You’re not imagining it: Engagement on Instagram Reels is going DOWN. And it’s happening not only to libraries but to content creators from all industries. What is going on?! And is there anything we can do to reverse this trend? We’ll dive into it in this episode of the Library Marketing Show.
Plus, kudos go to a library that’s been doing something that received coverage on a national television news program.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. And thanks for watching!
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Instagram is the second most popular social media platform for library marketing. 92 percent of libraries responding to the 2023 Super Library Marketing survey said they post to Instagram. That’s two positions higher than in 2022.
Instagram has 500 million daily active users, much fewer than Facebook. But use is growing worldwide.
As I mentioned last week, I believe the new focus on Instagram is due in part to the turmoil at Twitter/X.
How are people using Instagram right now?
Here are some statistics to consider as you plan your library’s Instagram use for 2024 according to SocialPilot.
About 20 percent of all the active internet use in a day is spent on Instagram.
The average Instagram user spends 30 minutes a day on the platform.
38 percent of users log onto Instagram multiple times per day.
70 percent of Instagram users watch Stories every day.
Instagram users remain evenly split down gender lines.
Instagram says they’ve seen an 80 percent increase in the time users watch videos on the platform over the last year.
A very successful Feed post by Washoe County Library. Also please note how they add alt text to their caption for accessibility.
How much success can we see on Instagram?
These engagement stats come from SocialPilot.
The average engagement rate for all Instagram posts is 0.71percent, significantly higher than Facebook.
Carousel posts get the highest engagement rate at 1.26 percent.
Instagram Reels posts get an average 1.23 percent engagement rate.
Instagram Feed posts with just one photo get the lowest engagement rate at 0.59 percent.
Engagement rates continue to be higher for Instagram accounts with fewer than 10,000 followers. So, once again, don’t worry AT ALL about your follower count.
An engaging carousel post from Glen Carbon Centennial Library, which has just over 1,000 followers as of this writing.
The Instagram algorithm for 2024
According to Social Media Examiner, there are three separate but similar Instagram algorithms, depending on the type of content.
Instagram Feed ranking signals
Past activity: Instagram will show your content to followers who have engaged with your posts in the past, especially in the recent past. It will also show your posts to people who have interacted with feed posts that are similar to yours. DMs, comments, likes, and shares all count toward the activity measure.
The popularity of your library’s content on Instagram: If people have engaged with your recent posts, Instagram will show more of your content to more people.
Instagram Stories ranking signals
Past activity overall: Instagram will offer your Stories to people who have viewed your Stories in the past or who have interacted with your Feed and Reels in the past.
Engagement: Instagram will offer your Stories to a wide audience if your Stories tend to get lots of likes, comments, and shares.
Instagram Reels ranking signals
Past user activity: Instagram pays attention to the topics a user loves on Reels. It will show your library’s Reels to people who have shown an interest in the topics you are posting.
Reel statistics: Instagram likes new, popular videos. So, the older your Reel is, the lower the reach will be. If your videos are getting a lot of interaction soon after you post, your Reels will get more reach. Instagram also boosts videos that have a long watch time and reach more non-followers.
Here are four ways to boost the reach of your library’s Instagram account in 2024.
Think carefully about whether to post on the Feed, Stories, or Reels.
Because the ranking signals are different for these different sections of Instagram, libraries need to do a little more strategic thinking about which Instagram area will give them the best return on their investment of time and money. How do you know which to choose?
If your overarching goal for using Instagram is to reach more people and build brand awareness for your library, focus on posting to Reels. Instagram will randomly show Reels to users for days or weeks after they’ve been created. Also, Reels published on Instagram can pop up in the Reels feed on Facebook. So, for long-tail goals, Reels are worth your time.
If you are talking about specific library services, promoting an event or class, or sharing partner content or user-generated content, post to Stories. Stories disappear after 24 hours, so they’re not the best method for spreading the word about evergreen library offerings. They are great, however, because you can add a link to a story, and, as mentioned above, most Instagram users look at Stories every day. That makes Stories the best real estate for things you absolutely need people to know.
If you are sharing information about evergreen content, like your collection, your Library of Things, cool things you can make in the Makerspace, and big programs like Winter and Summer Reading, post to the Feed. Engagement statistics show that the best Feed posts are carousel posts of aesthetically pleasing photos—not graphics with text. If you have information to share, put it into the captain rather than on a graphic. And share as many photos as you can in the post—you can add up to 10 for a carousel.
A carousel post from Harrison Public Library garnered engagement from their followers.
Concentrate on interaction to boost engagement.
The algorithm will give you more reach if you can get your followers to comment, like, and share your posts on Stories, the Feed, and Reels. Building engagement takes time but the easiest way to do it is to start conversations and respond to comments.
To start conversations, you can ask questions, including trivia questions, of your followers. Or create quizzes or polls about the library. It’s fun, and it gets followers to stop scrolling and interact with your content.
Also, try responding to every comment for a month. I know this will be a lot for small libraries, but the effort is worth the time. Responding to comments is one of the best ways to boost engagement stats. And your followers will love the attention.
Check out the comment responses from Salt Lake County Library on this post.
Experiment with different types of content.
The Instagram algorithm is ever-changing. So, the formula you used for success in 2023 likely won’t work in 2024.
You should view your Instagram as one, ongoing experiment. Remember, you’re trying to boost engagement because that’s a strong ranking signal. So, spend 2024 testing new formats. Use Instagram’s in-app creative tools to help make your creation easy and fun, and to show Instagram you care about the platform.
This fun Reel from Angleton Library looks easy to reproduce and has lots of views!
Test out different topics, like history or new books in your collection to see how your audience responds. You can also test new ways to present the topics your followers already love.
Be checking your insights as often as possible to give you clues about what you should post next.
Get super strategic about hashtags.
Hashtags help the algorithm to understand what your content is about. So, choosing the right hashtags will improve your ranking and visibility on the platform. Here are three tips for managing Instagram hashtags for your library.
Create ONE library-specific hashtag: Create a unique hashtag for your library and encourage your followers to use it when sharing or commenting on your content. This helps to build recognition of your library’s brand and makes it easier for others to discover your content.
Use a mix of hashtags: Mix and match your hashtags, using a combination of popular (#SummerReading, #LibraryLove) and niche hashtags (#BestLibraryBooks, #MakerSpaceCreations). But…
Limit the number of hashtags: Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags per post, but I honestly believe that’s too many. It looks spammy and it could make your posts seem lower quality. Try to limit yourself to 2-5 hashtags per Feed post and Reel, and one hashtag per Story.
Maybe also try…
Sharing comments from your posts to your Stories: Instagram now allows you to share comments from any public post or Reel to your Instagram Story.
When you swipe left on a comment, you’ll see a new option to share it in your story, indicated by a plus sign. The comment will then be featured in a new sticker type, which you can place anywhere within the story frame. It’s a great way to highlight patrons and demonstrate social proof.
When to post on Instagram
Post on Instagram Stories every day.
Post to the Instagram Feed and Instagram Reels two to three times a week.
The experts agree that engagement is highest on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Take a break on Saturday: that’s the day with the lowest engagement. If you wish to post on Sunday, wait until the evening, after 7 p.m.
But as always, check the insights on your library’s account. Post when you notice your followers are engaging most often with your content. And remember that being consistent is key. Pick a schedule that your library staff can stick to.
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The Library Marketing Show, Episode 144: In this episode, we’ve got our monthly social media headlines, and this month, we’re going to focus exclusively on Instagram. The platform is testing some new features and they could have significant implications for library marketing on the app.
Kudos in this episode go to the Coos Bay Library. Watch the video to find out why they’ve been recognized.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week.
Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.
Instagram is super popular right now, especially with people under the age of 34. That’s a key demographic for library marketers.
According to Web Hosting Rating, 60 percent of users log in daily, and more than half of those people log in more than once a day. Best of all, the average U.S.-based Instagram user spends a whopping 53 minutes a day on the app. (That’s me! 🙋)
If your library posts to Instagram, it’s time to take it up a notch. To drive your engagement stats, there are two things you can do.
Instagram takeovers and Instagram highlights are an easy way to get more reach on your Instagram account.
Instagram takeover
An Instagram takeover is when you arrange for a partner organization, library department, senior leader, or fan to take over your account for a day or during a special event.
A takeover will expose your library to a new audience of potential followers. It will also give your library external credibility.
A takeover can be done without giving your takeover partner the password to your account.
Ask your takeover partner to save each individual story slide to their camera roll.
Next, they’ll email the slides to your library.
Then, you’ll upload them, one by one, to your Instagram story.
Before you agree to a takeover, be sure to establish some guidelines.
Be specific about what you want in terms of content and number of slides.
Set a deadline.
Put all of that in writing.
Here’s a template you can use to set up the guidelines for your own library’s Instagram takeover.
My former library did an Instagram takeover with a nearby library system, with whom we had a reciprocal lending agreement. It gave each participating library access to a new audience. And people loved it! Each story got an average of 605 views.
Patrick Kinsella, Library Communications Coordinator for the library at the University of Salford in Manchester had even more success with his Instagram takeover success story.
He said, “As our Library is in the final stage of a £6.2 million redevelopment, we decided to run a campaign to promote our study spaces outside our main library. We have five main study spaces outside of Clifford Whitworth, our main library, that could give students a place to study and help make up for the reduction in space in Clifford Whitworth.”
“We also decided to take over our university’s main Instagram account to give their followers a tour of what lies beyond Clifford Whitworth. Followers were also invited to send pictures of themselves studying outside Clifford Whitworth in exchange for £5 worth of printer credits.”
“The Instagram story was viewed over 1,200 times and 14 students sent us pictures of themselves studying outside Clifford Whitworth. The cross-promotion of our Instagram account @salfordunilibrary through the story also gained us more than 20 new followers. The user-generated content that we received also allowed us to build a Twitter campaign displaying their images.”
Instagram highlights
Highlights are custom containers for similarly themed Instagram stories. After you add content to your story, you can choose to highlight that content by saving it to one of these containers.
Unlike regular Instagram stories, which disappear after 24 hours, highlights live on your Instagram profile forever, or until you delete them.
Highlights showcase the best of your previous Instagram content to new followers. And they create an archive of content, especially those stories that contain “evergreen” content that never expires and is always relevant. Instagram highlights are a great place to save library FAQs, book reviews, tutorials, and other wide-ranging topics.
To create a highlight from an active Instagram story:
View the story.
Click on “Highlight” in the bottom tool bar.
Click on the plus icon to create a new highlight container or add to a highlight container you have already created.
Click on “Add”. You’re done!
You can add photos or videos to each of your highlight containers any time you want. There is no limit to how many photos and videos each highlight container can hold.
Springville Library uses highlights, and they’ve created icon-based covers for each container.
You can change the title of your highlights containers at any time. Just open the highlight, and then tap on the name of the highlight container in the upper left-hand corner. You’ll be given the option to edit.
Share your tips for library Instagram success! Click on the Feedback button to tell me about what you’re doing on Instagram. I’ll share your tips with others on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube!
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250 million active users of Instagram stories each day.
4.5 billion photo likes each day.
59% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 and 33% of internet users between the ages of 30 and 49 use Instagram.*
In the crowd of millions who use and love Instagram, there are tons of library lovers, particularly in the younger demographic. There is huge potential for libraries on this platform. I’m not saying you should ignore other social media platforms and switch all your focus to Instagram. But libraries aren’t using it enough, and that’s a missed opportunity. We should focus more on Instagram!
I really love the Cincinnati library account but I cannot take any credit for it. It’s managed by two people in our marketing department–our social media specialist and our assistant, who happens to have a great eye for art and photography. Our staff talks about our social media platforms, our strategy, and goals once a month and we are always looking for ways to improve. We’ve used these three easy tips on our Instagram to improve our posts and get more engagement and they work. Now I’m sharing them with you so you can have success too.
Start using Instagram stories. At our library, we noticed that organic engagement of our regular Instagram posts is tied to our use of Instagram stories. The more we use Stories, the more people see our regular Instagram posts. We have noticed that you don’t have to use Stories every day, but you do have to use it a few times a week to see better results in your organic posts. And it is a chance for you to exercise your creativity!
If you use Snapchat, you’ll be able to jump in and create Instagram stories right away–it works nearly the same way. If you’re new to stories, start small and be positive. Stories are a chance for you to be creative. Think of something you’d like to tell your customers and break it down into three or four sections. You can even plot out your idea using a storyboard or an outline to help you save time when you start shooting. An easy story idea is the journey of a book from the stacks into the hands of a cardholder. Shoot the book being taken off the shelf, rolling on a cart, going through the processing line, and then popping up on the holds shelf. How about a behind-the-scenes look at your drive-thru window? Or a peek at how your materials and selections department buys a book? There are so many interesting stories at your library and most of them can be broken down into three or four pieces of interesting video.
Don’t use your stories feed to talk directly to your audience… in other words, don’t post headshot after headshot of someone talking into the camera about something library related. Instagram is not the place for talking heads. The audience wants feel-good, “the world is a beautiful place” stories. Focus on showing your customers what makes your library and its workers and customers beautiful and different.
BONUS TIP: I’m a big fan of redistribution of content–who has time to shoot video more than once? Save each section of your Instagram story on your camera roll and then upload them to a folder on your desktop as soon as you get back to your desk. You can use a simple editing tool (here’s a great list of free video editors) and put together a longer piece to post later on YouTube, Facebook, or your own library website.
Really research your hashtags. Many library marketers feel lost when it comes to hashtags or they don’t spend enough time thinking about them. But they are the one tool that will help people who don’t know you’re on Instagram to find you. They’ll also help your avid fans see more of your posts. My favorite free hashtag research tool is Hashtagify. The easiest way for me to explain how it works is to show you an example. I did a search of Jane Austen and got this great graphic, which shows me all the top related hashtags I can use in a post about my favorite classic author.
I would suggest that you keep the number of hashtags you use to five or less. The less cluttered your caption is, the more engagement you’ll get. You should also check each hashtag before you use it to get a sense of how “crowded” it is. I like mixing my hashtags up with a few popular and a few rarely used ones. This helps increase the chances that someone will be able to find your photo!
Think through your caption. There’s no right or wrong length. You can take up to 2200 characters so if you have something really fascinating to say or a big announcement to make, you don’t have to limit yourself. You really need to focus on providing context about the photo. It’s okay to write out your caption before you post if it helps you to think through the process. Stay within your library’s brand voice and use conversational words, not library industry language. You should also experiment with emoji’s, which help to communicate the mood or feeling of the photo and are eye-catching! And if you’re talking about a follower or another organization in your caption, be sure to tag them for extra reach and engagement.
Do not use a call to action in your caption every time you post… I think doing that makes you seem pushy. But sometimes it makes sense, like in this recent post by my library for National Library Card Sign-up month.
Have you seen a library account doing great things on Instagram? Are you really proud of what your library has done on Instagram? Let me know about them in the comments section for a future post! For more inspiration, I found this in my research for this article. 12 Must follow Library Instagram Accounts.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button on the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter and Snapchat–it’s where I talk about library marketing! I’m @Webmastergirl. I’m also on LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. Views in this post are my own and do not represent those of my employer.
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 