Social media’s main attraction is that it connects you with people across a vast expanse with minimal effort and that helps you gain high exposure. Although this may be true for all social media platforms, the level of engagement generated by these platforms is quite different. If you share the same photo on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, you will notice how different each offers in terms of engagements.
There is a general belief that the greater the fan or follower base, the higher the engagement will be. And while this sounds quite logical, your followers are likely to engage with your posts and photos. However, there is a case study that will compel you to re-think about the relation between the number of followers and engagement. You can increase followers by using a resource such as Social Packages.
A study carried out on a famous music band that maintains several social media accounts revealed some fascinating facts. The band enjoyed the largest fan following on Facebook (3.2 million fans) followed by Twitter (3.35 million followers), and their number of followers on Instagram was just one-tenth of that of the other channels (360,000). Yet when they shared the same photo on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram the highest number of likes came from Instagram (52,237 likes) that was 6 times more than the likes they got on Facebook (9405 likes) and almost 10 times more than the number of retweets on Twitter (433 retweets).
Higher engagement on Instagram
When compared with the size of the fan base, it becomes clear that although the band had only 10% fanbase on Instagram, it enjoyed 500% more engagement than Facebook. This a glaring example of the effectiveness of Instagram and why it is miles ahead of its competitors in engagement. So if you are still wondering which social media you should choose to post your photos, you have your answer.
The first reason for such high engagement on Instagram is that your posts and photos do not get hidden or lost from your followers if you set your account to default privacy settings. The second reason is that it is easy to navigate your archive feed on your profile because the complete focus is on small images, unlike Facebook, which not only has photos but content, links etc. The last reason is that it is all visuals in your feed on Instagram that people can see instantly without the need for clicking on a link to open it.
Go for Likes
Likes are crucial for social media users, and it is no different for Instagram. Likes reflect the level of your acceptance on the channel as well as the level of engagement with your followers, which demonstrates the confidence they have on you. The number of likes is a direct measure of how strong your presence is on the platform because a greater number of likes means more people appreciate your content, ideas and presence. Therefore, gathering likes on Instagram or any other social media platform should be your top priority. The first lesson about gathering likes is that you must organically begin the process without taking recourse to any tricks or short cuts because you must be completely honest to your followers to gain their trust. To get Instagram likes, you must do or give something to the audience instead of expecting them to do something for you.
To get Instagram likes and maximize it, follow the steps discussed here.
Share incredible photos
The quality of photos posted on Instagram should be incredible and highly emotive so that it stirs some feeling as soon as people view it. The images must be clear, distinct and sharp so that it draws immediate attention and the same applies for graphics that must have clear lines and free from clutter. Although you may not be a trained photographer, you need to upgrade your skills even if it means taking a photography course or investing in your equipment to match the professional competence.
Write engaging captions
In addition to posting high-quality photos, you must provide eye-catching captions to every photo to facilitate engagement. Remember that it is not enough for viewers to just like the photos but also engage with it so that it prompts them to take some more steps after liking the photo. The caption should carry enough hint about what you expect from viewers when they interact with the photo. Captions should be inspirational and tell a story that evokes emotionseither by sharing a poignant statement, generate a feeling of nostalgia or humoror provide some actionable tips.
Provoke the audience to take some action
That you want the audience to like your photos on Instagram should be clear from the caption. The caption should be such that it conveys the message about what you expect from the audience so that they become aware of what they should do. Simply put, there must be a call to action embedded in the caption. Express through the caption what you want from the audience.
Use hashtags for your posts
Hashtags are too much important for Instagram because these are keys for opening the posts and help brands gain wide exposure to a new audience. Create an effective hashtag strategy by creating hashtags that are neither too long nor too short but just appropriate for your purpose. Use hashtags judiciously because too many hashtags can prove counterproductive. Using 5-9 hashtags per post is good for generating maximum engagement. If you are using Instagram for brand promotion, then you must create a brand hashtag and place the hashtags at the right places like in the comments.
Geotag your location
Using geolocation for your posts increases the chances of gathering more likes. You will find the small location text above an image and using it will make your post appear under that location. It is just as in case of a hashtag and it not only significantly increases your reach but also the chances of getting more likes.
But to ensure that your efforts are fruitful, you must first know your audience very well so that you can present them relevant content that meets their expectations and generates likes.