4 WAYS TO GET MORE INSTAGRAM ENGAGEMENT AND GROW ORGANICALLY

If I had a dollar for every time I was asked how to get more Instagram engagement, I’d be living at the Ritz, babe. We are hungry for engagement and followers on the ‘gram, and yet it’s getting harder and harder to attract an audience and hook them in. But harder doesn’t mean impossible.

Eight months ago, I started working with Refine for Wedding Planners, a female owned business that helps wedding planners tackle their offers, clients, and workload. In our short eight months together, her community has welcomed over 600 ideal followers, is consistently driving traffic to her website, and is seeing a 24.8% engagement rate on the ‘gram. Ya’ll, the national engagement rate is 1.6%.

And before you say, “But how many ads did you run?” Nada, babe. Not a single ad was run or an engagement group joined. This was alllll organically grown.

So, if you want to know how to get more Instagram engagement or grow your account organically, take a close look at how we made it happen with Refine for Wedding Planners.

HOW TO ORGANICALLY GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM

Don’t worry, I’m going to spill the tea on exactly how I achieved these kinds of stats with Refine for Wedding Planners. 

#1 AWARENESS OF COMMUNITY NEEDS

When Refine came knocking on my door, they didn’t show up frazzled and lost. They knew exactly what their audience needed, but weren’t sure how to implement it in a digestible and aligned way nor how to upkeep consistent content.

Refine said, “I honestly enjoyed doing my own social media, and wasn't bad at it, but I recognized I can't do all the things. My main weakness has been consistency. By outsourcing social media, I've gained a creative partner that brings ideas, fresh perspective, platform expertise... all while freeing up so much of my time!”

Having a strong pulse on your community and ideal audience is key. I mean, it literally determines the kind of content you’re going to put out into the world. If you find that your audience is consistently unengaged or not interacting with your posts, ya gotta ask yourself, “Is this what they want to see or hear?”

Brands are quick to Google “how to get more Instagram engagement”, but there is no magic button for engagement or growth, cowgirl. It starts with knowing who you’re serving.

#2 CONSISTENT AND BINGEABLE CONTENT

Have you ever stumbled upon someone's IG profile, and found yourself going down the rabbit hole? You start reading and watching all the things. That’s bingeable content, babe.

When creating content for Refine for Wedding Planners, there are three goals in mind (psst…you should have the same goals): consistent, trustworthy, and bingeable. 

Consistent means showing up on a regular basis. Trustworthy content is about building relationships and delivering content with good intentions (never to shame or promote false info). And of course, bingeable. We want people to want more and stick around. That is how to get more Instagram engagement in the long run.

If you’re like, “Kati, how the hell am I supposed to know if my content is bingeable or engaging?” Girl, check your stats. If the engagement is consistently low, then something is off. Maybe you aren’t posting at the right time, or you’re not reaching the right people. Or, maybe the content is falling flat with your audience.

When I look at Refine for Wedding Planners stats, I’m always blown away. A lot of the content goes beyond just likes. It has comments, shares, and saves. Plus, it’s reaching thousands of people AND THEN many of them click on her profile to look at more content or visit her website. That’s what we want, girlies!

#3 THE BUYER'S JOURNEY

Understanding your buyer’s journey will help you warm up your audience and engage them at various stages. This can take a follower and turn them into a buyer. Like, literally what else are you doing this for??

When you find that clients, customers, or people in your DMs are facing the same problem, you want to have a solution for that. A lot of the content on Refine’s page relates to the problems that planners are facing: overbearing clients, working endless hours, not having solid systems in place, etc.

So, they created a mentorship program, templates, guides, and a program to solve those big issues. However, if all Refine’s content did was talk about their paid offers - they’d turn a lot of people off. So, instead, I created bingeable, relatable content to boost engagement and show their audience that Refine understands where they are coming from.

Just a little PSA - Many people ask how to get more Instagram engagement on posts about paid offers. Overall, expect to see a lower engagement rate on those posts. You should promote your offers, but it’s not the only element of your content strategy.

#4 TRUST THE PROFESSIONALS

Whether you are hiring a social media manager or simply reading this blog - ya gotta trust the professionals. After all, you’re not exactly saving yourself time in your biz if you’re going to micromanage or constantly question your SMM’s judgment. But that’s just my hot take…

As Refine for Wedding Planners said, “I think our relationship is successful because I let you do your job. And because you choose to also trust me when on occasion I say "I hear that's standard, but I'm telling you, it's a no go for my audience or goals." We validate each other's opinion, provide education and context to ensure we both have an informed stance and most importantly, we ask questions rather than assume. We don't take things personally either!”

When you work with a SMM, it’s a collaborative effort, but you’re also paying for guidance and expert opinions. Meaning if you want to know how to get more Instagram engagement, you have to be willing to take advice. You’ll come to the table with ideas and be involved in the creation process, but you also have to learn when to let go - and trust the people that you hired.

Ready to hire an expert to boost your Instagram engagement? Saddle up, cowgirl! I’m going to show you how it’s done 😉

The Social Reco has two packages for Social Media Management: The Cowgirl and The Fortune Teller. No worries - both packages include strategies to help you level up your engagement.

With the Cowgirl, you’ll provide the content, and we’ll handle the rest. As a dynamic duo, we’ll help your engagement skyrocket. With the Fortune Teller, pass content creation, management, and engagement completely to us. We’ll tackle it all, so you can get back to your biz.