Instagram is the second social network by excellence, overpassing Twitter and Snapchat by miles. It has more than half a million users, and the most important aspect of this network is using a shocking visual content that can absorb the users.
During the last years, Instagram has become an excellent tool to promote a brand and to attract clients and is used more often each time by small businesses with the desire to grow or generate engagement with their followers.
However, Instagram can be a double-edged platform! If not used correctly, it can be a waste of time and energy for your business.
Don’t waste time, avoid these mistakes in your next Instagram campaign!
Be it that you post little (or too much), that you are afraid of hashtags, or that you are simply trying to find the best way to get clients on social platforms, here I leave some advice that will help you avoid committing some mistakes and get the most profit available from your Instagram account.
1. Focusing too much on promoting products
Many companies tend to post too many photos of their products and give the impression that they are not presenting an interactive brand. They make the mistake of having too many calls to actions or make an incorrect use of hashtags.
If your audience would like to see a product catalog, they would visit a webpage, not an Instagram account. A user will simply ignore a post of this type.
What can you do to avoid this mistake?
Use Instagram to propel a brand the natural way, in a way that includes the audience more directly. Focus on building loyalty instead of simply bombarding your clients (followers, in this case) with products and promotions.
You can use customer/buyer people to perfect what type of content attracts more people to your brand. The customer/buyer people are in fact characteristics that represent your main group of clients; you should base these customer/buyer people on information obtained from a market research.
How do customer/buyer people help?
- They help you understand your audience and know why the people follow you on Instagram, are your followers looking for inspiration in your products or just follow you because they like your brand’s spirit?
- The information obtained from the investigations of customer/buyer people will give you ideas of possible contents and publicity that may work with your audience.
- They help you find out who your target audience is and whom you should follow on Instagram.
2. Have an unconscious voice
Many brands with little experience in social networks can give the impression of trying too hard. We all know how this looks: too many memes, too many hashtags, post after post, etc.
Many businesses tend to have unnecessary and out-of-context posts. These posts give the impression of being “filler posts.”
Your followers expect to find information and inspiration about your brand when they follow you on Instagram. If you start uploading too many filler photos and it is very likely that several of your followers will click the “stop following” button.
What can you do to avoid this mistake?
The brands must work hard to develop a consistent “voice”. This voice favors your business and ensures that your content is always attractive to your clients. To reach this, consider doing the following:
- Read your clients’ feedback make a quick online poll asking: What type of posts are the ones that get more likes and which one has more comments? Are the comments just emoji or enunciations? Did the “joke” you wrote in the image’s caption have a positive result?
- Structure your brand’s voice and its tone and make it a part of your strategy. Make sure that all the people in charge of working in your social networks know and work by the voice and tone.
- Use your Instagram to take your clients backstage and show them the passion and dedication that there is in your business.
3. Ignore opportunities to generate leads
Instagram is a tool that can help you augment the renown of your brand, but it is also a tool that can help you generate income. Use the lead advertising publicity to offer something to your audience in exchange for information.
You can see an example of what I am talking about in the following image:
The lead generation is a goal that you can add to your Instagram strategy when your brand has no direct sells, for example, if you sell something intangible or if your product has a long-sell cycle.
There are still no statistics available with base in the lead generation thanks to Instagram ads, but if Facebook has increased its business sells, don’t doubt that Instagram will, too. Mazda got 5x more sells and a marketing strategy cost 85% lower thanks to Facebook ads.
What can you do to avoid this mistake?
To begin the lead generation through advertising on Instagram you must follow these steps:
- Think of the audience you want to reach with your ad, Instagram offers a way to choose the target audience easily.
- Don’t forget that it is a visual platform in which the ads show up in the main windows of the users. Make sure your ads are good quality images and they are visually attractive.
4. Not using paid advertising
If you do not use paid aids, you are letting go a great opportunity. With it, you can choose your target and just show it to people that may find it relevant. So if you are going to make for example a garage sale, you can have as target an audience that is located in your city.
We can use the image advertisement from Primark as an example of a mistake.
Since this ad (below) is not showing a good image since the moment, it mentions the geographic information in which the product can be bought.
Instead of this, you should filter your target audience with Instagram’s paid publicity, choosing exactly the countries where the product is sold, instead of having to write it in the footnote of your image.
What can you do to avoid this mistake?
Use Instagram’s paid publicity to limit and focus your promotional activity towards your target audience. Focus only on the clients that you think will respond in a positive way towards your ad.
If you wish to grab your audience’s attention towards a specific product, consider using the new price tag options, these tags will allow you to link a publicity to a specific page, in which all the specific product-related information will be.
5. Don’t post frequently
Finding the perfect balance between having a regular presence and posting too often is difficult. Your goal in Instagram should be to engage with your clients and be in their minds without giving the feeling that you are doing spam. Avoid posting the same boring image every day, focus on making your content attractive.
Focus on finding the perfect quantity. Don’t forget that your image should be attractive and must include a Call-to-Action that is focused on selling.
What can you do to avoid this mistake?
Having a good performance on Instagram is based in finding the perfect balance, don’t be afraid of trying different strategies to find what best works for your business.
These are some things that may help you find the perfect balance:
- Develop a content calendar for your Instagram and program the schedules in which you are going to post.
- Let your employees participate in your social network strategy, a good way to dehumanize your brand is by lending the company’s account to an employee the whole day, once a week.
- Have a big picture programmed for your content and categorize what images should be posted each day.
- Apply tests A/B playing with the days, the schedules, you’re your content, for example, post an image of your product offering a discount in the middle of a week and post a similar one in the weekend, at the end of the day measure which one got a better response from the users.
6. Don’t compromise with the audience
Another common mistake that brands do is adopt the “bombard and run” attitude. Don’t think of your Instagram audience as passive clients, think of them as active participants that need to be engaged.
Make sure to commit to your followers by giving them likes, writing comments and following them. “Living” with them will help build in the users an interest towards your brand.
What can you do to avoid this mistake?
- Take your time to check your posts regularly, respond to the comments that they leave you and follow your engaged clients. It does not have to be every single day; twice a week should be fine.
- There are companies that upload photos of their clients, of their events, and of any change in their products. This type of gratefulness gives out a good impression towards the brand and focuses on building loyalty with your followers.
Now is the best time to leave your mark on Instagram
There will be no better moment to invest in your Instagram presence. The network by itself already has a huge number of users that would easily follow you if you do it correctly.
It may be a little intimidating to start to apply these advices, but once you start avoiding these mistakes, it will ease up more the implementation of your own strategies each time.
You have a potent tool in your hands that can help you build a group of followers loyal to your brand, don’t keep doubting, and profit from it!
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About the Author
Andrea Bates – Passion for marketing, travels and party. I am currently part of QuestionPro’s market team creating partnerships, webinars and campaigns, of course, after some few cups of coffee ;). When I am not working, you will see me learning about films.