We’ve all heard it time and time again – engagement is KING for success on Instagram.
Do you know why they say that?
Because it’s TRUE.
So how on earth do we start boosting engagement? These are 10 great ways to increase your engagement on Instagram for your art.
1. Be Quick With Your Responses
In the algorithm’s digital eyes, timeliness makes a huge difference. Let’s face a fact here – the post turnover rate on Instagram is short. After 24 hours the reach plummets for posts, the world has moved on.
Which means that taking quick action when it comes to engagement is key.
Try your best to respond to comments within an hour of them being posted. Tall order, hmm?
Here’s why: the first hour of a post going live is pivotal for how it is viewed by the algorithm. A flurry of comments within the first hour is going to ensure that it is put in front of more eyes, whereas a slow bleed of comments throughout the day is not going to be shared as much by the algorithm.
Which brings up the common objection – “I can’t always be on my phone! I can’t respond with minutes all the time!”
Which is totally fair. But there is something to consider here – most of the engagement will happen on a post within the first few hours of it being posted, it’s just the nature of the app.
So, you can control when you post so that you ARE available to kickstart those conversations as they roll in.
Free in the evenings? Post then so you can have the freedom to respond! The hiked engagement will end up building up and the algorithm will work in your favor.
2. Always Keep the Conversation Going
We’ve learned a few things here – the algorithm likes engagement, and will boost posts that have lots of it (which serves as a positive feedback loop and delivers even more engagement).
So how do we ensure that the one comment someone left keeps the ball rolling? We continue the conversation. Respond with something juicy, or ask them a specific question.
The more action on a post the better – so rather than replying with a simple “thanks!”, dig in and enjoy the ride. Embrace the social aspect of social media and connect with your audience. Get to know them. Let them get to know you.
3. Draw Attention With Stories
Want an easy way to point more people in the direction of your posts? Draw attention to them with your Stories.
Share the new post to your stories, and give a little teaser to show them that there is some seriously juicy stuff going on in your caption!
This will flood people from your stories to your post, and if they’re already taking the steps to learn more about you then they’re priming themselves for engaging with you!
4. Start Small, Build Up
Here’s the thing – nature is lazy.
Nature (this includes humans) will always try to find the easiest way to do something so we can conserve energy. In time, we learn through experiments what is worth a bit more energy, but until we learn that we tend to stay small.
If you suddenly throw a deep, soul-searching question to your audience out of the blue, don’t be surprised when you’re met with cricket chirps.
But, if you start small and build up the relationship with them, in time they will be eagerly spilling their souls for an interaction with you.
So trade up the “what is your purpose in life” question for “which emoji describes your ideal birthday” in the beginning, and allow your audience to get comfortable with the interactions.
Build up their confidence and reward them with your attention, and those beautifully deep conversations are just around the corner.
5) Use Stickers In Stories
Need another idea for starting small with engagement? Story stickers are king for getting the ball rolling.
Polls allow people to choose an option with a simple click of a button, no real thought needed. And you could always message them based on their response and kickstart a beautiful conversation.
Quizzes are fantastic to get opinions from your fans too – everyone likes to feel like their opinion is valued.
The Questions sticker is another powerhouse for engagement – and even better for launching into conversations.
6. Post Something That Will Spark a Conversation
Here’s the thing – if you don’t give people anything to engage with, you’re asking for a lot and will get nothing in return.
People are inherently lazy – this is simply a law of nature.
So you have to do the initial work for them if you want them to reward you with engagement.
Post something that will start a conversation. Do the initial work, set up the floor for some tasty conversations, and then roll into the engagement.
Invoking emotion is one of the easiest ways to kick up the conversation – start your captions & conversations with a great hook. Launch into what you want to say with something catchy – this can be controversial, humorous, outlandish, or a question.
Put in the work up front to make it easy for them to engage, and they’ll reward you for your efforts.
7. Use a Crystal Clear Call to Action
When you want someone to do something, do you think you’ll get better results if you are crystal clear in what you want, or beat around the bush?
It’s pretty obvious – clarity gets results.
A Call to action is exactly that – calling, or requesting, your audience to take action. That action? Could be a comment, like, share, follow, purchase, sign up…anything your little heart desires.
Just be clear about what it is, and they will be that much more likely to respond in the way that you want them to.
8. Always Engage Back
It breaks my tender little heart when I see artists getting these great comments on their posts, and those poor fans are left hanging. Cricket chirps.
Before long, those fans are going to feel the effects of putting out energy and not getting anything in return and their enthusiasm will fade. What a shame that would be.
So always engage back. Respond to their comments (yes, even the single word or emoji ones!). Like their comments. Show your gratitude.
In the end this will actually train them to engage more – that interaction with you is a positive little burst of energy that will reward them, and they will be that much more likely to engage again in the future.
9. Use Hashtags to Get In Front of the Right People
You could use the clearest Call to action in the world, but I still wouldn’t be able to come up with anything exciting to say on an account about luxury cars.
Sure, I’d be able to throw in a few heart-eyed emojis, but nothing that the account owner would be too thrilled with.
Do I hate fancy cars? Nope.
But do I really care about them? Not really (much to the chagrin of my fiancé)
I am not their ideal fan. I am not passionate about their topic. And you know what? That’s totally okay. Because there are going to be tons of other people that ARE.
On Instagram, hashtags are one of the best ways to expand your audience and get new eyes on your art.
But we often forget that we aren’t just looking for any new eyes – we are looking for the RIGHT eyes. The ones who are already primed to love our art & message.
So be critical with your choice of hashtags to make sure that they’ll actually do the work they’re capable of and bring the RIGHT people to your art.
10. Get Bold (Don’t Be Boring)
I adore the startling nature of this one – don’t be boring.
It creates a little spark of defiance in your heart.
Bold statement, yes. And that is exactly what you should be embodying.
In this day and age, where everything accessible at the click of a few buttons, the noise of the internet is loud. There are millions of artists all trying to do the same thing – so how to do we stand out?
You be bold. You kick boring to the curb. You be yourself.
Lean into your personality and your quirks, and stop worrying about people not liking you. Sure, some people won’t like you. But a lot more people are going to LOVE you.
This doesn’t have to mean that you get controversial for the sake of standing out, or spout profanities left right and center. It doesn’t mean that you have to start only photographing yourself in a neon pink wig, or taking a firm stance on something and never budging.
(But it also can, if that’s your style.)
It means being true to yourself, and pushing away the fearsome thoughts of “what if someone doesn’t like me?”.
Ready to start boosting engagement on Instagram? Let me know which of these you’ll implement into your art account first!
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