The battle in Instagram for reach and engagement is a life-or-death struggle. According to various sources, conversions are being affected:
- comments
- retention
- likes from users with more followers
- who knows what else?
Since no one knows exactly how the great Algorithm works, it wouldn’t be surprising if shamanic Instagram promotion practices were discovered.
Amidst all this madness, a clear and legitimate trend is emerging – gaming content and anonymous Instagram story viewer. It includes tests, joke predictions, rebuses, emoji games – in general, anything that will make the subscriber give a reaction in the form of a comment. Thus, this will raise the post to the top in the algorithmic feed and enter into a dialog with you.
The most popular games on Instagram
Screenshot Predictions
The screenshot feature has become much more popular in recent years. You need to save a Story or something else. Screenshot games or contests are in their heyday and should be utilized.
Using the example of the “How will you spend tonight” game, you can create similar posts for accounts of different topics.
What’s the point: we ask subscribers to write a drop-down answer under the post with the game. A little later, we’ll go through step-by-step instructions on how to make such content yourself.
Maze game
Another common way to engage your audience is on Instagram. The promoted product is usually placed in the middle of a maze and asked to help it get out by indicating the correct answer in the comments. Winners are often rewarded with some kind of prize or get well-deserved.
To make such a game, adapt a maze template to your product.
Emoji Time
We all have our favorite emoji that we use most often. Ask your subscribers to play with them. For example, have them describe a form of love or a good mood with the emoji. This trick works without fail.
Pros, cons, and subtleties of gaming content
People love to play games and get involved even when they get nothing. They like to be winners and share good results with subscribers, so all games should be built on the system. “Subscriber is good in any case.”
Do not forget that it is important not to miscalculate with difficulty level. Before publishing, test the game on a couple of people you know. If they are interested and comfortable, publish!
Game content has downsides: making it look pretty and almost always stand out from other posts is hard.
Fitting game content into stylish and atmospheric accounts like Simple + Beyond is especially difficult. Of all our examples, perhaps only an Ikea-style game would suit such an account.
Games on Instagram are a legal and practically free way to engage subscribers. The main thing is to compose games competently, not with a “how to intrigue an idiot” attitude. Make the games so that you want to play them yourself.
It is not necessary to give something to subscribers who play. The game is not a contest with a mandatory prize; you just need to get people interested in the idea. Don’t steal games from other accounts; adapt them to your audience.
Visuals are especially important in Instagram, so make the games beautiful and accompany them with branded elements: logos, frames, and other elements.
Everyone has a lot of posts proving their expertise with figures and reviews. You do a series of tasks by searching for clues in the posts – and now the participants have not only touched your stories but also read the right post, which says who you are and what you can do. And they used the Instagram highlights viewer.
And based on the game’s results, you can also reward the finalists (extra motivation). What’s the bottom line? You played in the stories – you got coverage, views, touches; you read the posts – again coverage, views, likes, comments; you were reminded about your expertise and services, and you got closer to your audience. Subscribers had fun and won. Everyone wins.
