Do you know the exciting feeling of posting a new Instagram story and then – nothing? A few of your followers have seen it, but nobody got in touch or engaged with what you wanted to say?
This can be frustrating as Instagram stories are the #1 format to connect with your followers.
Ideally, they see your story, interact with stickers or even message you to get in touch.
But what to do if this doesn’t happen and your followers don’t seem to be interested in engaging with you?
I have tried a big chunk of different engagement tactics in our own stories in the last months.
In this article I’m showing you the guaranteed ways that have worked for our Instagram account over at @mysocialboutique.co – and that have proven to work for our clients, too!
Don’t even know what to post on your Stories? Check our 50+ Instagram Story Ideas first →
Why do you need more engagement in your Story?
First of all, engagement, whether in your stories or on your posts, is golden for every business on Instagram.
Instead of focusing on just growing your followers, pay close attention to how your engagement rate is changing.
Here is how you can calculate your personal engagement rate:
Number of people who interacted with your post or story / Total number of people who have seen the post or story
If you don’t want to calculate this rate yourself, you can monitor your engagement with a free Socialblade account.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all number that tells you if your engagement is good or bad. It needs to make sense for your own business and goals.
The industry standards for good engagement rates are between 1% and 6% according to Scrunch.
- Less than 1% = low engagement rate
- Between 1% and 3.5% = average/good engagement rate
- Between 3.5% and 6% = high engagement rate
- Above 6% = very high engagement rate
As a general rule of thumb, don’t let your engagement rate float below 1%.
Luckily, it’s way easier to raise your engagement on Instagram stories than on posts or Reels!
Why? Stories are the format on Instagram where people are most willing and ready to interact with you.
Instagram gives us a variety of interactive elements (=stickers) and even ways to post links, that we don’t have on any other content format.
Every way people interact with your story is great. This is how you increase your engagement rate, probably not only on stories, but on your entire profile!
Which types of Story interactions are there?
Interaction doesn’t just mean clicking on a sticker.
The Instagram algorithm pays attention to a multitude of different signals to find out if your stories are engaging.
Here are the most common ways people can interact with your Instagram Story:
- Click on a poll, emoji or quiz sticker
- Send you a question with the questions and answer sticker
- Send you a DM right from your story
- Click on a link (swipe up, link sticker)
- Click on the countdown sticker and set a notification
- Head to your profile or the link in bio
- Go to a linked account from your story
- Somebody you tag in your story shares it to their stories
- But also: Watch your stories instead of swiping through
All of these interactions can be beneficial for your story engagement rate!
How a good Engagement Rate benefits your Business on Instagram
Your goal should not just be to increase your engagement rate temporarily, but keep it high and your community engaged.
This can benefit you in multiple ways:
- High story engagement can be beneficial for your entire account. If you have loyal followers who engage with your stories, they will also be more interested in the rest of the content you put out.
- Engagement is key to turn followers into a loyal community! People who love to interact and get in touch with you are already warmed up and much more likely to take action when you present them with an offer.
- Stories are the perfect format to build brand authority and trust among your followers. The feeling of connection will strengthen your brand and the trust your followers have in you and your expertise.
- If your community is interacting with your stories, it’s way easier to sell to them! An engaged community already knows how to take action on your stories vs. a community who is just watching and never acts.
Want to turn these benefits into action on your Instagram? ????
7 Effective Ways to increase engagement on your Stories:
Now… how do you really increase the engagement rate on your Instagram Story?
We’ve tried and tested a lot of different tactics in the last months.
Sure thing: Engagement groups or buying fake engagement shouldn’t be a way you try to raise your enagegement rate.
While these tactics may bring your numbers up, they won’t bring you other benefits.
And Instagram may even punish you for trying to mess with the algorithm.
Here are 7 efffective, easy and legal ways that will bring more engagement to your stories:
- Ask a simple Yes/No or This/That questions with the poll sticker
- Share a Testimonial. Other clients or loyal followers will want to share their experience too and DM you (this always works for us, try it out)
- Make a Q&A (use the questions sticker) and share the answers with the community (great to build trust and a personal connection)
- Use the Countdown sticker multiple times before you launch a new service or program
- Share your weekly or monthly goals and tag others to share theirs, too
- Give something away for free: A freebie you promote on your website, a download or just a piece of advice (mini training)
- Stop posting stories for 2-3 days. This tactic always brings us tons of story views and if you’ve posted regularly beforehand, people will have missed you and are more likely to engage
Turn these Tips into Action with our Canva Story Templates:
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