You’ve probably heard a lot of statistics about Instagram lately. You know, like how it has 1 billion monthly users, or how its users post an average of 95 million photos per day. But no one is talking about the important numbers: the average engagement rate on Instagram.
If you’re looking to grow your business (or just get more people to see your posts), then knowing this number can help you optimize your strategy. Let’s dive into some averages and see what they mean for your business!
What Is the Average Engagement Rate on Instagram?
Engagement rates on Instagram vary, but the average is 4.7%. This means that if a user posts a photo or video and receives 1,000 likes, 471 of those likes would be because of organic audiences (people who found the content through their own networks). The rest may be from paid advertising or influencer marketing.
Influencers with well-established communities usually have engagement rates that fall around 4%. This means that for every 100 likes an influencer post receives, 3-4 of them are from people who actively follow and engage with their content.
As the Instagram algorithm continues to evolve, it’s becoming more important than ever to have a strong organic following. For brands and businesses, this means investing in content creators who can not only produce great photos and videos but also have a built-in audience that engages with their content.
What Is Engagement Rate?
Instagram engagement rate is the measurement of how people interact with content published by a specific account. Calculating engagement can be complex because the rate is relative and calculated in different ways, depending on the context.
The Importance of Engagement on Instagram
Engagement rates are a powerful indicator of how well an Instagram account is performing. A high engagement rate helps brands reach more people, get discovered by new followers, and increase conversions. Ultimately, this helps brands and influencers advance their business goals.
Some other reasons you should emphasize Instagram engagement include:
- Helps you gauge what type of content your audience loves
- Higher engagement rates will cause more reach and impressions
- More engagement = more followers
- Better engagement means better relationships with your followers
What Is an Engaged Follower?
The most basic way to define an “engaged” customer is someone who has interacted with your brand or product by liking, commenting, or sharing it. However, there are many other ways to interpret this term. As such, there’s no single definition for engaged customers in calculating engagement rates.
It depends entirely on what kind of information you want to get out of these metrics.
How to Calculate Instagram Engagement Rate
The first step is to find out the number of likes and comments on the post, as well as your total number of followers. Once you know this information, it’s time to calculate your engagement rate. To do so:
- Add the likes and comments together
- Divide this sum by the total number of followers (the denominator)
- Multiply the result by 100
This will give you your engagement rate percentage.
Let’s say you have a post with 200 likes and 50 comments. You also have 10,000 followers. To calculate your engagement rate on this post: (200+50)/10,000=0.025×100=2.5%
How to Find the Percent of Change in Engagement Rate on Instagram
To find the percent change of engagement rate when it increases, subtract the old rate from the new one. Then, multiply that number by 100 to get a percentage.
For a decrease, you subtract the new percentage from the old one. Then, you divide this new number by the old rate. After that, multiply it by 100 to get your percent change.
How to Increase Engagement Rate on Instagram
An engagement rate of 2.5% is pretty good! But, there are a few things you can do to try and increase it:
Post Engaging Content
You must become a storyteller instead of simply posting photos. This includes offering ‘micro-stories’ via your captions, videos, and Instagram stories. The key to micro-storytelling is to make your content relatable, emotional, and personal.
There’s no quick fix for upping your engagement numbers, but taking a more narrative approach to Instagram can definitely help over time. (You can get likes here while you wait on your organic followers to catch up.)
Use Compelling Visuals
When you post photos or videos on Instagram, they should be of high quality and visually appealing. This means using bright colors, interesting perspectives, and great composition overall.
Explore all the different video formats available on Instagram, including Boomerangs, Rewinds, and Superzoom. There are over 16 different types of videos available for brands to choose from. You can even take advantage of Instagram’s different filters to ensure that your visuals are high quality, even if you don’t have the best camera on the market.
Engage With Your Followers
Try responding to comments on your posts. Not only does this show that you care about what others have to say, but it also encourages further conversation around your content.
Like and comment on other people’s posts too. The more you interact with others, the more likely they are to return the favor.
Post at Optimal Times (For Your Time Zone)
It’s important to note that the best time to post on Instagram is different for everyone. To figure out when your followers are most active, look at your analytics (Instagram Insights) and find out when you get the most engagement. Once you know this, try posting around those times for a few weeks and see if there’s an increase in interactions.
Go Viral on Instagram
These tips will help you get more likes, but remember that it’s not just about your average engagement rate on Instagram. The most important thing is to stay true to your brand and values. This will keep people coming back for more!
For more social media tips, be sure to check out our other blogs. We can’t wait to see you go viral.
