KILLIN’ WITH COMMENTS

Now that Instagram has ix-nayed likes, comments are so much more important to keep your engagement up. Did you know that the more comments with at least four words a post receives within the first hour determines how much Instagram pushes it out to people that follow you? 

“When you post on Instagram, this may only be shown to 10% of your audience. Instagram looks at your audiences interests to determine if it  should be shown to the rest of your following. If your new post gets enough engagement straight away then it is shown to the remaining 90% of them,” according to www.smashsocial.co.uk

Instagram is cracking down on bot (aka “bought”) activity, so short generic captions like “love it!” or “great shot” don’t even register as engagement according to the Instagram algorithm. So if The post is a picture of a handstand, something about that particular handstand. Use Siri or Bixby voice-to-text to make it easier on yourself (but make sure to spell check it first).

This is easy enough to do ourselves, but how do we train our followers to do this? The best way is to ask questions that require more than a few words! Here are two expert tips:

Use “This or That” Styled Questions

“This or That” questions are a great way to generate a lot of comments without requiring a lot of effort on the part of users, according to agorapulse.com. A lower barrier of entry and less effort can often mean more participation, so this is a win-win for everyone involved. These posts show users two different options (often pictured in the image) and ask what users prefer. For example: 

“Which would you choose & why? Super intense power hour vinyasa or a long relaxing 75 minute yin session?”

This next tip is from curatti.com;

Ask Questions with Text Overlay

Instagram is all about visuals. If you want your questions to trigger a stronger response, you should add them as overlay text to your Instagram post image instead of just writing it in the caption. Note: Only do this if adding the overlay text will improve the image and get you more comments. If the overlay text ruins the image, you should not add it.So to sum up: What we’re after is a specific comment relevant to the picture that is at least four words AND within the first hour of the picture being posted. Now that you know the secrets, go get ’em tiger!

xoxo Jude