law firm instagramInstagram was once a platform created just to host pretty pictures – but that is not true of the platform today. Instagram can be a powerful marketing and recruiting tool for law firms in today’s landscape. Simply having a large following isn’t enough, though – engagement is the real goal. Increasing your Instagram engagement will help you to build relationships with your target audience. Here are 6 tactics we suggest law firms use to better connect with their Instagram audience.

What is Instagram Engagement?

Understanding how many followers you have is helpful, but it’s equally important to measure how engaged they are. Any time a follower takes an action in response to your post or on your profile, that’s engagement. Things such as likes, comments, shares, and saves all count toward engagement.

Engagement matters because it gives you a feel for how people respond to your content online, and it also is one of the ranking factors Instagram uses in their feed algorithm. What is a good engagement rate, anyway? Research shows that a strong engagement rate can be as low as 1%. The important thing is to notice a positive trend, where you’re increasing the rate over time.

6 Tips to Improve Instagram Engagement

There is no one-size-fits all approach to engaging with your followers. After all, each individual is different just like every law firm is different. It’s important to gauge your audience’s interests and then cater content to them. We also suggest taking a look at what your competitors are doing and what works well for them.

1. Experiment with different content types

Instagram activity comes in many formats: single-image, carousel, Instagram TV (IGTV), Stories, Reels, etc. Vary your post types and pay attention to what people seem to interact with. Studies have shown that carousel posts have higher engagement rates than other types, but you won’t know what works for your law firm until you experiment. 

2. Focus on more than likes

It’s easy to get caught up in measuring “likes”, but that’s far from the only metric to watch. Likes are great, but they actually tend to be somewhat passive: it’s pretty easy to tap “like” and keep scrolling without taking any other action. Comments, shares, and saves tell you that someone took time to interact with your content. Even though shares and saves are not visible to the public, they’re important to measure – if for no other reason than Instagram takes that information into account with their algorithm. They will display your content more often to people who have previously shared or saved your posts. 

3. Make it a conversation

Simply putting your content out into the world isn’t enough to garner engagement. Include calls-to-action or a question to encourage conversation. When you ask a question, read the answers and respond to them. Reply to comments and direct messages (DMs) with the same attentiveness as you would a phone call. 

4. Use Instagram’s interactive features

Instagram offers stickers which allow you to ask questions, post polls and quizzes, and more. Stickers allow users to take quick action such as swiping to answer a question, which all add up to engagement. Get creative with the fun interactive features Instagram offers.

5. Post frequently

The most important thing you can do to increase engagement is to post consistently. The Instagram algorithm favors active users, so the more you post, the more likely you are to appear in users’ feeds. 

Remember, people are following you to see what you post. That being said, more isn’t always better. It usually makes sense to post about once per day – posting more than that isn’t likely to increase your engagement. 

6. Analyze and optimize

Regularly monitor your law firm’s Instagram activity to see what’s working and what’s not. What is resonating? Which topics are most popular? What are your most active posts? For example, if user-generated content is generating more comments, you may want to encourage more of that. There are several tools available that can help you to measure social media performance using various KPIs. Use what you’re learning to improve your content and make posts more relevant and timely.

Takeaway

When it comes to social media, engagement is key. Our best advice when it comes to Instagram is to focus on your audience – and the engagement will follow. By using data to understand what your audience really wants, and then tailoring content to those areas, you’ll ramp up your Instagram engagement in no time.

If you need advice on social media performance overall, reach out to our team. We can help you to get your message out, engage with your audience, and generate more leads from social media. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.

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