“How can I increase engagement on my Instagram account?” This is the question that is often received from customers. There is no magic wand, we got to have a proven strategy. 

A while ago, all you have to do on Instagram was to post a decent photo with short captions. Nowadays, if you want to engage people and be classified as “influencers,” then you have to optimize it and make sure that every post is valuable to your followers.

Below are five things that social media experts in Orange County recommend that can also boost your website SEO. 

1. Test best time and frequency for posting on Instagram

With testing and social media analysis, you can determine the best time of the day and how often to publish posts on your Instagram account.

For your Instagram account, you must be able to manage and determine the best time of the day, which is the best for posting and its frequency in order to achieve the highest engagement.

For example, for one account, the best time to post is 6:30 in the morning. For another account, it’s best posting times can be 6:30 am 2 pm, or 11 pm every week.

As a social media marketer, you can use tools like Sprout Social to measure and test the best time of day and post to engage with the audience on Instagram.

Before you start testing, think about your audience: what they want to see, when they want to see it, and why they interact with your content. Put forward some hypotheses, test them, and then start to determine what works (and what doesn’t).

2. Change your content mix 

Social media and SEO experts in Orange County say it is less about sharing and more about impact. Experts found that the most engaged social media accounts keep changing and mixing their content posting mediums (videos, links, and photos).

It is recommended to post unique content related to your business via photos and videos. Is it a photo of food, a party, or your team? If you want to increase engagement, make sure your posts are unique and diverse and don’t rely on one type of update.

3. Test carousel with video and photos

For Instagram accounts, you must manage carousel posts, and they are most engaged. But a study found that the carousel was less involved than regular photo publishing. Our own research on Instagram travel accounts found that carousels are more attractive than regular photo posting.

If you are trying to increase engagement on your Instagram account, you must test and see what type of content (video, carousel, or photo) is most appealing to your audience. What is best for one brand may not work for another, and vice versa.

4. Re-share customer content (user-generated content)

Reposting your customers’ content on Instagram is one of the keys to increasing Instagram engagement. We have numerous studies that have found that social media posts with user-generated content (UGC) have the highest commitment. 

A study found that Instagram posts with UGC were 6.9 times more engaged than other posts.

Also, make sure to include the account’s provenance, and yell-this recognition encourages users to thank you again for your original post and to share photos about your company back. Instagram also needs to do this by their respective terms and conditions.

Brands must give explicit permission to their customers to the republish to their social media content on their channels. The original content creator should be appropriately credited with the label of the source in the caption.

5. Optimize photos with photo editing tools

If you are struggling to publish pictures on Instagram, make sure the quality of the photo is sync in with your brand and looks good. Although there are plenty of photo editing tools available.

Bonus tip: keep your Instagram bios up to date

This is obvious, but if your company is on Instagram, you need to make sure your bio includes your contact information, address, website, and some other useful tidbits.

Instagram resumes are one of the nuances that keep Instagram unique and force accounts to be creative in how they are presented. The PIN cannot exceed 150 characters. Emoticons are available, and Instagram has recently allowed linking hashtags and @mentions via bios. One thing that Instagram has not relaxed is that there is a clickable link in the resume.

Although only 150 characters, bio space is an opportunity to draw attention to current events, important dates and events, and even partner accounts.

These are some tips by the social media experts in Orange County that can boost your SEO. Follow these tips while posting and managing content on Instagram and see what works best for your account.