The Guide That Makes Avoiding Instagram Marketing Mistakes Simple
If you own a company and don’t have an Instagram business account, you’re playing marketing in hard mode. Social media is one of the best ways to get the word out about your goods and services if you do it right. You can’t throw posts at the wall and hope something sticks.
There’s a certain level of planning that has to go into Instagram marketing. Once you have your goals in mind, you have to decide how you’re going to reach them. That’s the hard part.
Something as simple as not posting at busy browsing times can be enough to throw your entire campaign off-kilter. We can help you avoid costly mistakes such as this. Keep reading to learn more.
You Have No Goals in Mind
Before you cut the red tape on your company and open your doors, you’ve got to come up with a good business plan. This is where you jot down your ideas for your business name, figure out how you’re going to fund it, and come up with a few marketing tactics.
Again, if your marketing strategies don’t include social media, you’re missing out on a huge market. There are billions of people that use Instagram.
You can attract tons of users to your brand, but true to the business plan, you’re going to need to have a few goals in mind. You can’t throw posts out there and hope that it generates likes.
There needs to be some reason behind them. Do you want to get the word out about your brand? Is the plan to show users how your products work?
Are you trying to humanize yourself in the eyes of your customers? Once you know what you’re doing, you can start building a strategy around your goal.
You’re Not Consistent
We understand, it’s easy to forget to post. You get busy with other things involving your company, and it slips your mind. Still, you need to try and make time.
If you only post once a month, your followers will get bored of you. They may even begin to think that you went out of business or your page is no longer active. That’s the last thing you want.
There are a few ways that you can remedy this problem. The first one is to create a posting schedule and stand by it. When you take pictures for your account, go ahead and take them in bulk.
Create a folder on your computer with photos that are ready to go out to your adoring public, and plan when you want to post them. We recommend using a calendar to keep yourself on track.
Your Bio Is Lacking
People do judge a book by its cover. You only have a few seconds to make a good first impression. If you fail to do so, you’ll lose the follower.
The number way to impress is by having an awesome bio. On top of providing information about your business, you should also include your company’s mission statement.
Potential customers will be very interested in knowing what your values are. If they line up with theirs, they’ll be more likely to give you a follow.
Use keywords that customers might be typing in to find other businesses like yours. This will ensure that you pop up in their search. Include links to your shop, website, and other social media profiles.
Picking the Wrong Time to Post
If you’re writing killer content that isn’t getting much traction, the problem might not be with you. It could be a simple case of horrible timing.
Your posts are going to show up in the user’s feed eventually, right? Why does it matter when they see it? This is the mindset of many business owners.
To answer these questions, you want a bunch of your followers to react to your content while it’s still fresh. You’ll get more engagement that way.
The tricky part is that the right time to post is different for every company. It all depends on what demographic you’re trying to target. You’re going to need to do a little experimentation.
Create new posts throughout the week. With a business account, you’ll have access to an analytics tool. Use it to see what posts got the most attention and when.
Not Engaging With Your Audience
People like feeling like they’re interacting with another person. Not a company. They don’t call it social media for nothing.
You’re going to need to actually talk to your potential customers. Give a person a like or two and follow them if you like their content. They may give you a follow in return.
Look through the comments on your posts and interact with people. Startup a conversation by throwing out a relevant question. Another thing you can do to increase engagement is to post user-generated content.
For example, challenge people to take a picture of themselves using your products and post it using a specific hashtag. It’s fun things like this that will humanize you in the eyes of your customers.
Using the Wrong Hashtags
Speaking of hashtags, there’s such a thing as using the wrong ones. Many people make the mistake of going too broad with it. For example, let’s say that you own a restaurant.
You post a creation from your lunch menu and use #food. There are a million and one posts related to that. The likelihood of your target audience scrolling long enough to see your specific post is minuscule at best.
You want to look up less popular hashtags to use instead. This sounds counterproductive, but it’s not. Trust us, you’ll get many more hits using #grilledchickensandwich than you would #food.
Buying Your Followers
As you see the number of followers that your competitors are getting, sweat begins to gather on your brow. No matter how much pressure you’re under, avoid giving in and buying your followers.
For one, it’s against Instagram guidelines. If they suspect that you’ve bought a bunch of followers from some website, they will take action. This can be in the form of removing your bought followers from your list or banning your account.
Another problem with this dishonest act is that your customers will call you on it. If you have a thousand followers but only the same 10-15 people comment and like all your stuff, it’s kind of obvious.
This kind of activity is what makes people lose faith in brands. You could lose followers over it. As you can see, it’s not worth it.
Posting Blurry Photos
Instagram is a visual social media site. The majority of what you’re going to be posting are photos. If they’re blurry and hard to see, no amount of hashtags and customer engagement is going to help you.
Take your pictures during the day, so you have more natural light to work with. If you take them after the sun sets, your pictures won’t come out as clearly.
Natural light is great for taking pictures, but you don’t want to snap them in direct sunlight. These are only a few ways to make Instagram posts more attractive.
Talking Too Much About Your Products
You want to get the word out about your products and services, but you shouldn’t overdo it. Throwing out post after post regarding your goods and services will make it appear like you’re more concerned with making sales than interacting with your customers.
It’s not a good look. In fact, it’s a good way to get yourself ignored. This doesn’t mean that you should avoid talking about your products altogether.
All we’re saying is that your Instagram profile shouldn’t look like the sales page on your online shop. It makes you come across as pushy and desperate. Focus on posting engaging content first and foremost.
Refusing to Partner With Someone
You’re not that big on Instagram quite yet, but there’s someone else who is. Partnering up with a popular influencer is a pretty common tactic in the marketing industry.
It involves paying a big influencer to use your products on social media. They get content and you get to reach out to their followers without actually doing it yourself. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Instagram Marketing Fails That Are Easy to Avoid
Instagram is a popular social media platform that many businesses use to market to their target audience. As you can see, there’s a wrong and right way to go about it.
If your Instagram marketing doesn’t come across as authentic, you’ll lose more followers than you gain. Don’t let yourself fall into that advertising trap!
For more ways to reach out to your customers and make your company known, visit the Business section of our blog!
June Potter wrote this article on behalf of FreeUp. FreeUp is the fastest-growing freelance marketplace in the US. FreeUp only accepts the top 1% of freelance applicants. Click here to get access to the top freelancers in the world.
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