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Instagram Study
August 17, 2021
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Instagram has been around for over a decade, earning one billion monthly active users, and 25 million business accounts.
Recently Mention released the 2021 Instagram Engagement Report and it shows growing a following on Instagram is harder than ever but with the right plan in place – you will make it a little more fun.
First, let’s start with followers. If you and/or your brand have less than one thousand followers – you’re not alone. In fact – you’re the larger population of Instagram.
So, cheers to the smaller accounts!
Five areas that stood out in this report:
- Ensure The Instagram Profile Is Complete
This means filling out the bio thoroughly with a couple of relevant keywords, the city your brand is based in (if local), as well as creating IG Stories highlights. I see a ton of radio accounts that don’t even have the name of their city in the profile. - Showing Up With Consistent Balanced Content
Diverse content is key.
To do this – craft a cadence so you know each day if you’re doing a photo post, image post, Reels, video post, Stories, or IGTV.
Also, a great Instagram caption will stop a scroller in their tracks — and the longer someone spends reading your caption and engaging with your post, the better the post will perform. - Personalization Is Power
Be as involved with the audience as you want them to be with you. Reply to them!
Give them regular engagement opportunities outside of the feed, like asking questions in your Stories, talking with them in Reels.
If you’re being tagged in posts, respond to them in their comment section. - Hashtags In Moderation
They can help your posts reach a target audience, attract followers in your lane(s), up engagement, and develop a more positive and recognizable brand image. But a gazillion is worthless. Fine-tune the hashtags to a few. - Get On Short-Form Video
Of Instagram’s one billion users, 66% have viewed video content from brands. But are those views translating into engagement with the brand?
Engagement is the tell-tale sign your content is resonating.
However – this is interesting from the report:
Engagement with posts seems to be on a downward trend from previous years. This represents a tendency for Instagram users to prefer Stories and Reels rather than permanent posts on their grid.
Overall, this trend points to a shift in the type of content being shared and consumed on Instagram.
Where single images were more engaged within 2019, 2020 saw them take a backseat to dynamic content that requires some level of interactivity.
We can’t wing this stuff. Time to come up with a real plan.
Let us know how we can help: lori@lorilewismedia.com.
Reach out to me anytime on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.
Please enjoy MERGE archives here.
- Ensure The Instagram Profile Is Complete