CONQUER THE WORLD WITH YOUR ENGAGEMENT

Let’s Get Engaged!

On running a business or having your brand be heard on Instagram, there are things you have to consider such as likes, followers, brand marketing strategy, Instagram influencer marketing, and many more. Another thing you have to consider that is the sole responsible for the growth of your brand to gain real Instagram followers is engagement. The engagement will help you grow your Instagram. 

Instagram engagement is how the public interacts with the content you post. Calculating it’s rate measures how well your brand is connected with your audience.

Here are tips on how to measure your engagement: 

• Impressions – The total number of times all your Instagram posts and your Stories are seen
• Reach – The number of unique views your posts and Stories have
• Website clicks – The number of times the website link in your Instagram account is clicked, causing a user to leave Instagram and visit your website.
• Profile visits – The number of times a user visited your Instagram profile.
• Followers – Calculate your follower growth rate by dividing the number of followers you’ve gained in a specific time period by the previous number of followers. Multiply that by 100 for the percentage.
• Comments – The number of times users have written something underneath your post, including when they tag a friend. Add the number of comments with likes and saved posts to find the total interactions on a post.
• Saved posts – The number of times users have clicked on the flag icon at the right-hand side of your post to add to their private collection of saved posts. They will probably return to your post to review later or view it repeatedly.
• Views – The total number of times your video or Instagram Story was viewed.
• Likes – The number of times users have clicked on the heart underneath your post. Even with likes being hidden, remember: Likes still matter.

Calculate your brand’s Instagram engagement rate

Engagement rate by reach ( ERR ) 

Pros: Reach can be more accurate than follower count since not all followers see your content and non-followers can be exposed to your posts through shares, and other means

Cons: a very low reach can lead to a very inaccurate high engagement rate

• Most commonly used to calculate engagement with content
• Measures the people who chose to interact with your content after seeing it
• Single post : ERR = total of engagement posts / reach per post * 100
• Average ERR = Total ERR / Total Posts

Engagement rate by posts ( ER)

Pros: a better way to gauge interaction based on how people have seen your post this formula replaces reach with followers. It is a more stable metric of measurement

Cons: It doesn’t account for viral reach. And as followers go up, your rate of engagement could go down a little

• This formula measures engagements by followers on a specific post.
• Single post : ER post = total engagement on a post / total followers * 100 
• Average ER by post = total ER by post / total posts

Engagement Rate by impressions

Pros: useful when you’re running paid content and you need to evaluate its effectiveness

Cons: the base is bound to be lower than ERR and ER post. It’s best to use it with ER reach

• While reach measures the people who see your content, impression tracks how often they appear on that content
• Single post: ER Impression: total engagement on a post / total impression * 100
• Average: Total ER impression / Total Posts

Daily Engagement rate ( Daily ER)

Pros: Good way to gauge how often your followers interact with your account on a daily basis

Cons: the formula doesn’t account for the fact that the same follower may engage 10 times in a day, versus 10 followers engaging once.

• While engagement rate by reach measures engagement against maximum exposure, it’s still good to have a sense of how often your followers are engaging with your account on a daily basis.
• Daily ER = Total engagements in a day / Total followers *100
• Average Daily ER = Total engagements for X days / (X days *followers) *100

Engagement rate by Views ( ER views)

Pros: if your video’s objective is to generate engagement

Cons: View tallies often include repeat views from a single user (non-unique views). While that viewer may watch the video multiple times, they may not necessarily engage multiple times.

• how many people choose to engage with your videos after watching them.
• ER view = Total engagements on video post / Total video views *100
• Average ER view = Total ER view / Total posts

Factored Engagement rate

• Add more or less weight to certain factors in the equation.
• For example, a marketer may wish to place a higher value on comments versus likes, weighting each comment as two versus one.
• Comment-weighted ER = (Total comments x 2) + all other engagements / Reach per post *100

Cost per engagement

• If you’ve chosen to sponsor content and engagement is a key objective, you’ll want to know how much that investment is paying off.
• CPE = Total amount spent / Total engagements

Here are tips on how to increase your engagement

Know your audience 

• By tracking them using Instagram insights you’ll find data about your followers and will be able to help you understand contents relevant to them

Track of time

• Make sure you post your content when your followers are online so that they may see your posts.

Consistency

• If you want Instagram to be more engageable then you have to post consistently so you could build and connect with your audience

Engaging with others

• It’s called social media for a reason. Engage with your audience in different creative ways like run-to like a contest, asking them questions about trendy stuff
• Promote other people’s brand and your brand as well

Tagging

• Tag user- general content
• Tag influencers for they might be of help on the growth of your account and brand
• Geo-tagging- creates an opportunity for users to visit your location and post photos of them visiting

Be creative 

• Experiment with different varieties that might be suitable for your brand. 
• Creating content with clarity, creativity, consistency are enterprises aiming to build brand awareness in Instagram
• Write better captions that might appeal to them
• Instagram video, w/ filters, and stories are top-notch on Instagram. They’re a few things that people always find interesting and always go back to.

Partner with Influencer Marketing Agency

• Instagram influencer marketing has become significant. It allows marketers to work with key thought leaders in their sector and push brand messaging out to a wider audience.
• Select the right kind of influencer

Ready to take your Instagram account to the next level?  Work with the experts at Social Sensei to help pair your business with the right growth plan to help you gain real Instagram followers, increase brand exposure, and boost your credibility.  Dial 888-444-9144 to talk to one of our experts today or click here to schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation with us.

The post How to Get More Engagement on Instagram appeared first on Social Surf.

Today, we live in a world where almost everything is according to modern technology. Social media is so dominating with whatever generation people belong with. Social media will always be there even in the world of marketing, digital is on the lead. And I would say influencer marketing helped it happen.

Influencer marketing has been embraced as one of the most effective channels for driving a higher ROI. 80% of marketers find it effective and 71% of them say that it helps them drive high-quality traffic and customers. While marketers started leveraging the power of influence with celebrities, micro-influencer collaborations are rising in popularity. Are these reasons enough to convince you to invest in influencer marketing? They should be.

How is micro-influencer rising from its popularity? And how is it becoming more popular and popular as years go by? It’s because social media reaches various places all over the world and reaches a lot of diversities. One post can allow you to engage other people to listen to you. That’s how powerful it is where it could even give a person the power to influence them on what they should do and what they should believe in regarding brands. How can a micro-influencer do that? They might not have a great reach on broad audiences but them having the most significant engagement rate of all the types of influencers made micro-influencers the best way for a brand to navigate its way to success. Additionally, since micro-influencers typically do not have the budget, resources, connections, and number of collaborations as a macro-influencer, this forces them to develop consistent and genuine connections with their followers and their community. They are also eager to grow. As a result, many micro-influencers put a lot more effort into their campaigns which leads to better content.

Brands tend to go for micro-influencers because these are experts in their niches. So any content that they may share that’s related to that niche is considered more credible. It’s also much cheaper compared to hiring a celebrity or a big-time influencer. And due to the lower cost of working with this kind of individual, it allowed brands to have the option of working with several micro-influencers at the same time.

Here are other benefits of working with micro-influencers: 

• Authentic engagement
• Micro-influencers take pride in producing content that resonates and speaks to their followers and community. This authenticity can also help micro-influencers drive sales for the right product since their followers feel closely connected and invested in the success of a micro-influencer.
• Can build brand ambassadors
• Before becoming a macro-influencer, they were micro-influencers. Before becoming a micro-influencer, they are brand ambassadors. Enrolling micro-influencers in your brand ambassador program can do wonders for a recently launched product or a brand looking to increase awareness through social media.
• Having brand ambassadors is a low-cost way to test if micro-influencers can convey your brand and product attributes in a way to authentically speak to their audience. Additionally, having a brand ambassador program has a low-cost barrier to entry, allowing you to exchange products or a hefty discount code in exchange for a few pieces of content per month.
• Better chance of reaching your target audience
• When working with a micro-influencer you have a better chance of reaching your target audience. The majority of micro-influencer followers follow the account because they create highly relevant content for that community. For example, a fashion micro-influencer audience follows and engages with their content because of her unique sense of style and outfit inspiration they provide.
• Higher ROI potential
• Micro-influencers are without question less costly than macro-influencers. Many have lower collaboration costs that the industry average for many reasons with some being:
  • Focusing on content quality

• • Looking to build their partnership portfolio

• • Influencer marketing is not their main source of income

• • Doing it to connect with a community rather than make money

Here is more to know about the challenges in micro- influencers 

• Time –  you may want to work with multiple micro-influencers to get maximum results. And this will require more time not only to find and communicate with the influencers but to work through different briefs and review cycles, etc.

• Quality – some micro-influencers, for whom Instagram isn’t their full-time job, maybe juggling a busy schedule and this could compromise the quality of content. However, you can agree to quality checks/revisions in the contract to avoid this becoming a problem

• Reach – micro-influencers do have limited reach as they have smaller audiences. If brand awareness is your goal, it will make more sense to work with a macro or mega influencer

• Creativity – micro-influencers create their best work when given some freedom. Unlike some mega influencer brand collaborations that can be more straightforward in execution, micro-influencers don’t want strict guidelines on exactly what to post. The best thing to do is provide brand guidelines and the goals of the campaign, and allow the micro-influencer to create content they know will resonate best with their audience

Here are tips on becoming one

• Brand yourself and be creative – You don’t really have to be famous for you to be an influencer. You can start small. And you can start by exploring your niches. Your overlapping interests is what makes you unique as an influencer. Your set of skills and experiences is what attracts users and potential brand partners. Marketers value genuine support, and followers can tell if you’re acting authentically or not.
• Quality over quantity – your value as a micro-influencer rests on the fact that you don’t have millions of followers. The engagement you elicit from your followers depends on your relatable image. Instead of trying to increase your follower figure, focus on the quality of those relationships. Comment thoughtfully whenever a follower tags you. Post images and videos that show you interacting with real people in everyday circumstances.
• Be generous – The easiest, least expensive thing to give is information. If you’re a backpacker, post a checklist for two-, three- and five-day trips. Personal shoutouts are another free tactic: When a follower tags you in a post of their own, publicly thank or joke with them from your account.
• Utilize tools and tell great stories – it’s not enough that you just post a photo and hope followers to fill in the blanks. You should tell them a story of the brand or the product, describe them so your followers know what to expect about it. Be real about sharing your stories cause like what I’ve said they could see if you’re faking it or being authentic

It’s clear that the benefits of working with micro-influencers outweigh those of other types of influencers. And you can clearly see that micro-influencers are the rising stars of the influencer marketing space. They are more cost-effective to work with, generate more engagement, are more relevant, and are seen as authentic and trustworthy. All of these qualities make up for their low reach. You can always partner with micro-influencers if you want to generate more reach and also engage users at the same time. This approach will help you, especially businesses with budget constraints, grow your brand through influencer marketing.

Ready to take your Instagram account to the next level?  Work with the experts at Social Sensei to help pair your business with the right growth plan to help you gain real Instagram followers, increase brand exposure, and boost your credibility.  Dial 888-444-9144 to talk to one of our experts today or click here to schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation with us.

The post What is a microinfluencer? appeared first on Social Surf.

“Change is the only constant in life.” Heraclitus – 

Due to the changing times, keeping up with technology can be pretty challenging.  With so many platforms out there, it would be difficult to choose which one you would go for. In this digital age, most brands are using content marketing to gain visibility on social media platforms. 

From small and large businesses, startups and corporations, B2B, and eCommerce – these organizations of all trades can reap from influencer marketing. 

But first, why Influencer Marketing you might ask? First, the right influencers can increase and distribute your content in the most original and appealing way.

So many businesses have started doing Influencer Marketing as this would:

• It’s more cost-effective than other marketing channels
• It’s the easiest way to build trust and reputation
• It provides access to a greater audience
• It’s a way to create real-time engagement
• You can effectively win over a new target audience in minutes
• Can help you reach your target audience effectively
• It’s more authentic than the traditional celebrity ads

Let me loop you in a secret…Do you know that the second most engaged social media platform is Instagram?! It’s a powerhouse when it comes to features and strengths. No wonder 83% of its users have chosen Instagram to look for new products and services online. 

So, why Instagram? 

With over a billion monthly active users, this is the best avenue to start your campaign. Millennials take the lead in holding the most demographic spot while Gen Z takes second. A big chunk covers new products and services on Instagram while some use the platform to research services and products. The remaining percentage interacts with Instagram content and then decides if they would purchase or not. 

Influencers have built a huge and engaged following on Instagram for the fact that their audience looks up to them and respect their opinions. Having a large following may be because of their lifestyle, job, hobby, or even the clothes they prefer and the stories they want to get across.

Benefits of having an Instagram Influencer Marketing:

1. It’s organic

Boosting your Instagram account organically is still the number one way to in having traffic on your page. IGTV and Live feed plus high-quality posts and videos give consumers ways to engage with an influencer. 

Your audience engages with content that they appeal to. Influencers can use their creativity to incorporate your brand to, for example, their daily lives. 

2. It’s a niche

Consumers will always engage in products or services that interest them. Since an influencer is already focused on a particular niche and they have done the hard work in gathering followers, you may be able to use it to your advantage. 

3. Personal touch

You may use the connection between influencers and their target audience to increase your brand awareness. Having an authentic relationship, their followers will see that your brand is someone they can trust. 

4. Strategize

They can design the right strategy for you so they can maximize the kind of engagement you would like for your business. 

5. Builds trust

Since influencers have built relationships and trust with their followers, they tend to respect their content and recommendations.

6. Improves brand awareness

As discussed, this strategy can expand your reach to greater heights and it also positions your stable footing online. Users will begin to know more about your product or services, what you’re offering and who you are. 

7. They take care of your content

While influencer content can help fill the gaps of your own content schedules, they can also work well when you have run out of ideas or when you simply need some quality content to upload.

8. Reach your target audience

This is one major role you can get through an influencer. Once they create a post, your content is placed in front of social users that are interested in your line of business. You don’t need to shell out additional funds on testing and finding your audience. The influencer will foster this audience on social media.

9. Create value for your audience

Influencers create content that provides solutions, educate, and inspire their audiences. This can be a great advantage for you and leverage your content so you can give value to your audience. 

10. Winning partnerships

A lot of opportunities may unravel once you tie up with an Instagram influencer. For one, there might be possible joint ventures and events that may be in the works.

Influencer Marketing can be a great help to your business in putting the brand out there. They exist in almost every industry you can think of and they can produce results and have a serious impact on your brand. This kind of marketing strategy allows brands to reach their target audience in a far more genuine way than the traditional advertising that we’re used to. So if you haven’t hopped into the Instagram Influencer marketing trend yet, it’s about time you do. Stay on top of the game and partner up with influencers. Times are changing, so we should innovate so we don’t evaporate. 

Ready to take your Instagram account to the next level?  Work with the experts at Social Sensei to help pair your business with the right growth plan to help you gain real Instagram followers, increase brand exposure, and boost your credibility.  Dial 888-444-9144 to talk to one of our experts today or click here to schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation with us.

The post Why Your Business Should Be Leveraging Instagram Influencer Marketing appeared first on Social Surf.

As you probably notice, Instagram is continually changing and refining its algorithms to keep up with the changing business and online landscape. So here are some key things you need to understand about Instagram, just to make sure that you’re not falling behind on your social media strategies.

First things first, let’s talk about an exciting NEW IG feature coming to the US next month!

Introducing Instagram Reels

Instagram is finally stepping things up against its competitor, TikTok, with an upcoming feature that will reel (pun intended) TikTok’s users over to Instagram.

Want a sneak peek?

Let’s dive in!

So, what’s Instagram Reels?

Instagram Reels is very much similar to TikTok. This feature allows IG users to record and edit short videos within IG Stories, and add audio and music to their videos as well. This feature has actually already rolled out in some countries such as  France and Germany although we don’t know anything much about it as Facebook has been mum on the topic. 

If there’s one information that we do know, however, it’s that Instagram Reels is not Facebook’s first attempt to dislodge TikTok from its popularity among Generation Z. In fact, in the latter part of 2018 Facebook launched its own version of TikTok as well, the Lasso app. Unfortunately that attempt failed to gain the traction that Facebook hoped for, and it was eventually shut down. 

Now Facebook is putting in every effort into the Instagram Reels feature, hoping that Instagram’s popularity will help make IG Reels a success. And with countries like the US and India seeking to ban TikTok because of its ties to China, Instagram Reels’ timing couldn’t possibly be any better. 

Of course, how the US market will respond to this latest Instagram feature remains to be seen, considering that the US has roughly 80 million TikTok users and that TikTok has already garnered over 2 billion downloads since its launch. 

Instagram Reels vs. TikTok

You’re probably wondering whether IG Reels will have features not available on the TikTok app, but until the feature is rolled out here in the US, we can’t really tell for certain just yet. What we do know right now is that apparently Reels videos can’t exceed 15 seconds. That’s significantly lower compared to TikTok’s 60-second video limit. 

Other than that difference, we’ll have to wait and see for ourselves next month.

Meanwhile, you need to focus on getting your posts to rank on Instagram. Want to know how Instagram ranks posts these days?

It’s all about user experience

The Instagram algorithm has always placed a heavier emphasis on user experience in terms of ranking posts. And in the recent years, Instagram has grown smarter at guessing the types of posts and content that its users want to see.

Remember how they ditched that algorithm where your feed shows posts chronologically? That’s all part of the transition to a largely user-centered platform. In other words, the system just keeps track of the content you usually engage in to get an idea of what content to show you the next time you check your feed.

What does this all mean for you as a brand on Instagram?

Simple. You need to figure out how to make your content more appealing to your target audience, so much so that they engage with it. That in turn will ‘tell’ Instagram to put your posts right in front of them every time they scroll down their feed.

So how exactly can you boost your engagement?

Well, most definitely NOT by automating your comments and likes! Automations may have worked years ago, but not anymore. 

Instead, work on keeping your posting consistent. Take note though that you don’t have to post content every day just to stay active on the platform. In fact, posting every day may come off as spammy. 

Another thing that can help you boost engagement is by regularly interacting with those who comment on your post. Or if you don’t have the time to respond to their comments one by one, then leaving a simple heart on their comments can go a long way to encourage them to engage in your posts regularly.

How Instagram ranks and rates your content

Rumor has it that Instagram places greater value on video content as compared to photos, but that is actually NOT the case. While it is true that videos allow for more engagement because they require people to spend more time watching the entire thing than they would if they just looked at a picture, Instagram’s way of rating your content is impartial. 

In other words, Instagram rates your photos the same way it does your videos—based on the engagement for each of your content.

So it’s important that you optimize each content you post to generate more engagement. Here’s how you can do that:

• Make your content worth saving for later.
• Determine the best time to post your content by checking when most of your audience are online
• Encourage people to comment or like your posts (without sounding desperate)
• Invest in influencer marketing to expand your audience reach and build brand familiarity and trust

The bottom line is this: The only way for you to get noticed on Instagram (and stand out from millions of other brands) is by making sure you engage with your audience regularly. 

Forget buying fake followers, or automating your likes and comments, and focus instead on producing quality content that actually brings value to your audience. That’s precisely how to make Instagram love your brand.

Ready to take your Instagram account to the next level?  Work with the experts at Social Sensei to help pair your business with the right growth plan to help you gain real Instagram followers, increase brand exposure, and boost your credibility.  DIal 888-444-9144 to talk to one of our experts today or click here to schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation with us.

The post How to Optimize Your Instagram Strategy for 2020  appeared first on Social Surf.