What Not to Do on Instagram for Your Business

Ever since its launch in October 2010, Instagram has grown to become one of the most popular social media marketing platforms for individuals as well as brands. What started off as a photo-sharing platform has witnessed massive growth over the years. Today, Instagram offers so many more options for marketers other than just mere photo sharing. The number of people using the platform today has resulted in Instagram marketing being a crucial aspect of business marketing strategy.

With so much competition on the platform, it’s important to know how you can ensure your business stands out for the right reasons. There are many ways to boost business growth and gain more Instagram followers, but some mistakes could cost you. Here’s a guide on what not to do for your Instagram marketing strategy.

Failing to establish a clear goal

Instagram is a fun platform but boosting business growth on the platform requires a lot more than just posting high-quality photos. You need to have a clear goal in mind when planning your Instagram marketing strategy. Are you looking to gain more real Instagram followers? Do you want to increase brand awareness? Are you looking to boost sales from your marketing strategy? Without having a clear goal in mind, you’re going to be wasting time doing things that don’t produce the desired results. Lack of a clear goal will also mean that you won’t be able to measure key performance indicators for your profile.

Keeping an incomplete Instagram bio

An incomplete bio won’t give your Instagram followers the information they need about your brand and its products or services. You need to make sure your bio has short but relevant information for your new Instagram followers to get an idea of exactly what your brand does. It’s one way to showcase what your brand stands for, so don’t leave it incomplete.

Not including a clickable link in your bio is another Instagram marketing mistake to avoid on Instagram. Links on Instagram can only be added in the bio, although accounts with more Instagram followers have other options. Smaller businesses need to capitalize on the link in bio feature to include clickable links to websites, product pages, or landing pages. Failing to do this will cost you potential customers.

Keeping a private profile

Private profiles allow only approved Instagram followers to view their content. Most people end up going back to scrolling through Instagram when they come across a private profile. This means you’ll end up losing potential Instagram followers and Instagram likes. A private profile also means that people who don’t follow you won’t be able to view your content shared by others. This significantly limits the reach of your posts, giving you access to a much smaller audience.

Failing to double-check your content for errors before posting

Coming up with high-quality content takes a fair bit of time. You don’t want your efforts to go to waste just because you failed to correct a last-minute error. Grammar and spelling mistakes, faulty punctuation, and other typos can make you appear very unprofessional on Instagram and cost you Instagram followers. You need to have a certain level of professionalism if you want your Instagram followers to take you seriously, so ensure you double-check your content before posting it. Proofread everything so that you’re putting out content that doesn’t have any mistakes in it.

Posting duplicate content

Sometimes, it’s okay to bring up previously posted content and post it again for emphasis while trying to make a point. Throwbacks work well for this reason, but posting duplicate content from the past often will bore your Instagram followers and cause them to move on from your brand. Instagram users are looking to be inspired to engage with your brand and duplicating old content only shows them that you don’t care enough to be original and give them something new.

Failing to remain consistent

Consistency is key when it comes to Instagram marketing. You need to create anticipation among your Instagram followers and you can do this well by sticking to a consistent posting schedule. You don’t want to post 5 posts in a week and then go missing for the next 3 weeks. Maintaining consistency in the number of posts you make on a daily or weekly basis will keep the activity levels up on your profile. Doing so ensures that your Instagram followers eagerly await your next post. You must make sure you’re not posting too much or too little.

Posting without a caption

You can have a high-quality picture or video ready for posting but doing this without a good caption to go with it is a big mistake. Captions are crucial to engage your audience. They can help you communicate your brand personality and even ask your Instagram followers certain questions for them to respond to in the comments section. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, you can add a different layer to your post entirely with the right caption.

Failing to engage and interact with your audience

If you want more real Instagram followers, you’re going to have to show them you care. This means creating engaging content for them, taking their feedback into consideration, and interacting with them. Instagram offers many tools that make this possible. You need to ensure you respond to the comments of users and acknowledge them. You can use features like polls, questions, and a lot more on Stories to gain insight on what your Instagram followers think. Without engaging them, you’re giving off the message that you don’t care about your audience, which is something no brand wants.

Failing to post videos

While photos are extremely important on the platform, there are many video tools like IGTV, Reels, and even the option to post videos to your feed or Stories on Instagram. Videos can help you create visually engaging content for your Instagram followers that’s much easier to retain. You can post a tutorial video, an outfit change video, an educational video, or even answer some frequently asked questions in the form of a video for your Instagram followers. The high engagement rate of videos means that you’ll also get more Instagram likes, so you’re missing out on a big advantage if you’re not using Instagram videos.

Prioritizing quantity at the cost of quality

The number of posts you make on Instagram is definitely important but it shouldn’t come at the cost of quality. Posting one high-quality image or video is much better than posting ten different poor-quality videos or photos to your Instagram profile. Because Instagram is a visual platform, high-quality images and videos will fetch you a lot more Instagram likes and real Instagram followers, helping to boost business growth on the platform.

Failing to showcase your brand personality

People today will connect more with brands that they can resonate with. While you may offer great products and services, you’re more likely to gain more real Instagram followers if you have a strong brand personality that speaks to your audience. You may be including the right hashtags and using Story polls, but if you fail to communicate your brand’s personality through your posts, you may end up creating a disconnect with your Instagram followers.

Being too promotional with your content

Storytelling is important in today’s world of marketing and establishing a personal connection with your audience is necessary to boost brand growth. Content that’s too promotional just appears salesy and puts profit at the center of all marketing efforts. It fails to engage your audience in a personal manner. Nobody likes to feel like they’re always being sold something. Overly promotional content can irritate your audience and cost you Instagram followers.

Misusing hashtags

Hashtags are important for users to be able to find your content when they look for similar content. You shouldn’t avoid using hashtags as they can significantly increase the reach of your posts and put your content before a larger audience.
Just because you aren’t avoiding them, doesn’t mean you’re using them right either. You can use up to 30 hashtags in your feed posts, but using hashtags just for the sake of it won’t do you any good. Using around 7 or 10 relevant and well-researched hashtags will do a lot more for your posts than 15 or 20 randomly chosen hashtags. You want to make sure you keep the hashtags relevant to your industry or niche so that you’re reaching out to your target audience. Using too many hashtags can come across as desperate and that’s far from what you want.

Not paying attention to analytics

Ignoring your analytics is a big mistake when you’re trying to successfully market your business on Instagram. When you review your analytics, you’ll be able to access details about the demographics of your Instagram followers, their geographical spread, what times are best for posting, which posts are doing well, and so much more. Such details will help you identify what’s working and what isn’t so that you can make changes to your marketing strategy on Instagram.

Conclusion

Boosting business growth on Instagram isn’t easy, but by avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll be in a better position to achieve business success through your efforts.