6 Mistakes Your Business Might Be Making on Instagram
Have you noticed a dip in your company’s followers, or has growth been stagnant for a long period of time? Check out the most common mistakes we’ve seen among businesses on Instagram, and learn about how you can make small changes for big results!
1. #Hashtag everything (or none at all).
Hashtags are a powerful tool in the Instagram world to get your business and product seen by people who are currently looking at the hashtag you include. This can create a conundrum for those who include hashtags that are unrelated to the brand or photo. All of your hashtags need to be relevant so that people looking for brands related to a hashtag (such as #shopsmall) will find you and check out your business.
On the other end, don’t avoid hashtags all together. Hashtags have become an essential part of searching for the consumer and can help your business connect with your target market. It is what makes content easy to find, and people use them to find new accounts to follow often, especially now that Instagram allows users to follow hashtags.
2. An unshoppable feed.
Instagram has come a long way from its early days. Businesses now have the opportunity to tag products featured on posts, making it easier to sell to consumers. Consider using the platform Shopify, an ecommerce platform that enables retailers to send customers directly from an Instagram post to a product on their website.
3. It takes too long for consumers to check out.
Let’s say you have product tagging and proper hashtags down pat; but how easy or difficult is it for your customers to check out? The #1 rule to selling online is to make the shopping experience as easy as possible. Valued most highly among mobile customers who have less patience and smaller screens, consider from their perspective how easy it is for them to shop from your Instagram page.
4. Sales take priority over great content.
Before shopping and selling, Instagram has historically been a social platform for users to post memes or funny photos, share powerful message or include inspirational quotes. Companies can often annoy their customers by making pages all about selling product.
In addition to including photos and messages that encompass your brand voice, consider hiring a photographer, a videographer and social media manager. If you can’t afford to hire people to help you, study up on how to take better shots with your phone, and learn more about telling your story rather than selling.
5. Ignoring Instagram stories and IGTV.
Many businesses often skip over using Instagram stories along with IGTV, despite it being a engaging channel to retain your customers and get new followers. Use this feature demonstrate brand personality, show love to followers and ambassadors and create content that people actually want to watch to keep them coming back (or even click over to your profile or website!).
6. Not posting enough.
Why create a profile on Instagram if you aren’t going to update it with engaging content on a regular basis? When you ignore your profile, customers may assume that your business is not thoughtful about making real connections on the platform.. Take the time to post between once a day to every couple of days. It keeps you in the forefront of their mind and they are more likely to engage with you.
Notice that you’ve been using one of these top six mistakes more often than you would like? Follow along on our Instagram for tips and tricks on social media or contact us for social media assistance!