When you show up on Instagram, how is your energy? If you love being there, your enjoyment will translate to your posts and your videos. Even as the app shifts more to video content, how you interact with your audience has the most significant impact on how engaging your captions and content will be. 

To say Instagram has shifted over the past few years is an understatement. Let’s dispel some myths about how to have an engaging account.

5 Engagement Myths

Myth #1: You need the perfect feed. 

Fact: Perfection is the enemy of creativity, and it will trip you up every time. You also don’t need a perfectly curated grid on your feed. 

Myth #2: You need to be polished.

Fact: The more you can be yourself, the more true fans you will have. You can post while in your bathrobe or while in the car pickup line at your kid’s school. 

Myth #3: You need to do Reels. 

Fact: If you like Reels, that’s great. Just remember that your Reels will be broadcast to a larger audience. This can be a great thing, but it can also bring people who aren’t your ideal clients to your account. 

Myth #4: You need to post at a specific time. 

Fact: The algorithm actually uses 150 or so inputs to calculate how posts appear in people’s feeds. The timing of those posts has very little to do with the algorithm any longer.

Myth #5: You need to post every day. 

Fact: Your content-creating frequency can be 100% on your terms. Whether it’s every day, twice a day, or three times a week, you get to decide how often to post. What’s important is that you are your authentic self on your Instagram account.

Be Authentic in Your Captions

Your authentic self comes to life in captions that capture your audience’s attention. You don’t have to have long-form, blog-like posts either. Sometimes the most captivating captions are short, sweet, and to the point. You can even just post a question that your followers will love answering.

Remember that YOUR people will love you, no matter what format you use on Instagram. So don’t try to push yourself in all directions at once. What’s more important is that your images or videos align with your captions to create stories in your followers’ minds.

Experiment with Content

Whether you’re writing captions or you’re selecting beautiful images, experiment with content types to discover what people like to watch, view, or interact with. Your analytics are your best friend during this time of testing so that you can understand what content connects with your audience.

Your Goals May Not Be What You Think…

Before you sit down to write captions or create any written content, ask yourself a few questions. 

How do you feel when you’re making the content? How much does this content help me serve my clients? How can I say this in 60 seconds? Remember, we’ve been trained to consume information quickly, so you’ll likely have better engagement if you keep things concise.

You can’t control how people will react or respond to your content. The only things you can control are:

• How you show up.
• How much love you have in your heart.
• How much you feel like you contribute to the world.

The more you create content from this place, the more satisfied you’ll be in your business, and that joy and enjoyment overshadow the minutia of “this much engagement” or “this many views.” Your personal joy will translate to your followers, and people will be drawn to you.

YOU are what stands out online. The world is waiting for you.

We hope these tips help make using stock photos in your digital marketing campaigns easier. If you’re a spiritual woman entrepreneur, check out the Inspired Stock Shop Membership. You’ll gain immediate access to thousands of beautiful and unique stock photos, fully organized to help you find the mood, colors, and message that are perfect for your business. 

And for more tips on cultivating soulful engagement on Instagram, be sure to check out our recent training by Natasha Berta, “Soulful Engagement on Instagram,” in our Facebook Community.