Experiencing low engagement on Instagram? You’re not alone. 

The truth is, everyone is experiencing a dip in engagement on the platform. Ever since the announcement of Reels, it seems like Instagram is constantly rolling out update after update.

This has resulted in low engagement on photos, carousel posts, and even stories.

While this is incredibly frustrating, it’s also an opportunity for you to reassess your content strategy while everyone faces the same low engagement struggle.

So if you’re tired of low engagement on Instagram, here’s what to do!

Tired of Low Engagement on Instagram? Here’s What to Do!

First, let’s start by diving into what “engagement” means on Instagram.

To simply put, Instagram engagement is the number of interactions you receive on your content from other Instagram users.

These engagement metrics consist of likes, comments, shares, saves, views, DMs, link clicks, and responses on Instagram story stickers (such as polls, quizzes, questions, sliders).

Instagram users are seeing a dip in engagement across the board, regardless of what content type they seem to share.

So what can we do to solve this problem? Here are 7 things to do to increase your engagement on Instagram.

Post Reels to Increase Engagement on Instagram

It’s no secret that Instagram has been pushing Reels.

With that in mind, it’s a great time to switch your content strategy to prioritize Reels.

For instance, if you’ve been posting 1 Reel, 1 carousel post, and 2 photos per week, it might be a great idea to switch that up to 3 Reels and 1 carousel post instead.

If your heart started racing at the thought of having to create more Reels per week, don’t worry.

Filming Reels can feel overwhelming and time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be.

That is why I wrote this blog post to help you streamline your Reels creation process. This will help you batch a week’s worth of Reels in 1 hour.

Take the Blogging Approach by Focusing on Keywords to Increase Engagement 

Have you noticed Instagram’s suggested content while scrolling on your home feed?

These posts that you see on your feed from creators that you aren’t following appear based on keywords related to your interests (e.g., the types of content you like and save).

This means taking the blogging approach by focusing on Keywords, aka Instagram SEO, will increase your chances of appearing on your target audience’s home feed as suggested content.

If you’re new to blogging or have no idea what keywords are, this blog post will break down how SEO on Instagram works so that you can optimize your posts to increase your engagement.

Value Quality over Quantity

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again – it is more important to build an engaged audience than it is to grow a large one.

Scrubbing your followers list of any inactive, spam, or bot accounts is great if you’re experiencing low engagement. This is because your engagement rate considers every single follower in your audience.

Although Instagram periodically removes bot or inactive accounts from your list of followers, it’s not a bad idea for you to get into the weeds and do some of the dirty work yourself.

This will allow you to get a better idea of the quality of followers you have, so you aren’t just caught up with the vanity metric that is your overall follower count.

Having spam followers could really bring down your engagement and hurt your account overall. So don’t be afraid to remove a follower or two from your list.

Beef Up Your Engagement with Carousel Posts

Even though photos and static in-feed posts no longer perform as well as they once did, they’re ultimately the types of content that made us fall in love with the platform, to begin with.

While a single photo might not garner a lot of engagement, throwing a few photos together in a carousel might help you increase engagement.

In fact, compiling a select few photos into a carousel post aligns with the current “photo dump” trend.

Plus, the great thing about carousel posts is that they stay near the top of your audience’s feed if they haven’t scrolled through all of the photos in that carousel.

Post When Your Most Engaged Audience is Online

This tip isn’t new, but it’s worth a reminder.

Use Instagram’s analytics tool to help you determine when your audience is most active on the platform.

A word of warning – Instagram’s analytics isn’t always the most accurate when it comes to the best posting times for your account.

You can take this a step further by polling your audience on stories in order to get a more accurate result.

Ask Your Audience to Add You to Their Favorites List

Getting your audience to add you to their favorites list is a great way to get in front of their eyes. However, it is easier said than done.

The best way to get this done? Give your audience exactly what they’re asking for.

This means delivering highly valuable posts that answer your audience’s questions, help them achieve a quick but desired result, or posts that pique their interests.

Think about the creators you’ll personally put on your favorites list. They’re either people you know in real life who you want to keep up with, or creators whose posts add immense value to your life.

Although delivering highly valuable posts is a long-term strategy, it’s a powerful one that’ll get your audience to know, like, and trust you in the long run.

Optional: Drive Engagement from Other Platforms

This isn’t a necessary step but it isn’t a bad idea either.

I’ve always been a huge proponent of starting and owning a blog for this reason. At the end of the day, the Instagram algorithm is unpredictable, and any update might roll out that could impact your content strategy.

We’ve seen this happen with Reels, and it will likely happen as the landscape of social media changes and evolves.

Blogs, on the other hand, have been relatively stable as a means of growing an engaged and loyal following. As long as you have a great understanding of SEO, you’ll be able to get in front of more eyes for a longer period of time.

Pair that with an email list and you’ve got a solid strategy to build an audience that you own.

If you’re able to build a solid following on both your blog and email list, promoting your Instagram account to your already engaged followers will be an easy way to drive high quality engagement to your profile.

Increasing Engagement on Instagram

The best way to increase engagement is to dig deep into your account and ask yourself what’s working and what isn’t.

Yes, the algorithm does play a part in the equation, however, knowing exactly how to deliver what your audience wants should always be at the heart of your content strategy.

I cover how you can create high-quality and highly valuable content for your audience, regardless of niche, in The Influencer Bootcamp.

(I also have a free webinar where I share 3 steps to skyrocket your Instagram following and land your first paid collab.)

In the meantime, try out these tips, and don’t forget to track and analyze your results!

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