Wondering how to get more engagement on Instagram in 2022?
Instagram is one of the best places to market your brand online visibly and nicely, gain a loyal following, and build a community that supports your business.
That's why today, I am going to share with you 12 strategical steps that will help you increase instagram engagement in 2022 and beyond.
12 ways to boost Instagram engagement in 2023
- Post consistently
- Use Instagram carousels to tell your brand’s stories
- Use relevant Instagram hashtags
- Add a link to Instagram Stories
- Go live
- Experiment with Instagram Reels
- Create savable Instagram visuals
- Play with Instagram AR filters
- Pay attention to user-generated content
- Use other social media accounts to promote your Instagram
- Build a story around your brand
- Interactive stickers in Instagram Stories
1. Post consistently
You may have heard this a million times before, but if everyone’s saying it, it must be some truth in it: if you really want to achieve something, consistency is the key.
And you can be sure In social media marketing this applies as well as in other life situations.
Having a consistent social media presence is one sure way in which you can ensure an increase in your Instagram engagement.
Even if it’s a long-term strategy, you may discover it may be one of the most important pillars for boosting your Instagram presence.
However, this does not mean going into the platform and start scheduling an endless number of Instagram posts day after day.
When it comes to the optimal number of posts per day or the best time to post on Instagram, you’ll see the two sides: brands and social media experts that recommend posting more frequently and those who recommend quite the opposite.
And this happens because in reality there’s no pre-defined receipt for posting content on Instagram. It depends a lot on the type of business, its audiences, the type of content delivered, and so on.
For example, if we take a look at National Geographic’s social media strategy, we’ll see the brand has an average number of five posts per day. And it is one of the most successful brands in social media.
Nevertheless, some brands may not have the same success on Instagram if adopting the same posting strategy.
That is why testing and adapting are so important. Because it will eventually lead you to that sweet spot, that is essential to find in order to increase Instagram engagement.
In order to make sure your Instagram posts are consistent and posted when your audience is online, you should plan your Instagram content calendar within a time frame that’s at least two to four weeks in advance.
To lose the worries and stress of looking at your watch at every hour to not miss the time you want your Instagram posts to go live, you can easily use a social media scheduling tool.
2. Use Instagram carousels to tell your brand’s stories
According to our Instagram engagement study, carousels are at the very core of Instagram engagement, overall being the best-performing type of content.
So, if you’ve been long wondering how to increase engagement on Instagram and did not juggle Instagram carousels that much, here may be your magical solution.
Of course, there’s a good reason behind this trend.
This is happening because Instagram carousels are the post type that best conveys storytelling, which has become essential for marketing endeavours these days.
People are more selective with the brands they interact with nowadays. They are no longer passive consumers of advertising.
The online audiences challenge brands to create emotional relationships with their customers and change their product-oriented strategy to a more fan-centric approach.
Stories that show the added value of a brand to its community and the brand’s values - that is what makes people thick.
And if you’re still not sold on how will carousels help you increase engagement on Instagram, here’s a secret that Jenn Hermann, Instagram marketing expert revealed to us, as how will the Instagram algorithm work in your favour when using Instagram carousels.
If you use a carousel post, and a follower scrolls past the post with the first image, Instagram will show them the same post a second time with typically the second photo or video from the carousel. This gives you double the exposure opportunities.
3. Use relevant Instagram hashtags
As Instagram hashtags are still of great interest for digital marketers, a proper article on how to increase Instagram engagement would not be complete without a mention of them.
The reason people use hashtags in their Instagram posts is that they want to increase their reach.
More reach translates into greater engagement, which is the ultimate goal, usually for both personal as well as business accounts.
As for the best strategy to use Instagram hashtags - you probably guessed by now - there isn’t any.
However, if you want to reach a more targeted audience, that’s more likely to show interest in your brand and relate to your messages, you should test how industry-specific hashtags work for you.
Also, in order to make sure you use the right hashtags in your attempt of increasing Instagram engagement, you should take a peek at your competitors once in a while.
Do a competitive analysis on Instagram to see how many hashtags are your competitors using. Which are those hashtags, and where are the other brands placing them - Â in the captions or in the comments?
What mix seems to be the better one?
By doing your research you’ll have the best strategy applied so far as a starting point. After that, you just have to test and see what can be improved.
Creating a branded hashtag is also a nice idea, and it is a common practice world-known brands usually use for different campaigns.
Spotify, for example, has created its #SpotifyWrapped hashtag for its end-of-year campaign.
What must be kept in mind when creating a branded hashtag for Instagram is that it should be short, catchy, and easy to remember.
Paired with a good concept these tactics can skyrocket your brand’s popularity and help you increase Instagram engagement.
4. Add a link to Instagram Stories
Inserting a link into Instagram Stories was - up to recent - only available for accounts with a fanbase bigger than 10K followers.
Now, one of Instagram’s latest updates came with a breakthrough for brands below this following that dreamed of making use of this feature.
Therefore, with Instagram making it possible to all users to add a link to Instagram Stories, you can use this feature to increase your website’s traffic. And to increase your engagement on Instagram as well, needless to mention that.
Another great news regarding the topic is that Instagram even lets you personalize your link sticker with custom text, which is worth seeing how will this affect the brand’s capability of getting more traffic from Instagram.
Besides links, Instagram lets you make use of a lot of interactive features In your Instagram stories, like questions or polls, which are a great way to spark Instagram engagement.
Since we talked that much about how many things you can do in an Instagram Story, we should also cover the importance of having an Instagram Story strategy as well.
According to our Instagram Story study, brands with a fanbase bigger than 100K followers have doubled their Instagram Story’s usage in 2021, posting up to 50 Instagram Stories per month, on average.
This means consistency is needed not only for in-feed Instagram posts but for Instagram Stories as well.
5. Go live
These days video content has gained massive popularity on all important social networks. And Instagram makes no exception.
That way, if you’re looking for ways to increase engagement on Instagram, you must not oversee the importance of introducing videos in your content mix for Instagram.
Remember that now more than ever people are oriented towards time efficiency, and videos are a great way of delivering your brand’s messages in a more condensed timeframe.
Video content offers a more immersive experience and is easier to be consumed than reading. And much quicker.
A tactic that is more and more used by brands nowadays is going on air and having regular live stream sessions. This strategy has begun to spread once the worldwide lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were installed.
On Facebook, for example, live sessions receive double the engagement pre-recorded videos do.
Since people seem to be so keen on watching live videos, wouldn’t that be a good initiative to try for increasing engagement on Instagram as well?
TIP: The user’s attention span is slightly declining, so either you want to integrate more carousels or more videos in your Instagram marketing strategy, try writing short captions for your Instagram posts.
Captions of up to ten words have proven to generate the highest engagement levels for Instagram.
6. Experiment with Instagram Reels
Continuing our talk about the benefits of using video content on social media, and how this type of post can help you increase engagement on Instagram, it is also important to mention that diversity also matters a lot if you want to achieve this purpose.
So, put yourself on your audience’s radar with creative concepts for your posts, and by exploring all the different video formats Instagram has to offer.
And speaking of Instagram’s many video formats, do you know any that’s more popular than Instagram Reels these days?
For those digital natives that just can’t get enough of Instagram, but would also love to have a taste of TikTok’s type of content, Instagram has introduced Reels, a feature that was received with opened arms by Instagram users, rapidly increasing in popularity.
What is great about Instagram Reels is that it lets brands play in a lot of creative ways. It is a feature that’s great for the product’s teasers.
Through Instagram Reels you can also co-author content, facilitating collaborations. Which are known to be one of the most essential tactics in marketing.
And luckily, the gains do not stop here.
Instagram Reels have the advantage of being featured more often on the explore page, which can offer more exposure for your brand. And with it the chances of becoming viral through a good piece of content.
That’s why, if you’re looking for ways to increase engagement on Instagram, you should not step back from experimenting with Reels.
For doing so, you can thrust the Instagram algorithm will play in your favour - rewarding your Instagram Reels with a greater engagement than your regular videos.
7. Create savable Instagram visuals
In 2021 everyone was saying the “Save” button is the new “Like” button in Instagram, becoming a pretty common call to action these days.
Quotes and catchy visuals that often display various tips and tricks are the type of content that’s most likely to be saved by Instagram users.
Through this type of content, you can give your community that something else or something more. It is that added value that online customers seek nowadays.
Look for ways to help them in utilizing your products or services, to offer them satisfactory experiences and the results won’t take long to come.
This is probably the more important lesson brands need to learn if they want to increase their Instagram engagement and overall results in social media.
8. Play with Instagram AR filters
With the technology evolving in so many creative ways, social media users look for more immersive experiences.
Instagram AR filters are very helpful for creating brand awareness while offering a fun experience to Instagram users.
Especially successful have proven to be those branded AR filters that allow users to virtually try the product or, which is applicable especially for brands that belong to the beauty industry.
Here’s an example of how Lancome has used Soleil Cristal -  an Instagram AR filter to promote its new fragrance launched this year.
9. Pay attention to user-generated content
For marketers, user-generated content can be a blessing. When their audience shows interest in their brand, it’s a clear sign that their social media strategy works.
User-generated content offers a brand's audience the chance to become involved in the brand's story.
Through user generated content a brand’s concepts and designs get created and approved at the same time by its Instagram followers.
What is great about UGC -  is that it has the potential of transforming a brand’s followers into brand advocates.
Moreover, it also offers brands the chance of reducing their marketing costs.
10. Use other social media accounts to promote your Instagram
Most marketers that promote their businesses on Instagram also use other social accounts to promote their content.
Similarly, you can also borrow this tactics as well.
By sharing your Instagram posts on Facebook, or Twitter, you will have greater chances of increasing your Instagram engagement.
However, if you cross-promote all your Instagram posts on other platforms, you will “cannibalize” your content. Your followers will get the feeling that you are desperately asking to increase your community.
11. Build a story around your brand
To increase Instagram engagement in 2022, building a story around your brand is the key. You should use your Instagram account as a visual inspiration platform to attract more followers.
Instagram users do not usually interact with profiles that don’t tell a story while building their brand.
Not only does the Instagram Bio matter, but also how your content reflects your vision and values.
Your Instagram engagement rate will definitely register an increase when you practice what you preach. In a fast-forward world, people crave stories and meaningful connections.
As soon as your Instagram community sees how your content aligns with the story of your brand and what you want to become famous for, the number of followers will increase, and they will interact even more with your posts.
Try to take photos for which you can quickly build a micro-story to determine users to like, comment, share or save your posts.
Add a more extended caption to your pictures or reels, and when your audience discovers a sense of familiarity, that’s when the magic begins.
Every interaction is essential to increase Instagram engagement.
When users feel that they have somehow connected to your brand through your stories and experience, they will be eager to buy your product or service.
12. Use interactive stickers in Instagram Stories
Not only the posts on your feed can drive excellent engagement. Instagram Stories are also a great way to convince your audience to interact with your brand.
As a matter of fact, stickers in Instagram Stories are a creative way through which you can engage your Instagram followers.
If you want to ask for people’s opinions, making them choose between two options, you could use a poll sticker.This way, you will test your audience, determining which type of content appeals to them.
Usually, a fun voting game will convince your followers to engage, either if you choose something related to your brand or to a viral situation that has happened lately.
You can also use the emoji slider to convince users to vote on how much they like a certain type of content.
If you share a quiz about your product or your brand’s history on Instagram Stories, you can test who your real fans are and maybe even offer a discount or a prize for those who prove their fidelity.
Final thoughts
If you want to increase engagement on Instagram, you have to take your Instagram account to the next level, to spend whatever it may take to create your Instagram content calendar and put all your creativity in there.
These tips for an Instagram engagement boost are just a couple of areas in which you can improve your performance, but there are plenty of other things you have to keep in mind.
Posting at peak times, using user-generated content, posting contests, writing strong captions and many more are other great techniques you can use to increase Instagram engagement.
Now that you have all these ideas, it's time to put your creativity to work!
