Instagram has always remained a shining star in the cosmos of social media platforms since launch. And now it’s an eminent social media platform for personal branding or business growth. After all, it has a huge fan following with over 1 billion active users globally. As per Statista, the number of active Instagram users crossed 1 billion in June 2021; the number
stood at 800 million in September 2017. The credit goes to its dynamic features!
As its popularity grew in the business world, techniques started coming in as how to grow business using Instagram.
You must be using them! Are you?
But not getting the desired results?
Anyway, don’t lose hope. All you need to do is to examine your Instagram strategy; check if you are on the right path and not committing any of the biggest Instagram mistakes.
Well, what are those Instagram marketing mistakes? Let’s understand them one by one.
We need not tell you that to make your content readily findable, you need to use the hashtags. Hold on; the hashtags must be relevant as irrelevant hashtags tend to attract bots more than human.
With this, you ensure that your Instagram content reaches to a higher number of fitting people. It helps you get more followers and engagements. Okay, using hashtags is beneficial, but that doesn’t mean you should stuff your post/story with hashtags. Though Instagram permits the use of 30 and 10 hashtags per post and story, respectively, you must not work to
reach the limits because higher is not always better. To make sense and appear impactful, it is vital to select the hashtags carefully. As mentioned on AdEspresso, use of 11 hashtags is optimum as the engagement rate increases with each hashtag until you reach 11 hashtags in a
post but start declining after that. Well, that doesn’t mean you have to use 11 hashtags necessarily; you can use lesser or more, keeping in mind suitability and goal.
Follow for follow and like for like is one of the biggest Instagram mistakes. Instagram account holders, with the intent to have more followers in shorter duration, often perform such tricks. Probably, this technique can serve you with a load of followers, but that number won’t make much sense. You will end up accompanying more people who are there just for a followback and not for your content, product/service. And you will do the same. This way, you are preparing a community, which is running a rat race for increasing followers and is least bothered about value creation. And that should not be the case. Thus, follow accounts in which you are genuinely interested and attract the audience with the same intention for real growth.
Another addition to the list of biggest Instagram mistakes! Some users only want to play a number game. They think having a higher number in ‘followers’ than in ‘following’ makes them appear powerful or valuable. But that’s not the case. Your real value is determined by the content you post and not the numbers. So, by following a particular account and leaving the same after they follow back, you are just playing with metrics, and it is the worst act. What’s the sense of following hundreds of accounts even when you are least bothered about their offerings? Yeah, many of them might hit ‘follow back’, but most of them will do so just as a formality because you follow them. How it is going to contribute to the growth of your business or personal brand?
Engagement is the key to success on social media platforms, we know! But the engagement should be sensible. If you are hitting like, the content must be worth it. And if you are commenting on a post or replying to a story, it should be genuine, be it for endorsing, praising, etc. And if you are commenting in a chain of conversations, be extra cautious. Unknowingly commenting anything just for the sake is nothing more than craziness. It backfires.
Instagram posts are all that you have in your Instagram marketing strategy? Then you need to re-assess your strategy. If you want to avoid the biggest Instagram mistakes, don’t depend on post only. Try to have variations in the content forms like you can go for reels and stories. Also, ensure that the content must align with your brand objectives and deliver value. Don’t
post anything casually.
Pay attention to analytics and monitor the efficacy of your Instagram marketing strategy regularly. See what’s working and what’s underperforming. Then, take the corrective measures. And yeah, Instagram marketing is more about experimentation; if you want to find beneficial tactics and achieve growth, have a flexible strategy. Don’t remain glued to plan, especially if you are not getting good results.
Stealing content, sharing content without tagging the creator, buying followers and likes, intentionally creating an alike name of successful Instagram accounts (for deceiving the audience, etc.) comes into unethical activities. Well, there can be more such acts and not indulging in such practices is one of the best ways to remain distant from the biggest
Instagram mistakes.
And this point needs no explanation! Before commencing Instagram marketing, you need to know the objective of the same. It could be anything, including getting followers, broadening presence, increasing traffic to the website, and more conversions. Plan content accordingly.
Did any of the Instagram marketing mistakes sound familiar? Are you committing any of the biggest Instagram mistakes highlighted above?
Well, now you understand why your Instagram marketing efforts are not providing coveted results! So, it’s time to tweak your Instagram marketing strategy; fix the issue(s) to enjoy more benefits of this highly used social media app.
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