Instagram is about as good as they come for advertisement.
As a business owner, marketer, or freelance worker, you'll surely know the importance of having good avenues for your existing and potential customers to easily reach you to make a purchase or other inquiries.
That is obviously why you already have an Instagram account, to increase your brand awareness. Nonetheless, having an account where you post regularly is usually not enough to stand out amongst your peers and competition.
To maximize the effectiveness of one of the most potent marketplaces on the Internet, you will have to be more strategic.
Here are 5 things you absolutely should stop doing as they're adversely affecting your brand;
Five Instagram marketing mistakes you need to stop making in 2021
1. Posting basic or poor quality visuals
Unlike Facebook and WhatsApp that perform a lot more functions than simply video and photo sharing, Instagram is purely visual.
Success is all, or at least majorly, based on your ability to stimulate both the brains and eyes of your viewers.
Thus, posting anything of poor quality possible (especially on your feed) could only be detrimental to you as they will scroll past it without even a second glance.
Instagram is filled with amazing photos and videos of substantial-quality, and they're very easily accessible. So if you want to stand out or at least be on par with the competition, you'll have to get a phone with a good camera, buy a camera, or hire a professional.
2. Bad captions and descriptions
As stated previously, though Instagram is a massive market for all kinds of products, the competition for customers is fierce and highly cut-throat. This is why you should use all of Instagram's tools.
The description isn't there for you to tell us how your day is going or the latest brilliant thought that occurred to you, your description has to have substance.
Short-line descriptions are not acceptable with the latest updates to the IG database; thousands of other related products now require you to be more unique with your descriptions.
Your customer should know exactly what they're looking at, its variants (if any), and why they should buy it from you—all rolled up in one description.
3. Purchasing fake followers or engagements
First, this is a very bad idea! Not only is it not sustainable in the long haul, buying fake likes, follows, or comments rob you of the most valuable asset on social media—genuine engagement.
This is an asset on its own and you lose the chance to slowly build a following for your brand by depending on bots and "marketing companies" for your engagement.
Also, Instagram is always releasing new policies for their platform which sternly punishes accounts caught performing such actions.
And besides, customers usually see through fake brand authority. It even worsens your sales no matter how good your product is or how beneficial it will be to them. Once they sense deception, you've lost them.
Instead of buying fake engagements, try to improve how engaging your content is. You can post valuable visuals more regularly and always look to see what you can do to improve your brand visibility and engagement on the platform (and beyond). You can also try our service to get real likes from real Instagrammers for free!
4. No associated online store
If you're just starting your business or it's still in its growing phase, it's perfectly okay to set up your presence on Instagram. When your business begins to mature with a considerable customer base, however, it's best to have an online store.
Having a virtual shop (a website, Amazon seller page, etc.) gives your business a more official and professional look—building trust and boosting sales in return.
Most customers don't mind spending on what they want, they just want to feel safe giving you their hard-earned money and be assured that they'll get value for their money.
5. Bad support system
A good customer service and support system is the backbone of any thriving business. You just can't do without it.
But for some reason, a lot of businesses seem to undervalue it and put little to no effort into providing reliable support for their customers.
Several times, a customer needs help with a product/service they just ordered from your store. They may also want to make a purchase and need your assistance in making an informed choice, but when they see how unresponsive your business is, they'll take their money elsewhere.
There are many ways you can provide customer service for your business without breaking the bank or twisting an arm. A Facebook page, website, or email linked to your business account could go a long way to increasing sales and retaining customers, so don't ignore it.
Tips for boosting your engagement rates on Instagram
Those are 5 major reasons why a lot of business accounts on IG lose visibility and valuable engagement from potential buyers.
And now that you at least know what to avoid, here are a few tips to get you started on using your Instagram business account the right way:
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Use hashtags properly; remember that it's not just about how many they are, but how specific. The relevance to your post has to be there; if not, they'll be ignored.
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Stay active and constantly engage viewers. Posting quality content is a surefire way to get more engagement on Instagram. You can use tools like IGTV and Live to introduce more dynamism to your posts.
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If you have a particular post you would like to have more engagements on, you can make use of Instagram pod groups. They let other viewers like and comment on each other's posts just to boost their visibility. This can be a bit sketchy sometimes, so tread carefully.
Final thoughts
As a marketplace, the effectiveness of Instagram for business growth cannot be overstated. Learning to use the right IG tools can only be beneficial for you.
Always remember that Instagram is not a place for you to express yourself. You're trying to sell a product or service; thus, you should treat your business account like a brick-and-mortar store.
