One of the most frustrating things about running an Instagram account is the struggle to get consistent engagement on every post. While there are a lot of things that you can do to increase that rate, let’s talk about 3 things that are HURTING your Instagram engagement.

These 3 things are HURTING your Instagram Engagement

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What’s a good engagement rate?

Before diving in, it’s important for YOU to set realistic expectations around the performance of your posts.

Did you know that brands consider a GOOD engagement rate for Instagram to be 3%+? That means if you receive about 200 likes/comments on a post with 1,000 followers, that’s a 20% engagement rate, WHICH IS AMAZING!

CALCULATE YOUR ENGAGEMENT RATE
(Likes +  Comments) / Followers x 100 = Engagement rate percentage 

Now let’s dive into a few things that might be hurting your engagement rate.

1. Posting and Ghosting

Let me ask you something.

How many people do you follow? How much time do you take to support them and engage with their posts? Are you supporting them the way you would want your followers to support you?

It’s easy to get caught in the rush of posting to hit your optimal post time, but if you’re posting and closing down the app right after. Don’t expect to have the post perform well. 

I like to spend 15 minutes before I post and 15 minutes after I post to engage with other users.

2. Engagement groups (PODS)

An engagement group is when a group of similar accounts get a group chat and are required to engage with each others posts every day.

While you might see an increase in your engagement at first, the long-term effects of this are BAD. 

Since you're spending your time engaging with THEIR posts, you're telling Instagram “this is the content that I want to see”, and vice versa, it tells Instagram who they should push YOUR content to…instead of your ideal client.

You use all your energy on your engagement pod instead of finding and building REAL connections.

If you’re in a pod right now, give yourself permission to leave it. Understand that your engagement might see a decrease after leaving, but it IS possible to build it back up.

If you’re going to create a group chat, create them with the intention to meet new people. NOT with the intention of increasing engagement.

3. You aren’t taking the time to plan

We’ve all been there: You look at the clock and it’s already 9:05 am. You were supposed to post at 9am but you haven’t written your caption yet! You quickly open the Instagram app, pick your photo and write some random mumbo jumbo in the caption.

The lack of intention, or the lack of planning, behind your content, will lead to a low engagement rate.

If you need to take a break from posting, to take a step back and plan out your content so that you can be ahead…DO IT.

While that might sound taboo to some because “Instagram loves consistency”, this is going to bring you peace in the long run.

Gone will be the days where you stressed about what you’re going to post. It’s a freeing feeling! 

Everyone knows that the algorithm can be a pain in the booty, so don’t get discouraged when you see a low number of likes. Focus on what you CAN control, and try to avoid these 3 things that are hurting your Instagram engagement.

If you’re curious about how to GROW your account, that’s a whole other story! Download this “5 steps for growing on Instagram in 2021” guide for more strategies.