Instagram is the social media platform of choice for many marketers and it shows no sign of easing up on its popularity any time soon. While it does seem fairly straightforward, especially for people that have been using social media for years, there are some unspoken Insta rules that can make or break your channel.
When you make a mistake online, it can live forever. Thankfully most of you don’t have millions of followers that will instantly screenshot any embarrassing moments that may happen, but like any digital marketing platform, making an Instagram mistake can seem like an old-school public humiliation. When you are trying to grow your online influence via Insta, it is best to know those unspoken Instagram rules. Thankfully, we have our friendly social media marketing team here with a list of common insta marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.
Using Low-Res Images
If nothing else, Instagram is the most highly visual platform. It’s entire raison d’être is for people to share their creativity by instantly share their pictures. With camera phones being as advanced as they are and editing software on both your phone and the Insta app, there is little excuse for sharing a low-quality image. Think of yourself as one of those Instagram boyfriends, only your business is your girlfriend and you are trying to show her off in the best light possible.
If you are not sure what kind of content you should be uploading, cruise the app looking for inspiration with companies in a similar industry using Instagram the right way, it will help to jump-start your own creative mind. Search hashtags related to your city, your industry, or simply use the search tool to send you down a rabbit hole. It may feel like you are wasting time, but trust us, you aren’t. It’s totally valid research.
Posting Too Much. Or Not at All
Constantly posting is one of the fastest ways to get you unfollowed. Imagine scrolling through your personal feed and seeing post after post by the same person or business, even with amazing images it’s easy to get fatigued. The golden rule here is, post authentically. If you are at a super cool event snap a bunch of pics and take advantage of the albums feature to upload a ton of pictures at once without annoying your followers. The same idea with your Instagram story, very few people are going to stick around for your 1000 post long story.
On the flip side, never posting won’t necessarily make people unfollow you, but it definitely won’t help people remember your brand. Get in the habit of doing an audit of events coming up, special days of the month that will relate to your business or something similar to find authentic reasons to post.
Not Checking Your Results
When Facebook bought Instagram, one of their first orders of business was to implement business accounts that come with some solid analytics. It may not be publicly embarrassing not to use them, but it is a good idea to see what your audience is responding to and when. I will help you make more informed decisions about what is engaging content to your audience, not just to you.
Buying Followers
This is the number 1 Instagram no-no. Buying your followers. To the uninitiated, they may look at your large (ahem) follower count and be impressed, but it doesn’t take much inspection for even an Insta newb to see that your followers are paid for. They’re from all over the world, they are clearly not real accounts, and they are not engaging with your page. It’s better to have fewer followers than a horrible engagement rate, we swear.
We have tons more Instagram guidance just waiting to get out! If you are feeling a little lost in the world of Instagram, or just social media in general, we can help! Give us a call, we’ll have a chat and put together a solid social media strategy for you!