Engaging with your Instagram followers is just as important to your overall Instagram strategy as it is to publish content. Although putting all your focus into creating content, coming up with catchy captions and figuring out the best time of day are all extremely important parts to success on Instagram, the relationships you build and engaging with your Instagram followers can result in big payoffs. We see so many people often forgetting that engaging with your Instagram followers is a crucial part of your Instagram strategies, whether they’re corporate brands, big-name influencers or Instagram newbies, and yet they question why they’re not seeing the results they were hoping for from Instagram be it sales or follower growth.
The truth is Instagram isn’t what it used to be even from just a year ago and between the continuously evolving Instagram algorithm to the over 800 million users on the platform, it gets extremely hard to stand out from the rest and make a name for yourself. They may say not to judge a book by it’s cover but the truth is everyone does so putting your best foot forward on Instagram means having a great looking profile, strong content and a cohesive feed to tie it all together. We’ve got plenty of articles on the Wolf Blog if you’re not sure where to start when it comes to an Instagram content strategy. Once you’ve got that all covered, it’s time to focus on other parts of your Instagram strategy, which should include engaging with your Instagram followers.
While it might come more naturally to some than others engaging with your Instagram followers should become apart of your daily Instagram routine. The task may come off as being a little tedious for your liking but you should see it as an important part of your marketing strategy and building a loyal following. For brands selling products or services, this should be seen as an opportunity to connect with potential clients build brand trust with them. If you’re a blogger, influencer or other personality using Instagram to build an online brand engaging with your Instagram followers is an opportunity to build real relationships with your following, and get them invested in your personal brand. Whatever your purpose for Instagram the rewards from engaging with your Instagram followers is a proven method for success.
Engaging With Your Instagram Followers
1. It Starts With Your Caption
If you’re not sure where to start engaging with your Instagram followers it’s fairly easy: it starts with your caption. Your Instagram caption is the first place where engaging with your Instagram followers happens. Word out there is no one reads Instagram captions but the truth is, as long as your caption is short, sweet and well organized making it easy to read you’re destined to captivate your more engaged followers and that’s who we’re looking for.
Share anything you want in your caption from a daily mantra, thought of the day or even details on today’s outfit. Keep whatever you decide to put in your caption as short as you can, and if you are one that prefers a longer caption use spacers and emojis to break up thoughts so it’s easier to follow. To encourage engaging with your Instagram followers be sure to include a call to action in your caption; questions seems to work best. Giving your followers something to comment about other than just your picture betters your odds in receiving comments.
2. Acknowledge And Respond To All Your Comments
The biggest part of engaging with your Instagram followers no doubt comes from responding to comments left on your posts. A user leaving a like on your content is one thing, but someone taking the time to comment on your content generally means they are interested in either your post, profile, brand or all of the above. So it’s vital to capture their attention, and develop some rapport with your audience by replying to or acknowledging their comment.
There are instances where you might receive spam comments from the small group of profiles still automating comments, and this is something we strongly suggest you avoid. In the case of receiving spam comments, it’s your choice to either delete the comment or simply like it, depending on what the comment is and how strict you’re being when it comes to authentic engagement.
Of course there are times where comments left don’t allow for engaging with your Instagram followers, be it because the comment doesn’t justify a response, or because there are only so many times you can say thank you before it sounds repetitive. In these cases, simply acknowledging the comment by liking it is sufficient enough. The main point of responding to all your comments in some for and engaging with your Instagram followers is to show them and your wider audience, that you’re invested in your followers.
3. Build Meaningful Conversations
Responding to your comments is a great start when we’re talking about engaging with your Instagram followers, but taking it a step further includes building meaningful conversations with them. Anyone can reply to a comment with a simple “thank you”, and although at times that’s all a comment can really be replied with trying to start a conversation with your followers has many benefits. The first and most important benefit to adding meaningful touches when engaging with your Instagram followers is you build rapport and relationships with them. Asking them questions, following up with great dialogue allows you to get to know them while they get to know you through your content. The second benefit to replying to comments when possible with open ended questions, or other forms of short conversation adds a boost to your engagement, by adding a few comments here and there while you chat with your followers.
You can also start these meaningful conversations as we mentioned above in your comments, after all it is the first step to engaging with your Instagram followers. A few great ways you can do that is by adding things like small anecdotes, thoughts of the day, or reviews on particular topics, and closing them off with a question to help motivate your followers and audience to interact with you and your content. Try incorporating these tips the next time you post on Instagram, and see the change in interaction from your followers.
4. Reply To All Your DMs
Another big part of engaging with your Instagram followers, is staying on top of your Instagram DMs. It’s extremely important to make an effort to reply to all of your Instagram DMs, but we totally understand that it can become a lot to manage, especially if you’re a frequent poster on Instagram Stories. But we promise you, taking the time to put some focus into replying to your DMs will have a huge payoff. This is a a way you can go even further into showing your audience you care and appreciate their interactions. Just like replying to your comments we encourage you to schedule a small amount of time daily, whether it’s first thing in the morning as you do your daily emails or before you head off to bed, to turn this into a habit.
As much as this is an important part to engaging with your Instagram followers we do realize however that it can be a bit much to manage Instagram DMs for some so to give yourself some help with this you can try a few things. First, you can include a small “Collabs Email Only” in your bio, so that brands looking to work with you know right off the bat to email you, saving any important opportunities from slipping away in your inbox. You will of course have a few brands that out of habit will reach out via DMs, and in that case we recommend having a short script saved in your notes kindly asking they reach out via email, that you can easily copy and paste as a reply. If you feel bombarded by DMs from your Instagram Stories, you can easily turn off this feature in your Instagram settings. These two small things alone are known to reduce DMs significantly, so you can focus on replying to the rest of the DMs that come through.
5. Return Your Followers Some Love
One way you can take engaging with your Instagram followers a step further, is by returning the love and engaging with their profile. This doesn’t have to be super complicated, but ultimately can have a huge pay off and is one of the top ways anyone will recommend to you when it comes to account growth. There are two main ways to go about this. The first is to identify your top followers, those who always like and comment on your posts with meaningful comments. Consider these followers your VIPs and make it a habit to visit their profiles often to engage with their content, which only helps build a strong loyalty and relationship with these users.
The other way you can easily incorporate this into your daily Instagram routine is as you’re replying to comments, visit a few profiles and leave them some love. It’s important to mix it up with both comments and likes, to avoid coming off spammy and also to show a genuine interest in their content. The trick to this is to truly engage with content you love so if you come across a profile that doesn’t fit your taste, don’t force yourself to comment just move to the next user. Going this extra mile in engaging with your Instagram followers has big rewards that will set you apart from other Bloggers and Influencers.
