Instagram interaction rate has decreased by 33% since 2015

Instagram may be among the most popular social platforms, but this doesn’t mean that the interaction rate cannot be affected by the increasing number of brands joining it.

How can you maintain your own interaction rate?

Instagram has seen an impressive growth in the past years and its recent addition of live stories provided more reasons for a user (and a brand) to try it out. More than 500k advertisers have already joined the platform and users check the app multiple times during the day.

However there has been an alarming decrease in interaction rates by 33% from 2015 to 2016. According to Quintly’s report, the interactions per post from Q1 2015 to Q1 2016 have seen a steep drop, with the most popular profiles seeing an even bigger drop.

Although video posts have increased by 10% from 2015 to 2016, the don’t seem to have an equal engagement with image posts. Despite both seeing a reduced interaction rate, image posts saw a decrease of 27%, while video posts reached a decrease of 39%.

Why is there a decreased interaction rate?

There are many reasons that could cause the drop in the interaction rate:

• Increase of users
• Increase of brands
• Content “clutter”
• Increased competition
• Lost interest for interaction

These should not all be alarming, but they may provide a useful analysis on how Instagram evolves. As the users keep increasing, the content “clutter” is inevitable, which means that the chances of seeing a post are reduced.

Moreover, as more brands join Instagram, branded content may alienate users, which also contributes to the drop of interaction rate. This may also lead to a gradual loss of interest for the platform, especially if it reaches a point where the advertising may take over the organic posts. We are not expecting this any time soon, but it’s still an interesting perspective to consider when thinking of the platform’s future.

How can I maintain my brand’s engagement rate?

It’s useful to focus on your own brand’s performance year by year on Instagram, tracking the engagement (likes, comments, reposts, clicks) and whether it recently changed.

Which posts led to the biggest engagement?

What does your audience expect from you?

Will a new idea bring an increase in engagement?

Your presence in every platform should help you track your progress to it every year, and an increased engagement is a big victory. However, even if you manage to create a consistent engagement, this is still a win, as not every brand is able to achieve it.

Moreover, you don’t have to rule out video posts due to the general drop of the engagement they saw in others’ posts. As video content keeps increasing on every platform, it’s up to your brand to appeal to its audience and maintain the much desired engagement.

Takeaway

Social noise may be increasing and Instagram is turning into one of the most competitive platforms, but you may still succeed by following these simple tips:

• Be authentic
• Be creative
• Think outside the box
• Listen to your audience
• Create a community
• Experiment with new types of content
• Be responsive