If you are not growing on Instagram, you're posting regularly but something is missing
and you don't seem to be getting any traction whatsoever, you may be making some of these
Instagram mistakes.
I've gathered a list of Instagram mistakes I want you to avoid so that you can run a
mini audit of your own account and see how you can fix these.
Ready?
Let's do this!
Hi my lovely people, it's Natalia and welcome back to my channel where I share super actionable
ideas on content creation for entrepreneurs and creatives.
And today, I'm bringing you my subjective list of rookie Instagram mistakes to avoid
if you want to grow your following.
It's the kind of video I've wanted to record for a while because even though you may be
aware of some of mistakes, I still see them being made all the time and they can seriously
hinder your growth.
Learning from your mistakes or the mistakes of others is the best way to improve because
it's not just about looking for new Instagram strategies or tactics you can use, it's also
about being mindful about what you may be doing wrong and constantly striving to eliminate
these missteps.
So let's jump right on in and fix them together!
1.
Not including captions in your stories or other videos
Accessibility is such an important factor and there are still not many people out there
on Instagram who add captions to their stories every single time.
I've been guilty of it a few times before but from a users perspective, I completely
understand the need to caption your stories.
First of all, there are people out there who are hard of hearing and typing out what you
say on your stories is so important to make sure they too have full access to your content.
Besides, there are so many situations in which your followers may not be able to watch your
stories with sound.
You yourself have probably browsed through stories without actually listening to them
so adding a quick snippet of what you're talking about can make sure your followers stay in
the loop with your content, even if it means they just tap through them.
Plus, with the new captions feature being rolled out to more and more accounts, there's
really no excuse now!
Simply go to your stories, start recording, then hit this sticker and Instagram automatically
transcribes it for you.
You can even edit words or censor them if you have some adult language in there ;)
2.
Skipping captions under posts
I know it may seem like a basic mistake but I still see it made all 👏 the 👏 time
👏. You'd be surprised as to how many times I browse through Instagram, look for new inspiring
accounts, check what's up with the followers, and I get through image after image with either
no caption at all or completely no context whatsoever.
I think the case of no caption at all is pretty self-explanatory, your followers get a blank
photo and that's it - which is not great, but the no context point is so important as
well.
Let's say you're travelling somewhere.
You see a lake, you take a gorgeous photo, you post it to Instagram and say "What a beautiful
lake", maybe throw in some emojis or some hashtags for good measure.
What does it give your followers?
They see this photo, they have no clue where you are (if you've not added the location),
they see a pretty picture, they may or may not leave a like, but there's no more to it
so they scroll past it.
In my opinion, it's a huge mistake, because you're not providing any value there.
So what could you do instead?
Think about the purpose of the post.
Why do you want to share it?
Is it inspiring, informative, educational from the perspective of your dream customer
or ideal follower?
Does it fall within a particular content pillar that you identified in your content strategy?
If you're a Pilates instructor and you talk about health & fitness on your account, you
could talk more about how you love to work out outdoors from time to time and how views
like that make you appreciate nature.
As a business strategist who talks about business development and mindset, you could explain
the importance of downtime and taking breaks, resting fully to replenish your creativity
and drive.
If you share your travels, you could give a context of how you found this place, what
you've done while at this lake, maybe if it reminded you of some childhood memories.
As you can see, one image can represent so many different things to people.
What makes you unique on Instagram is sharing your perspective.
The point is to provide value through your unique voice and enticing your followers to
stop scrolling with the first sentence of your caption.
3.
No link in bio
Whatever traffic you generate on social media, it should always be directed towards something
that you yourself own.
And of course, Instagram is no exception.
As a content creator, you need to include a link in your bio to strategically guide
your followers to some of your assets like a website, a special deal in your shop or
even another channel you’re trying to grow.
But I can already hear the questions bubbling up... but I don’t have a website, what’s
the point?
Well, my friends, the point is this.
You don't need to have a website to achieve goals with your redirecting your social media
traffic.
There are so many other ways you could be using to guide your followers or visitors
to where you want them to go.
It can be a poll, an order form, a subscription form, a landing page you build for free and
so much more.
Whatever you create on socials, you always have some sort of a goal, be it to grow your
business, to get brand deals, to become an influencer, to become an expert, there are
so many different things you may want to achieve through your regular posting, even if you’ve
not set the goal consciously.
So identify that goal and see how the link can benefit your overall strategy.
Want to build your email list?
Link your freebie which you can distribute through a free Mailchimp landing page.
Want for your followers to know more about how to work with you?
Create a simple Canva website to tell them what you do and how to contact you until you
can get a fully functional website.
There’s always a workaround, you just need to be creative.
So no more excuses and get that link ready 😉
4.
not using highlights
If you’re posting on Instagram stories but not saving some of them to your highlights
strategically, you are missing out on sooo many opportunities to further serve and engage
with your audience!
This is one of my biggest Instagram mistakes on my personal profile so it’s definitely
something I want to work towards.
Utilizing Highlights can really help you showcase what you’re all about, educate your audience
and potentially turn your followers into clients.
If you think about it, apart from your profile picture and bio, Highlights are the next thing
people see when they’re on your profile so you should definitely capitalize on that
space.
If you don’t have the highlights displayed there, your followers have nothing to see
apart from your posts and if they're looking for something specific, they may continue
on their search and bump into your competitors who actually have some useful and informative
highlights saved to their profile.
So if you don't want to miss out on this opportunity and learn how to use them for your business,
definitely check out this video where I give you so many different ideas!
5.
bad bio
I have to say it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine because I'm always confused when I get
to someone's profile and learn nothing from their bio.
This can destroy your profile because people don't know the basics, meaning who you are,
what you do, what you sell, offer.
This is a bad first impression and after all, you never want to make a bad first impression
in the world where our attention span is shrinking way beyond the goldfish stage ;) If you don't
communicate clearly who you are and how you help people, people will not have a reason
to stay for longer and follow your profile even if you have some nice photos or videos
here.
Think about your target audience and what your purpose for the bio actually is.
Is is to introduce yourself, be intriguing, interesting, professional.
My tip is to always present clearly who you are, how you help people and what you offer,
including a call to action and a link to drive traffic to your website or your offer.
Be clear yet succinct, include keywords and potentially some social proof if you have
it.
And don't forget your contact button and a location if you're a physical business - how
to buy from you.
6. using hashtags in your bio This may be slightly controversial but I stand
by it - don't use hashtags in your bio and here's why I think it's not ideal.
Hashtags in bios are clickable just like in your posts or Reels so if someone gets to
your profile, reads the bio and then clicks on the hashtags, they are directed to that
hashtag and gone from your profile.
Why give anyone an opportunity to get out of there?
I get it that you want to categorize who you are and what you do, but using simple text
and emojis instead of hashtags is a much better way.
That being said, there is an exception to this rule and it's your own branded hashtags.
If you have a challenge where people can tag their photos with or a shop that encourages
people to share their purchases like an outfit or flowers or art, then by all means, include
it in your bio if you want to promote it.
Otherwise, stay clear of using hashtags there.
There are better ways to use hashtags than this :)
7.
Videos with no covers
We all know that videos are such an important format for social media and that’s why creators
out there make sure to put out a good amount of video content.
However, there is one mistake that I see being made constantly, and I’m not joking, I come
across it every single day.
Posting videos to Instagram without adjusting the covers.
The specific one that really bugs me is when people make videos in Canva or animate the
elements of the design and then post them as is.
What that does is create a single color post that stands out in the grid and breaks the
look of the feed completely.
If you think about it, it’s very confusing to the eye and if you post enough of these,
people who visit your profile don’t know what you’re content is about.
Besides, who would click on a post like that to read or see more?
What you should do each time is to make sure you’re changing the cover before you post
a video.
You can do it by simply clicking here at the bottom and then scrolling through the video
to choose the right cover.
8.
not engaging
If you’re writing a caption, choosing an image, selecting hashtags, posting on Instagram
and then closing the app, you’re doing it wrong.
All I hear about is “I don’t have engagement on my IG”.
But then I visit the profiles, run audits, and the first thing that strikes me is that
the comments that they do get remain unanswered.
Someone took the time to write something, be it a short comment, a question or even
an emoji and you’re not going to grace it with a response?
If so, then you don’t deserve a high engagement rate that you seem to chase.
#sorrynotsorry But let’s not stop there, because engaging with other people’s reactions
to your content is one thing.
Social media is, in fact, social and is about creating real connections.
If you want true and honest engagement, you need to not only reciprocate, but also proactively
engage with other creators on the platform.
Start with your followers.
Really get to know them, start conversations, genuinely comment under their posts, vote
on polls in their stories, answer their DMS or better yet, reach out to them yourself.
Then, move on to your favorite creators or people you like and respect in your niche.
Do the same thing.
Like, comment, share, DM them.
It’s about building a community and not wondering how you can get more engagement
and worrying about the numbers.
So I have a challenge to you today.
Engage with 5 people on Instagram today and let me know how it goes in the comments under
this video.
Remember, focus on genuine interaction, leave relevant comments and try to make them longer
than two or three words.
This is what ultimately contributes to growth.
9.
buying followers
Even though it’s been said a million times, I will repeat it because I still get questions
about this.
Is it worth buying followers?
The answer is ALWAYS NO and I consider this to be one of the most grave mistakes you can
make when trying to grow on Instagram.
When buying followers, you get a random batch of inactive accounts or accounts which follow
thousands of other profiles.
These followers won't engage with your content and therefore your content will be understood
by the algorithm as not valuable and will not be pushed on peoples feed and explore
page.
It will also damage your credibiltity as an influencer and a creator.
Buying fake followers only gives you a vanity metric that means nothing.
These inactive, dead accounts will not buy from you, not engage with you and will eventually,
potentially kill your account and your reputation.
All that just for being able to include a swipe up link or appearing as a bigger account
at a short glance (even though when you look further, it’s super easy to identify when
the profile bought followers).
Is the price really worth paying?
Also your account may be banned by Instagram if you have a lot of fake followers.
Any unusual activity or very rapid growth can be flagged by Instagram and you may be
penalized for it.
I don’t know if you realize this but this is used as a shady tactic by some scammy competitors
that buy followers for other accounts to cause this drop in engagement rate, authority and
potentially leave them open to a ban.
That’s why some bigger creators sometimes have to temporarily private their accounts
and accept followers one by one.
I know a few cases like this and it’s always very frustrating to a hard working creator.
So I hope by now you now that buying followers is a complete waste of your money and is actually
dangerous to your account.
Besides, I've not even mentioned yet how you get inaccurate analytics so you don't know
who your audience really is, you don't see the subtle changes while you're growing and
you can't say exactly what works and what doesn't.
I've had a question about how to deal with it and to decrease the damage, I know there
are apps out there but I wouldn't use any apps because they require for you to give
them access to your account and I wouldn't recommend doing that with any unauthorized
apps.
I would do it manually, by removing fake followers one by one each day, but don't go overboard
with the numbers because if you suddenly start unfollowing a lot of people at once, this
may again be recognized as an unusual activity by Instagram.
10. using bots or engagement pods Building an organic following on Instagram
ain't easy we all know but for god's sake don't do that.
Similarly to buying followers, fake engagement is actually against the community guidelines.
Engagement pods are basically like the follow 4 follow crowd but for engagement.
I like and comment your stuff and you do the same for me.
And although this may sound incredibly useful especially when you post something, this carries
a similar risk to buying fake followers.
Ultimately, people in the engagement pods are not your target audience, they will most
likely not buy from you and you may be flagged for being in a pod.
So even if this boosts your post reach when people interact with your post at the very
beginning, all in all it's skewing your analytics and creating inflated numbers.
Again, you will have no idea what your audience responds to best.
And then there's using bots which is even worse.
It's completely spammy and can lead you to getting banned because it's so easy to identify
both by Instagram and other people.
You've probably seen spammy emojis and generic comments that bring absolutely nothing to
the table.
Why do it?
Again, it's boosting your engagement rate but is it a real, valid improvement?
No, it's not.
You may think that in comparison engagement pods are a bit safer but they too cause a
lot of problems in the long run and it's just not worth it.
If you want engagement, you need to consistently post engaging content that brings value to
your audience, get to know your followers and BE SOCIAL on social.
It's as simple and I'm afraid as laborious as it sounds but there's no shortcut to building
a great community online.
BONUS:
Not being consistent
I've not included this point in this list because it's such a commonly raised argument
and we all should know to be consistent on Instagram if we want to grow (myself included!).
However, it's still worth mentioning here and it's just one of these crucial things
which is universal to anything you want to do really.
Whether it's running a business, growing on any social media platform, building a successful
blog or other goals like learning a language, keeping a healthy lifestyle or reading more
books, there is no progress without consistency.
You simply have to be persistent and regular in any actions you take and it's no different
with Instagram.
I feel like it's been said a billion times and I will repeat it here.
If you want to grow on Instagram, you need to show up consistently and strategically.
If you don't, that's probably the number one reason why you're not growing.
That's just the way it is.
In my own experience, because I'm still in the initial phase of building my business,
I have very limited resources and my focus is mostly on YouTube and my clients, my Instagram
is definitely not growing the way it's supposed to.
Am I conscious of it?
Very much so.
Am I trying to find other reasons why it's not growing?
Not necessarily because I know without showing up there consistently, I know this is the
first thing I need to fix if I want to grow.
___________
This is my list of the most common mistakes I see on Instagram.
Are there any you know you're making?
Share them in the comments down below and let's help each other overcome these!
I know I need to free up some time to post consistently and build my Story Highlights
on my profile.
So how about you?
If that's something you want to want to improve as well, check out this video in which I give
you tons of ideas on how to use Highlights to amplify your business.
But before you do that, if you don't have an Instagram strategy, this is definitely
something you need to start off with!
Make sure to watch this video next and it will help you build a solid one yourself.
When I started writing about Instagram mistakes, I kept writing and writing and writing and
I came up with a list that's much longer than this one.
Because it would be tough to fit all of them into one video, I've decided to just share
the rookie mistakes first.
If you'd be interested in seeing the more obscure, less obvious Instagram mistakes,
let me know in the comments down below and give me a thumbs up so that I know that you've
enjoyed this video and want to learn more.
Hit that subscribe button to not miss more content marketing videos and I'll see you
next time!