Unlocking Instagram Engagement: From Likes to Conversations

As I'm sure you're familiar with, you have different ways that you can interact with Instagram content. The most basic way is liking something, right? The original currency of social media. And once someone likes you, that means that they are now going to be following you, and any other content you create has a possibility of showing up on their timeline, right? But liking is a very, you know, it's not a very involved form of engagement.

You just like and go on, like and go on. A comment, though, shows a greater degree of engagement, right? It offers an opportunity for you as a brand to conduct a two-way conversation, respond to them, and encourage more engagement. And we'll see how engagement impacts the algorithm, which impacts which content gets seen by your followers and which content will potentially be seen by a wider audience.

So you want people to like your content even better if they can provide a comment, and even better if the comment is beyond just congratulations or that looks beautiful or something simple like that, as opposed to someone providing a more involved comment, and then the conversation starts. The more comments and the more in-depth the communication is, the greater score the algorithm is going to give that particular piece of content. And then sharing.

Sharing is even a greater commitment. It shows that this is so important, such a great post, that I think other people should see this. And you're basically endorsing, so it's a greater commitment.

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And finally, save. That means that you want to get back to it later. So that's the most involved form of engagement because you were so intrigued or enjoyed the post so much that you want to be able to get back to it next time you're on the platform.

Okay. Another aspect of Instagram that is important to understand, or about any social media platform, is the sense of what type of content is the optimal content for that platform, right? Because different platforms have different, you know, vibes, different ways that people engage in that platform, different types of content they want to see. LinkedIn, you have more discussion pieces and this explanation, discussion pieces about business trends, explanations about, you know, various industry-related questions, issues, people sharing work achievements, that type of thing, right? Whereas on Instagram, or say, let's say, X, people are sharing opinions and sometimes, you know, controversial opinions.

Opinions about anything and everything, from politics to sports to entertainment to books to whatever, right? And on TikTok, people are there to be more entertained. Yes, there are brands that utilize TikTok to provide information and educate, etc., but they still have to figure out ways to do it in an entertaining way, right? So Instagram is along those lines, right? People do find, you know, seek information on Instagram, but it's mainly about people sharing their lives and sharing content that is going to amuse an audience or in some way entertain an audience, right? If you're going to be on this platform, you know, producing content to build your online presence, to create more brand awareness, to educate your customers about your products and services, and just be helpful to them, then you have to do all that in a way that is not overly selling things, right? Because that's not what this platform is about.

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So what was that piece of content about, owning a movie, right? Did they ever themselves mention a movie, or when it's opening, or why you should go out and watch it? No. The content is featured in an engaging interview between two of the stars, two well-known personalities, Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Kevin Hart. And what they're demonstrating is the chemistry that these two actors have and how funny they are, and being admitted to lead voice actors in the movie.

That is going to encourage people to want to see this on the screen, as well as, of course, just using these particular actors to reach out to their own fan bases on the site. Right. So clearly, we generally aren't going to have the opportunity to work with personas, entertainers of this level with our content, but we could take tips from there that sometimes it's not that you're not trying to overtly promote on this platform, but inform, entertain, engage your customers and through that provide information or some aspect of your brand or product or how it's providing solutions and so forth, but more in the context of brand storytelling, you know, not so much in the context of promotional messaging.

Okay, so we're going to pause now. And in the next part of this section, we will discuss Instagram content, how to create posts and reels, and the different types of Instagram content.

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