Most Surprising Instagram Engagement Hack for 2023

What's Happening 

HubSpot and Mention teamed up to release the 2023 Instagram Engagement Report. You can download a copy here.

I clapped my hands with glee when I saw this email notification! An entire report about Instagram and how to increase engagement… yes, please!

Key Takeaways

Noteworthy findings from the report:

• Business performance: Businesses have a harder time amassing followers. Brands are only 12% of the most-followed accounts.
• Account size: You’re in the top 50% of all accounts if you have over 1,000 followers. Larger accounts all saw growth, while those under 1,000 followers declined.
• Content type: Video is still the most engaging type of content.
• Emoji use: Using one to 10 emojis gave posts a small boost in engagement (less than 1%).
• Caption length: Captions performed best either very long or very short, less than 20 characters or over 2,000. Posts without any caption did worst of all.
• Hashtag use: Posts with 11+ hashtags performed best.
• Post time: Share when you know your audience is online, but generally, evenings around 8 p.m. and weekends remain the most engaging time to post.
• Post frequency: While not one of the reported stats, it mentions the second most-followed brand (after Instagram itself) is Nike. Nike posts three times per week, focusing on quality over quantity.
• Geotagging: Geotagged posts are great for reaching people in a specific location, whether or not you’re actually there! For example, if you’re selling digital products aimed at influencers, geotag your post in Los Angeles.

Geotagging gets my vote for the most surprising engagement hack for 2023. The big mindset shift is you don’t actually have to be in that location to tag it. Taking a few extra seconds to tag the post, you can get seen by more people. What’s not to love!?

Use it for Your Business

Take the above stats and experiment with adjustments to your own posting.

Keep in mind the margins are often very slim between the “winners.” For example, just because video was the most engaging content type overall doesn’t necessarily mean it will work the best for your audience.

Relevancy Rating

Just because it's new doesn't mean it's worth your time: IIs using knowing the latest Instagram engagement stats worth your time?

Yes!: I give it 5 out of 5 thumbs up.

You may find one of these stats is the key to unlocking your engagement potential. Implementing one or a combination of these suggestions could help your posts reach thousands more people!

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