How To Engage Without Burning Out On Instagram
One of the key things you might be struggling with on Instagram is having to engage to gain more traction. You might have heard from Instagram Gurus and Instagram Coaches that engaging is a great way to gain engagement and grow organically on Instagram.
While there is truth behind this, running a business means you don’t have hours to spare engaging for your Instagram account to grow and gain traction.
So let’s discuss how you can approach engaging without burning out but still gain traction for your account.
Why do I need to engage?
Before we do a deep dive on how you can engage but still gain traction, let’s discuss the elephant in the room - Why do you really need to engage?
Instagram is, and will always be a social platform. So?
It means to thrive you need to engage! People will not be going in on Instagram scrolling and just going on a liking spree - especially if they don’t follow you.
The best way for you to get discovered is to engage! Engage with intent!
Your goal is not just to engage and leave emojis, sorry that won’t cut it anymore. You need to engage with the intent of building connections and nurturing a supportive community. So if you are tempted to just post and ghost, you will just be frustrated seeing that you are not actually gaining any engagement back.
Engage with a Plan
As I mentioned, your goal is to get noticed and that means creating an engagement plan which will mean doing a bit of research and dedicating time to engage. How much?
The least amount of time you can dedicate is at least 30 minutes - best is if you engage 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after you post.
Can that you gain engagement and growth? Yes, it can help you gain traction as long as you have an engagement plan ready but remember that it won’t be an overnight thing. You have to give it at least a week to see some pick up on your engagement and reach!
The 45-minute Engagement Strategy
So how can you go about this 45-minute engagement plan? Before we dive into the breakdown of the 45-minute engagement plan, you need a strategy first. To do that you need the following:
1. Your Niche
You need to properly know what your niche is, because without clarity it will be hard to move forward and your engagement plan can be all over the place. So start with this, what is your core niche?
2. List of Influencers from Your Niche
This is the next step, now that you know your niche you should identify who are the top influencers within your niche. The goal is for you to gain not just engagement but become discovered by your ideal audience right? And where do they hang out currently? Checking posts of the top influencers within your niche. List at least 5-10 accounts you will engage with
3. List of accounts in your niche you like and support
Now, to help gain engagement back, list down at least 10-15 of your favorite smaller accounts within your niche. The goal is to nurture a relationship with them so they engage back. Same with the big influencers, you need to be engaging with them daily too!
4. List hashtags your audience follows or hashtags for your niche
List down at least five hashtags that you know your audience follows are used in your niche. This is how you can connect and discover other accounts - accounts with whom you can nurture a connection with
Engagement Etiquette
Before we go to the breakdown of minutes for the 45-minute engagement plan, here are a few things you need to remember as you start socializing and engaging on Instagram.
Never ever ask for a follow back via DMs. You don’t want to appear desperate for a follow back right? So engage and let them decide if they will you or not
While you have that list of 15-25 accounts to engage with, it might be tempting to leave a generic “great post” comment. The aim of the engagement plan is for you to engage with intent. This means, reading the caption, watching the reel, flipping through the carousels. Leave comments that add value, ask a question, or starts a discussion
Focus on quality comments vs quantity comments. If you feel like you can only leave meaningful comments on 20 posts that is way better than leaving generic, emoji comments on 30 or more posts! This way, you have a higher chance of getting your comment pinned!
The 45-minute Engagement Plan
Now, let’s do a breakdown of how you can use up your 45 minutes wisely. If you want to add more time and make it an hour feel free to do so! I personally engage around 1.5 hrs/day and now get an average of 80 comments per post!
This can be your reference and you can adjust based on where you see you get more traction.
Engage With Intent
To end this post, remember your aim is to leave meaningful comments that will help you get noticed and nurture a community. Do you feel like you need more clarity with your strategy, why not work with me and I’ll create your Instagram Strategy For You! Complete with:
Audience Insighting
Instagram Content Strategy
Instagram Hashtag Strategy
Instagram Engagement Strategy
and more!
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Hi, I’m Denice!
In 2019, I decided to leave my corporate job as the Digital and PR Manager for a globally known brand to start my own business. My goal? To help service-entrepreneurs thrive through a holistic Social and Pinterest approach.
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Check out my other posts!
It’s been three years since I resigned from my corporate job and started my business. It has been an amazing ride so far but the one thing I realized is that I had moments when I felt burned out from everything I was doing. This is when I knew I had to take better care of myself.