Social media is no longer just a place where kids gather to hang out. Various platforms are hyper-important to any business that wants to succeed online.
Of all the social media platforms, Instagram is perhaps the best for businesses. There are over one billion people using Instagram, and unlike Facebook, it has a very high amount of social relevance. You need to learn a lot of things in order to help your business grow. Who will be your audience, how to grow your audience, and even what is Instagram data scraping.
But if you want to truly benefit from creating an Instagram account, you have to care about Instagram engagement. But what exactly is engagement on Instagram? How do you optimize your Instagram account for maximum engagement?
This article will walk you through a brief introduction to tracking Instagram engagement.
Look To The Likes
The biggest trap you can fall into when advertising on Instagram is to put too much stock into the number of Instagram followers that you have. Sure, looking at this metric is a good way to get a cursory understanding of how popular a certain business is. However, if you want to understand engagement, you’re going to have to dig deeper.
Likes are a great way to understand this.
At first glance, alike is a bit tough to understand. Likes are features of almost every social media platform, but they mean different things depending on which social media you are on.
For example, let’s take a look at Facebook. On Facebook, a person’s friends can see the things that they liked. This means that a person will like something when they want their friend to see it — this is similar to what happens on Twitter.
However, this is not true of Instagram. If you look hard enough, you can see the posts that your friends liked, but if you’re just scrolling through the timeline, you won’t see it.
This means that Instagram likes are pure — they just exist to express approval. Since posts are generally only seen by a person’s followers (unless they’re promoted), you can view Instagram likes like an audience’s applause. Each post is another scene in the theatre of social media, and the followers will let you know what they like to see.
A large number of followers means very little if very few of those customers are actually enjoying their posts. If your Instagram has many followers, but your posts don’t get many likes, you might have to think more about the quality and aesthetic of your posts.
Conversely, if you have a small number of followers, you might still do well on engagement.
Check The Comments
Comments are also hyper-important on social media. Just like with likes, Facebook comments work significantly differently from Instagram comments. Unless you tag a friend, you’re simply commenting because you want to.
A comment is more significant than alike. It means that the post moved a person enough to actually express their thoughts on it in words — even if it’s just a short sentence. Keep in mind, however, that controversial posts get a lot of comments as well.
The comments are where the “social” side of social media truly shines. People might use the comments to ask your business questions about your products, services, employees, or posts. If you reply to these comments quickly, graciously, and helpful, you’ll get a chance to show off just how great your customer service is.
People can also interact with each other in your comment section. If your comment section turns into a discussion with various points of view, you know you’ve made a dynamic and engaging post.
Sometimes, people will even leave comments with constructive criticism. Don’t take this personally, use it as a chance to let your business grow. It’s always a good sign when people care about your business enough to encourage you to grow and change.
Use An App
The most direct way to track Instagram engagement is through a specifically designed app. The above items on this list describe qualitative ways for your to understand Instagram engagement — focusing on the individual experience of each user — but if you want a quantitative way of understanding Instagram engagement, you’re going to want Instagram metrics.
Social media is just as much a science as it is an art. You’re dealing with advertising psychology, of getting people to buy in and engage in your company as a brand. If you want to benefit from this, you have to look at the metrics.
You’ll get the data for each of your Instagram posts, and be given clear, aesthetically pleasing comparisons to your previous posts. This will allow you to see what works and what doesn’t. Course correction is the key to online business success.
An app like this will also track how many followers you’ve gained and lost over a certain period of time. You’ll be able to weigh which decisions were polarizing, and when you need to cut back so as not to lose more people.
But it doesn’t stop there. With an app like this, you’ll see where exactly your followers are coming from, what they do, and how old they are. This demographic information is key to taking your business to the next level.
Never forget that the visual display of quantitative information is hyper-important in how you understand it. Don’t settle for cheap excel spreadsheets and misleading PowerPoint presentations. Instead, check out this Instagram likes mac app to help you monitor your Instagram engagement.
Understand Instagram Engagement To Grow
As you can see, Instagram engagement is more important than popular. When designing your social media strategy, make sure you look into all aspects of your social media accounts, not just your followers.
Follow the tips above and you’re more likely to create engaging content.
For more information, contact us today.
