With over 1 billion active monthly users, Instagram is one of the best apps to get your blog and business noticed, while at the same time also giving you an opportunity to engage your audience, leaving users with a deep sense of community.

Your Instagram followers are your biggest supporters, clients, and oftentimes, friends. Below is a checklist you can refer to when posting on Instagram with the aim of engaging your audience.

It’s extremely important you know who your audience is. Why? It’s because beautiful photos and witty captions will do you no good if your audience is not engaging with your content. One of the best tools for knowing more official stats about your followers is Iconosquare.

This website links to your Instagram account and gives you information on when your audience is the most active, which photos are most liked, and what your audience comments on the most.

Iconosquare’s statistics can be really useful because they help you see if there’s a disconnect between you and your followers about what or when you post.

You may really enjoy posting photos of your dog, but your audience might actually love all those photos of your artwork even more. Iconosquare can help you create an Instagram plan that feels good to you and gives your followers what they want to see.

Iconosquare also lets you know which hashtags have brought you the most success, which is a helpful statistic when planning your captions.

You can find all of this information by creating an Iconosquare account via your Instagram and looking under “statistics” >> “optimization.”

People like to know that you value their thoughts and opinions. So, your level of engagement will soar if you will:

It may feel a little awkward at first, but if you will do that, you’ll be surprised at how many people will reply.

Additionally, if you’re traveling, ask your followers if they’ve ever been there and what recommendations they have for you.

This one is a total win-win because you get to hear about fun places you can explore, and best-of-all, you’ll get your Instagram pals chatting and engaging with you.

In order to stand out from competitors on Instagram, it’s best you set yourself apart from by offering something of value to your audience. For instance, if you’re a food blogger, you could share a dinner recipe that you wouldn’t normally share on your blog.

Likewise, if you have a great deal of business expertise, you can share a daily business tip. The key here is to give your audience a reason to return to your account. Being consistent and knowledgeable on Instagram can lead can generate an abundance of success, not to mention an interested and engaged audience.

On Instagram you really only have one chance to get your photo noticed in the grid before it quickly gets lost.

So, best to insert your favorite hashtags right away, so you can be seen live, by people currently tagging the same thing. Remember that the first few seconds after you post your photo are the most important to bring in new eyes, otherwise the photo gets lost.

Invite people to be a part of your Instagram world by creating a challenge. This will expose your account to a lot of new people. It will also help you get to know your audience, and create a little buzz around you and what you are doing.

Ideally, it’s wise to take the time to participate by liking and commenting on photos whenever possible. This is not only polite, but it also creates a bigger sense of community and it shows you care.

If you’re nervous about people not participating, consider reaching out to a few of your currently engaged followers and personally inviting them to join in.

You may want to consider teaming up with another Instagrammer to host your challenge. That way, you have accountability and you get to share each other’s audiences for an even bigger opportunity to boost engagement.

It’s critical you respond to all of the comments you receive. If you follow the checklist as laid out in this report, it’s highly probable that people will start commenting on your photos. If you ignore their comments or only respond to a couple here or there, it shows them that you’re not interested in building a community.

So, make a point of responding to each person who comments to show how much you value them and to build friendships with your followers. Doing so will lead to an even stronger connection and more engagement!