Meet the Bloggers: Part I - The World of Engagement Groups
Wearing Princess Polly top and Forever 21 skirt.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Bloggers. Meet them all in engagement groups.
My journey on Instagram began as a solitary one. Other than working with my husband to take my photos, I did not have much contact with other bloggers within my community (online or offline). However, shortly after I began to consistently post on my page, I was introduced to the strange new world of engagement groups, which would in turn introduce me to my local and international community of fellow Instagram bloggers.
The first engagement group that I joined was actually not local at all. Rather, it was mostly comprised of style and beauty bloggers in the UK or the U.S.
Basically, the main purposes of engagement groups are as follows:
As bloggers, you want your posts to achieve as much engagement as possible (i.e. likes, comments, and saves). Being of a part of an engagement group can be a great way for a beginner blogger to receive some guaranteed engagement from their fellow group members.
You have the opportunity to ask questions about blogging to like-minded individuals who may have the experience and answers to help you.
If your group is a local one, you might even begin to meet these bloggers in person to shoot together (I actually have become friends with several other bloggers via this method).
The usual rules for these groups are:
Like and comment (and sometimes save) on the posts of your group members
Comments must be over 4 words long.
It is best to engage with each other’s posts within the first hour of posting for optimal engagement.
Do not post until you have caught up with the posts of those who have posted before you.
Since Instagram wants you to spend money with them to promote your posts, they don’t like it if you are involved in these groups. As a result, we often find ways to keep Instagram from tracking that we are engaging with each others’ posts as a group. These strategies depend upon which platform your engagement group is using— such as Instagram, WhatsApp, or Telegram.
While I certainly felt apprehensive about joining a group of strangers, I knew that I should not be afraid of the unknown and move forward with whatever new opportunities presented themselves to me. As soon as I joined, I felt quite welcomed by this group of women from all over the globe. I also learned how to regularly engage with others’ posts and the importance of said engagement.
Nowadays, many fledgling bloggers ask me if I can add them into an engagement group. Unfortunately, I have had many negative experiences in which I have added a blogger in a group only to have them not follow the simple rules stated above. As a result, I almost never add new bloggers into my engagement groups unless I have some sort of relationship (and trust) with them.
If you are new to the blogging world, I would not recommend hounding other bloggers to have them add you into a group. Rather, I would suggest finding other bloggers of a similar following size and niche who would be willing to start an engagement group. As well, if other bloggers see that you are engaging regularly and sincerely with other accounts (i.e. leaving thoughtful and genuine comments), they will often ask you to join their engagement group.
Currently, I have to turn down numerous requests to join these groups as I do my best to leave great comments as a personal rule. Additionally, I am slowly weaning myself off these engagement groups as most of them are full of inactive or inconsistent members and I find their engagement value to be less than optimal.
Got a question about engagement groups for me? Leave a comment below!
Cheers, Debbie (aka The Stylish Wordsmith)
