement’ is measured by your likes and comments combined per post, divided by your following.
Get a pen and paper handy and select a post to analyze.Note down the number of comments and number of likes that post received.
Let’s say your total likes were 137 and comments came to 10.
137 + 10 = 147
You then need to take this magical number and divide it by your total followers, and times it by 100 (this will give you the percentage).
147 / 2,500 x 100 = 5.88%
Your total engagement rate for this post is 5.88% which is sitting smack bang in the middle of the average engagement rate on Instagram.
We suggest keeping a spreadsheet with your post types and engagement rates so you can accurately gauge what your audience are responding to, and what they’re not.
More on calculating your engagement rate.
In 2022, finding success on social media means having a strategy and plan in place. The days of effortless organic reach are behind us as social platforms, like Instagram, are becoming smarter in the ways they rank content in their algorithm.
There’s no perfect or simple way to grow your Instagram audience (without buying them…don’t do that…we repeat, do not do that!) but there are some tactics and strategies you can use to build your following and reputation without sacrificing your integrity.
Our top tips and strategies for growth include posting consistent and quality content (this includes showing up on Stories), using the right hashtags, engaging your audience by responding to all comments, mentions and DMs in a timely fashion, being early adopters to new features (as Instagram tends to favor them in the algorithm) and partner and collaborate with our brands (hello, Instagram’s collab feature or takeovers).
Remember that Instagram success is about more than just follower count, it’s about engagement too. Engagement is one of the most effective ways to grow your followers. You know how your parents told you not to make friends on the internet?Sorry Mom, but making friends online is the fastest, most effective and fun way to grow your Instagram followers.
When was the last time you did more than just “like” a few photos, or left thoughtfully witty comments on other brands accounts you’d like to partner with? Sure, it takes time…but REAL conversations DOES get you more followers.
You’ll be surprised, but by spending 70% of your time allocated to Instagram engaging with people (and 30% of your time planning and scheduling your posts with Plann!), there are endless opportunities that can spring up.
Behind every Instagram account is a real person also wanting to grow their business too!
If you have 30 mins to scroll each day, then you’ve got the same amount of time to invest back into real conversations online and strike up some genuine relationships…and that is the real secret to growing your Instagram followers.
Let’s be real here, your captions need to turn your followers into curious cats as soon as they set eyes on your post!
But…writing captions is one of the biggest bugbears and is often blocking someone’s success on social media.
The key to crafting an ideal Instagram caption is making it super easy to read. When all else fails, write the way you speak. A conversational tone works well to a “scroller” in their tracks. Basically write at the human you are! People want to hear from people, and not brands.
Line spacing also helps with scannability and you can even use emojis as bullet points to make the formatting clear, concise and visually interesting.
Remember to offer value in every caption – whether that’s educational, entertainment motivation, or even providing the perfect distraction.Think about how you can use your knowledge to get your followers to slow their scroll on Instagram and click to read more of your Instagram caption, and really focus on what you are sharing?
A strong call-to-action is also a must. What is it that you want your audience to do after they’ve read your caption? After all, if you don’t ask, you often don’t receive! Here are 100+ Call-to-Actions to try right now.
It pains us to know that there are so many talented people, teams and brands struggling to come up with new engaging captions. We wanted to put a stop to these throw-laptop-out-the-window moments, so we had to create something to help.
Right inside your Plann workspace, we have literally hundreds of pre-written, purpose-led, done-for-you captions, ready for you to use!
Yes, TikTok is sniffing at its heels, but Instagram isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
With a strong social media marketing strategy behind you, the sky is the limit with Instagram!
Now that you’ve heard everything about Instagram Marketing, it’s time to get the tools in place to supercharge your Instagram marketing strategy. And what better way to do that than with your ultimate Instagram Scheduler, Plann!
Go on, redeem your 7-day free trial of Plann Plus. If you don’t like it, keep using Plann for free!
