Mark Gandey — March 17, 2017 Follow @GiraffeSM
Inspiring engagement may be harder than it looks – but Instagram inspirational quotes graphics aren’t always the right way to go.
If you want to inspire more Instagram engagement (and by golly you do) you first need to revisit what engagement is and means. Firstly, Instagram engagement doesn’t just refer to big numbers under your images. It also refers to comments and how those two factors relate to impressions.
Depending on how they are viewed, each of these factors can say different things about how your Instagram audience view your posts, page and brand as a whole.
I’ll use luxury accessories brands as an example. Do users express a desire for these products in their comments as a result of the images? Or are they more infatuated by the aspirational situations that models are in? This simple example could show that a product may not feature prominently enough and assist with the decision on what should be posted next.
Engagement on Instagram insights
Instagram’s in-app insights are very basic, showing one single number for impressions, reach and engagement. The engagement metric is an amalgamation of all likes and comments on your post – a number that video views doesn’t seem at the moment to play into.
Its important to note that this metric can absolutely be useful as a tool for you to compare and contrast the success of each of your posts at-a-glance. But to use Instagram engagement rates as a defining factor for future strategy you will have to go deeper and look at what users are saying and why they are saying it
Reading Instagram engagement as a metric and using it as a signifier for future content is an art in itself. But when it comes to Instagram inspirational quotes and motivational business advice, that gets even harder.
Why Instagram inspirational quotes don’t always mean quality engagement
It’s true that a load of businesses have built up a fairly strong strategy with Instagram inspirational quotes graphics, coffee wisdom and motivational quotes. But that number is now an awfully big one. Like, seriously big.
I want to be totally clear here; what works for somebody else doesn’t have to work for you.
If you have been posting Instagram inspirational quotes and change your strategy it may seem at the beginning that this results in a drop in engagement. Often this is because the hashtags that you were using before had been hijacked by automation services and bots. Or, as I like to call it, noisy marketers marketing noisily to other noisy marketers.
And when you think about it, the people you were marketing to with motivational quotes were the kind of people who already engage with that kind of content – namely your competitors.
Remember the brand-building potential of Instagram
Individuality is the key here. Many businesses have harnessed the might of Instagram to build their brand image. In any other case, posting what your competitors post would at best look like an attempt to piggyback their engagement. At worst, it would look like they were trying to totaly steal their brand image.
But with motivational quotes and inspirational business advice, we have something else entirely. So many businesses do it that users have seen it all before. Even if you log onto canva and throw your own fonts and colours on it, you still inadvertently fashion your pages into the shape of “generic business Instagram”. You don’t want that.
Here’s what you want…
You want to stand out. Instagram was created for individual lives to shine – so don’t feel you have to post what your competitors are posting. If you can create a strategy that focusses on frequently posting actual, original photos on a theme that suits you, do!
I believe in you.
If you can think it, you can do it.
#inspiration #monday #mightnotbemonday
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