Instagram Mistakes

Using too many hashtags is one of the most common Instagram mistakes businesses make.

Yes, hashtags are a great tool because they help attract specific consumers to your content. When you use hashtags, it allows people to see all the content relevant to that hashtag. 

But many businesses tend to get a little carried away with this feature trying to gain exposure on their content.

Unfortunately, the more hashtags you use, the less relevant the post looks.

This is because when you use too many hashtags, it appears that your business isn’t clear as to who they are trying to target.

Even though Instagram allows you to use up 30 hashtags, the recommended amount is no more than 11 hashtags. 

Studies show that engagement increases up to 80% with 11 hashtags.

There is a reason why abusing hashtags is one of the most common Instagram mistakes. As a small business, gaining exposure is a significant part of generating new business.

Without exposure, your business can’t grow.

However, the key to getting the most engagement on your hashtags is to utilize the ones that are most relevant and authentic to your business.

In addition, here are a few tips to keep in mind when using hashtags on your Instagram content.

• Keep it simple. If users can’t comprehend what your hashtag is trying to say, then it may not be worth using because it won’t be as effective.
• Hashtags are used to generate engagement when they are searched for. This means, using hashtags that have a lot of user content around them will help you more than making up your own hashtags.
• Make your hashtags consistent across platforms. If you use a hashtag on Twitter, make sure to use the same hashtag on Instagram as well. This helps users recognize the hashtag and associate it with your business.
• Look at what hashtags your competition is using.
• Use hashtag tools to find the best hashtags to use.
• Research a hashtag’s content before you use it. Sometimes the content around a hashtag may not be relevant to your content. In this case using this hashtag could hurt the engagement and relevance of your content.

This is one of the biggest Instagram mistakes because brands frequently do it. 

If you don’t think your audience notices what you post, they do.

If you constantly post the same content over and over again, your followers are bound to get tired and stop interacting with your brand.

This is because they want to feel like they are up to date with your brand. They want to see something new. And if you frequently upload the same content, they will start to feel like your business has nothing new to offer.

You don’t want that.

Keep your audience engaged with new, relevant content. 

Try using a mix of content like videos, photos, memes, etc. In addition, experimenting with colors, fonts, and branding can help re-energize past content and keep your followers engaged.

Another one of the Instagram mistakes your business should avoid is ignoring comments.

It’s called “Social Media” for a reason! 

If you aren’t responding to comments, then you’re missing out on the whole “social” aspect of social media.

Comments are powerful because they are a great way to bridge the gap between a brand and its audience.

Responding to comments allows your business to be more humanized in the eyes of your audience.

Users want to feel like your brand is there for them. And that’s how you get them to trust in your business. 

When your audience trusts your brand they are more likely to try your new offerings, leave great reviews, share your business with friends, and continue to do business with your brand.

Responding to comments, whether it be answering questions, elaborating, providing a reminder about something, or just thanking users for their comments, is a great way to nurture leads into customers.

This is because the majority of the time when a user makes a comment, they are interested in your brand’s content. 

That being said, interacting with these users will more than likely help you encourage them to become a loyal customer. 

If you don’t respond, it reflects that your brand is disinterested. Thus, making you lose out on a potential lead. 

Form a habit of responding to comments and watch your instagram engagement increase. 

Ultimately, user engagement leads to retention and retention leads to growth.

Another one of the most common Instagram mistakes is having a private page. 

Having a private personal page is totally fine, but if your business page is restricted, you’re hindering your business’s growth on Instagram severely.

Having a private page can portray to consumers that only certain people can have access to it.

And that’s not good.

After all, you want your target audience to have access to your page, so they can interact with your business.

As a business, you work so hard to create great content for the world to see. Why hide it with a restricted profile?

If you want people to find your page, see your content, and engage with your brand, it is important to make sure your business page is “public.” 

Once you set it to public, you will see how easy it is for new followers to engage with your brand.

This is one of the most exploited Instagram mistakes.

Why?

Because many businesses find it so easy to just jump on Instagram and start posting.

Yes, this is okay for your personal page, but as a business, doing anything without a clear strategy is a big no-no.

Why is having a strategy so important?

Because strategies help you get to the center of what you are trying to achieve: your goals. 

Not having a clear strategy will result in wasted time and efforts. If you don’t have a clear route of how you want to achieve your goals, then you can get stuck doing things that don’t work.

Thus, you may come to the conclusion that Instagram won’t work for you. And that’s false because it can work with the right strategy.

Defining the right strategy starts with knowing what your goal is. 

Want to increase brand awareness?

Then, increasing your visibility is important. Photos should be high quality, information should be valuable, and all of your Instagram ad campaigns should be optimized for engagement and follower growth.

In the end, without a clear strategy, your business will be flying blindly in the world of Instagram (or social media in general).

It’s important to figure out what you want to get out of marketing on social media and then design a plan on how you can achieve that.

You’ve uploaded your content and now your followers are engaged and ready to work with or purchase from your business.

But oh no, you don’t have the link to your website in your bio! Now all those leads that were generated have disappeared because they had no way of easily getting to your website.

Unfortunately, this is a very frequent instagram mistake that many businesses make.

Due to the fact that Instagram does not allow you to post external links in your content, it is crucial that any links you have are posted in your bio.

Otherwise, you won’t be able to effectively drive traffic to your website.

The important part is to make sure your link properly coincides with your content. If you are posting content about your new product and telling consumers to click the link in your bio, you want to make sure that the link in your bio is going to take them to the correct destination.

This is how you ensure the leads you have generated follow the next step in the process and become purchasing customers.

We get it. You may not want to bombard your audience with posts. Or you may not know what to post.

However, not posting frequently enough is one of the biggest Instagram mistakes businesses make today.

This is because when you don’t post consistently enough, it is harder for consumers to recognize and interact with your brand.

In everything your business does, you don’t want to reflect inconsistency. This will reflect poorly on your brand overall.

So, how frequently should your business post on Instagram?

In all honesty, there isn’t a specific number. Most studies have very different results to support that question.

Some studies say 1-3 times a day. Some say 10 times a day.

However, what can be said to be similar across all the studies is the influences of the audience and brand.

Whether you post 10 times a day or just 3, your brand and audience are what affect your posting frequency the most.

Every business has a different style and audience they are targeting. This means, you have to understand the habits of your audience, so you can determine the right time to post to better target them.

This will take some further research into your Instagram analytics.

Through this insight, you will be able to discover the best times for your business to post content and attract your audience.