Tips to Combat Low Instagram Engagement

Have your engagement and likes been down for awhile now? Are you frustrated? Yeah, me too, and I have six accounts and bosses that I answer too.

The official word is that there was a bug in the explore tab. Supposedly it's been fixed however engagement and likes are still down, all over the platform. Instagram is also testing their spam algorithm to start cracking down on bot commenters and spam accounts that are posting 5x per day or using 3rd party services.

Here are some ways to combat the engagement icky's:

1. Add hashtags back at the end of the caption. I know, I don't like how it looks either BUT it seems to be helping.

2. Change up your hashtags. Last week I spent most of the week reworking a second and third set of hashtags for clients that we are rotating through.

3. Stop using the uber popular hashtags and start using some with less than 50k posts to them for the time being.

4. Interact with the people that are still with you and finding you. Likes and follows don't necessarily lead to sales. Positive relationships and experiences lead to sales, which lead to more customers which leads to word of mouth and more network marketing.

5. Start storying more. Show people that your life is more than a well styled stiff square image.

6. Work on building that email list. I know I know, it's on your list but way at the bottom. However with this plummet of engagement it's just a red flag that you should probably be doing more, getting directly in front of your niche.  

Do you have any tips that have been working for you during an engagement drought?

Instagram Live

I talk a bunch to my clients about how important Instagram Live is and that they should be doing it.  While there I sit not having done one yet. Well that changed a few days ago, I was working at The Society Hotel and decided to head up to the roof and film one quick as a promo type video for the Instagram workshop later this month.  

With the recent update Instagram did I was able to save the Live video and place it here as well as on the Facebook page. I love the internet, and now be aware I will be Live a bit more often. Gotta practice what I preach after all. 

Instagram Workshop For Your Business

"I've been a small business for 6 years. If I didn't understand how to compose great photos I would not still be in business. I actually arrange my work flow around good photo content. Social media + good photos = sell things." Tamara Young Consign Couture

Just like every business owner, every business is different, and their social media feed should reflect that. When I first sign on a client, sometimes their Instagram feeds just need another pair of eyes.   Which is totally acceptable because not everyone is born a photographer or a marketer.  If they are a client that lives near me, we grab a coffee and we talk photography basics,  how to get the best photo, how to to up their hashtag and engagement game. 

All of this perked an idea in me, why not team up and ask my "staff" brand photographer that I use for all the website revamps to teach a workshop on how to get a killer social media photo with just your phone.  I pitched her and she said yes, so here it is a two part workshop happening in April at my favorite work from space The Society Hotel.  

In week one brand photographer Ashley Courter will teach you photography basics and assign you some homework. In week two I will help you with your homework and help your business with industry specific hashtags and tips on how to build an authentic following which will turn likes into sales. 

There are still spots available, sign up via the workshop tab.  Come enjoy lattes, wine, snacks all while learning to level up your businesses Instagram game. 

Instagram Spam Comments

In my efforts to stop the Instagram commenting bots and attempting to get social media back on track of actually being social I'm about to drop a tiny bit of knowledge on you.  

You know those annoying spam comments you get right after you post a picture that you've worked really hard on achieving the perfect lighting as well as the perfect caption. You load it and press share, then right away you get a comment, part of you is so excited, it's only been 20 seconds since you posted your hashtags and someone is commenting on your well thought out post. Then you click the comment and it's "Want more followers" or "Like for Like" or my personal favorite "Wow check out my page" and disappointment and annoyance sets in.

Well I'm here to help you with this, you can deter the bot comments and here's how. 

Settings>Comments>Turn On Inappropriate Comments> Type in your custom keywords>Done

It's that easy! Now how are you going to do your part in keeping social media actually social?

Facebook vs. Instagram Marketing

The question that I get asked the most often is, "Should I be concentrating my marketing efforts on Instagram or Facebook?" 

Which I volley back to you as a business, do you know exactly who your target market is? Second what is the median age of your target market?  Once you have the answer to both of these questions, then you can decide which platform is better to focus on.

The truth is one isn't better than the other, it only depends on who exactly you are targeting. 

We all remember the good old days of Facebook when you didn't have to pay more than $5 to get in front of your target market. When you just had to run a relatively generic Facebook ad and it flooded your page with Likes, comments and customers.  Well, we all know that now you have to  pay to play, you have to narrow down who sees you  almost as if you had the ideals customers DNA profile to get in front of the the people that you were trying to reach. 

I get it that's why businesses jumped the Facebook ship and moved to Instagram, because Instagram is how Facebook used to be, except things over there are changing as well and eventually you will need to start paying to play there as well.  Let's face it Facebook owns both platforms. 

There isn't a simple one stop shop answer if you should be on Instagram or Facebook. The method to the madness is this, you have to know exactly who, you are targeting, their age,  their income, what they think is cool, are they more visual or do they prefer to read? Once this is established then it's as if it's written in the stars which platform you should be focusing your marketing energies on.  You do however have my personal permission to just start with one.  Sign up to get the same user name across the platforms but focus on one.

If you were to Google any of the above listed social media platform’s demographics, you will see up-to-date information on who is using each platform, including their age, gender, average annual income, and even their education level. Obviously with that sort of information you could begin to narrow down the options and choose the platform that you think will work best for you.

If this all this research and statistic reading sounds confusing to you then let's set up a free 30 minute consultation to discuss if you need Facebook or Instagram marketing efforts. 

Together: A Bosslady Conference

Finalizing everything for my presentation this week at the Together: A Boss Lady Experience that is happening this week in Portland! Because helping you to keep your social media actually social is my new jam. Can't wait to network with a bunch of other ladypreneurs. Until then I'll share my promo video, but you've got to wait for the outtake at the end. 

PSA: Stop the Bots

This is a public request to ALL PEOPLE USING BOTS TO COMMENT ON INSTRAGRAM: Please stop. Just stop. Right now. Not only is it annoying but it can be incredibly insensitive, hurtful and properly out of line.

Please for the love of all things good, stop paying to use bots to comment on Instagram.  I know I know you don't have time to comment and interact. Seriously I'm here to tell you that you do. Block off an hour on your calendar to personally interact on posts.  Using bots makes you and your brand look bad.  It makes Instagram look bad. It makes HUMANS in general look bad. And it's just lazy, shady, shallow and sad.

A colleague in one of my Facebook groups had this to say after she posted a photo with a link to her blog post about her miscarriage on Instagram:

"This week I published a blog post about my miscarriage. I posted on Instagram linking to the blog. Some of the comments I got were DEFINITELY from bots. This kind of post is not the kind to be commenting ‘More of this please!’ (more miscarriages?) or ‘Brilliant!’ (really?) or 'very nice!' (stopit) or 'please check out my feed!' (Thanks but no thanks). I’ve deleted most of them, but not before I politely messaged each commenter and told them what their bots were doing." Emma Whiley  Flourish and Dwell

Seriously, let's make a conscious effort to keep social media actually social. Stop paying your bots and start scheduling your authentic interacting on Instagram time. 

What is a brand?

"A brand is a set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that taken together, account for a consumers decision to choose one service over another." Seth Godin

Here's the deal, sales go up and down but service stays forever in the mind of the consumer.  That my friends is something that I learned in that fine Freshman year class Marketing 101.  Some of the best brands offer some of the best service. Coincidence? I think not. Are you engaging with your customers, or are you just reading comments and hyperventilating over how many hearts you get?  The correct answer is engage, engage then engage more!

The Ace Hotel is one of my favorite brands. Their feeds are consistent and goes hand in hand with their mission and values. 

"Ace Hotel is a collection of individuals — multiple and inclusive, held together by an affinity for the soulful. We are not here to reinvent the hotel, but to readdress its conventions to keep them fresh, energized, human. We accept the hotel as a potential for real, fluid community. We believe that hospitality is compassion, that it is not servility but genuine concern for others' well-being and the ability to live with empathy." 

Each one of their hotels is an individual entity because they belong in a unique buildings, but they all have the same feel when you walk into them. The feeling of the beginning of a story that is unique to your vacation, staycation or happy hour glass of wine that you enjoy there.

Want more tips, let's set up a free consultation and set your brand on fire. 

That Big Marketing Event In February

I look forward to the Super Bowl every year, I look forward to it more when the Green Bay Packers are in it,  but when they are not, I look forward to the commercials.

The overwhelming theme this year seemed to be realize your dream and work hard to achieve them. To me a great theme to have during a Super Bowl, as well as these chaotic times in the United States. 

My top three in no particular order are as follows:

1. Honda Yearbooks

Just a feel good commercial about realizing where you come from and keep moving forward to achieve your dreams and goals.

2. Budweiser "Born The Hard Way"

A true statement to the American dream.  The other thing that Budweiser absolutely rocked at was having an SMM on duty the entire span of the Superbowl, and almost ALL comments were responded to pretty much immediately. 

3. Audi America "#DriveProgress"

The comments on the Youtube page can be summed up as, "How did Audi think that this commercial would help sell cars?" Well, Audi started a conversation, people are talking about them, about this commercial and they have put out there what exactly their position on an issue is.  

Marketing is as much  "selling" things as it is also developing a relationship with a customer or a potential customer.  Tell me what were your favorite commercials from the Super Bowl?

Pure Internet Domination

Did you know that 85% of people will leave your website immediately if it's too jumbled, hard to navigate or just plain doesn't look professional? That my friends give possible customers or clients a horrible first impression of you.

Recently I was looking for a new vet for T and clicked on and left 4 websites immediately because they were hard to navigate and just looked as if they have been thrown up to have something online.  I didn't call or go any further than the home page because, maybe I'm too judgmental but I feel like if you don't care what your online presence says about your business are you even passionate about your business or your work?

If your business doesn't have a website or has a landing page that says "Coming Soon" it sends the same message to your client or customer.  The message being, that you took the initiative to buy the domain but that you don't care enough to have created something.  I get it you might not know what you're doing, how to turn the "coming soon" into "here I am world".  We have a fantastic web design team ready to help you revamp or create a website get you on the path to internet domination.