Instagram engagement is the first step to getting your audience paying attention and becoming interested in the content you post. Do you comment with action items for your users to respond to? Do you allow them a place to leave an opinion? Do you even ask for their opinion? Are they excited when you share a new post? The way you comment and use your captions is the first step in turning your followers into customers. Here are some tips to doing so effectively.
Business Strategy for Commenting: Engagement and Feedback
Why is it so important for your audience to feel comfortable commenting on your posts? Because you’re opening up a line of communication that allows for a two-way conversation to be had. You could use social media, instagram specifically, as a means of getting information out to your intended audience but this defeats the purpose of having a business account to begin with, aka a missed opportunity.
We like to believe that the more engaged people are with your content, the more your business will show up on their main feed. Authentic impressions are so much more important than those who see your post and keep scrolling. It’s your job as a business to find ways to engage your audience outside of a simple double tap (heart).
Remember, we are all human and your users want to separate this virtual world we are so wrapped up in, from the people behind the content. Especially, if you are a small business, you want to be as personable as you can because you’ll most likely be interacting with these people in person…if you follow our strategy 😉
This is why having a strategy centered around engagement is so important. For example, when you respond back to others on your page or even take it a step farther and comment on their actual posts, they see you more as a friend. Someone who genuinely has interest in what they do, not just when it favors your business. Again, humanizing yourselves in this digital world will go a long way with potential customers.
Now that we’ve humanized ourselves, it’s pivotal to find out more details about your audience. Liking your posts and viewing the impressions on your page is great to gauge how many people may be interested, but commenting takes it a step further. You’re now able to get a peek into what specifically draws them to your content. How they view you and the brand will help you cater your content to posts that are more engaging and interesting to them while potentially expanding your audience as well. It’s the most genuine and effective way to learn about them because, hello…you just got the answers on the test from the teacher themselves.
Examples to Encourage Feedback From Your Audience
That’s great, we understand that we need to engage our audience but what are some ways we can do this without asking, “please tell us what you think about our post.”
Start with a simple opinion that will help your business and gauge what this generation will enjoy the most. An example we used with our @valiant3communications account, was asking our audience which logo they liked best as we were picking our rebranded logo for Salud Juicery. With a simple poll we were able to understand which image attracted our users most and ultimately helped with our final decision. (Especially since we might have been steering towards another option until we did, HA.)
Another way to get followers involved is understanding their interests by what they comment. Asking them to comment with a one word answer, even an emoji to show what they like is a simple and effective way to gather information. The beauty with this method is the question is so easy to answer that they unintentionally do so in their head after reading the question (and hopefully follow it up with a comment.)
An example we used this method was with our @saludjuicery account. We had a post about foods that were great to eat if you’re still hungry after 8pm. It listed about 9 food options and we asked our followers to drop an emoji of which option was their favorite. It was great to see the interaction in the responses AND down the road, this will also be helpful when we’re creating new recipes, product launches, etc. If one food was super popular, “lightbulb”, we may need to incorporate it more in our products. A+ on that assignment!
You’re Ready to Begin!
There are SO many more ways to use these commenting methods to your advantage: general support and answering customer questions, interacting with other accounts, consistent engagement to show responsiveness, pinning popular comments to the top of your posts, the list goes on and on. Now you have a place to start. Create those call-to-actions, see where your customers stand, and use that feedback to retarget and produce content that speaks to your audience. They’ll be long-term customers in no time!