Instagram is one of the most rapidly growing social media networks as people all over the world share their love of photos. As a result businesses and marketers are keen to add Instagram to their social media marketing strategy, promoting the very best view of their product, service or location to the world. However, as this platform grows there are a few common mistakes new users (and some older users) fall into. Here’s our quick guide to the 5 most common Instagram mistakes and how to avoid them.
Poor quality photos:
Instagram has grown into a network for the highest quality beautiful images, with many users taking their feeds very seriously. By sharing poor quality photos you are not only missing a vital opportunity to show you at your best, but you are also giving an unprofessional look and feel to your business. When people see high resolution photos they associate it with a “professionalism” and high level of quality, which is what you want and need for your business. We recommend that your picture should be 1280 by 1280 px, in focus and that images are perfectly centred without any odd-seeming cut outs.
Not being consistent:
The point of Social Media is to be social; this should be the case for all of your accounts including Instagram. Fans and followers like it when you are consistent as this means you are predictable and people love predictability. Regular updates are important to keep your followers interested because no one wants to follow an inactive account, so remember to post regularly, we recommend between 3 and 7 times a week.
Oversharing:
Although it is important to have regular updates so your fans keep interested, do not spam your followers! Avoid sharing more than 1 photo a day, repeating the same photo, or sharing the same type of post every few days, no one wants to see the same pair of shoes just at different angles 3 days in a row. Keep your followers engaged and leave them wanting more, you are better off posting less frequent, quality posts instead of constant poor updates.
Incorrect hashtags:
Hashtags are vital when it comes to trying to get interaction on your posts, therefore they need to be used correctly. To do this, your hashtags needs to include a couple of things. Firstly, your hashtags need to be short and relevant to your post, for example, if you are promoting a holiday destination on a Tuesday #traveltuesday would be perfect! The second thing is your hashtag needs to be searchable, which is the whole idea behind categorised hashtags, creating your own funny long hashtag may seem like a good idea, but you are better off using #cake, which is highly used and searched for instead of #IveGotCakeNow which only you may be using. By using relevant, searchable Hashtags it will help your post be seen by more users thus creating a gateway to get more engagement.
Private accounts:
Setting your account to private seems like a sensible thing to do but in fact, it is quite the opposite. A private account limits any potential opportunities for follower growth, interaction and most importantly sales. Private Instagram accounts are only useful for personal accounts, who want to only share updates between friends, not businesses that are trying to promote themselves. Your business account should always be public to allow users to quickly and easily follow you and find your posts within hashtag searches. To make sure your account is public go to your settings and make sure the privacy box is off.