4 Reasons You're Not Growing on Instagram
Every time I open Instagram, I can’t help but notice some common mistakes that many small business owners, influencers, and content creators tend to make.
In this post, I am here to talk about these mistakes and how they could be hurting your Instagram profile in the long run.
Organic Instagram growth is definitely not as easy as it was a few years ago. The algorithm changes every day and is constantly restricting overall organic reach.
HOWEVER, this definitely doesn’t mean that there is no more room for growth on the platform. Trust me.
You can still grow your profile, and get more followers and engagement from people in your target audience.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
Mistake #1: THINKING THAT FOLLOWERS ARE THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS
This is definitely the mistake I see the most.
Every day, I see small business owners and content creators who only have one goal in mind: growing their follower count. This is an easy trap to fall into - trust me, everyone has been here.
Of course, seeing that you have 10k followers is more satisfying than having 100 followers. But this is just a vanity metric. More followers ≠ more success.
If you are thinking about buying followers or joining “follow for follow” groups, I'm begging you to stop immediately!!
Let me explain to you why this would be useless, and potentially damaging for your business/brand.
First of all, your engagement will automatically decrease. The number one thing Instagram penalizes you for is a low engagement rate. If you have dead accounts following you, they will never interact with your posts. Therefore, your engagement rate will begin to plummet.
Second, you won't be followed by people in your target audience, or are even interested in what you do.
Mistake #2: USING BROAD HASHTAGS
Let’s move on and talk about another Instagram mistake.
If you think that you need to use bigger hashtags in order to be seen by more people, think again.
You will rarely reach new people if you use super large hashtags, especially if your account is small. There are so many new posts every minute, and your post will not be noticed.
But that’s not all: these broad hashtags are so generic that won’t even help you reach your ideal audience.
Smaller hashtags don’t equal smaller reach. In fact, your reach with small hashtags will only increase!!
Focus on researching hashtags in your niche between 10k and 200k. These are small enough to prevent your post from disappearing fast, but also big enough to reach a good amount of people.
I suggest making a list of 100 relevant hashtags and rotating them frequently!
Mistake #3: NOT USING ALL OF THE TOOLS THAT INSTAGRAM OFFERS
Instagram is not just about posts in your feed. Over the years, a lot of features have been added: stories, videos, reels, guides, and lives. Why leave growth on the table by avoiding some of these tools?
First of all, stories are perfect to interact with your audience on a daily basis, when you don’t want to post on your feed. It’s a tool that helps you communicate with your audience, thanks to the interactive polls, question boxes, stickers, and so on.
Use these tools to connect with your audience, ask them what they want to see, how you can make your content better. Feedback is the best way to create better content and grow your account.
Video posts and reels are also great tools you need to incorporate weekly.
As you already know, each social media platform has the goal to keep the user as long as possible on the platform.
Videos are perfect for that purpose, therefore, if you add some videos to your current strategy, there is a good chance your engagement will increase.
If you're feeling extra brave, try doing an IG Live! It’s the most direct and genuine way to connect with your audience. No editing, just you providing value to your followers, talking about relevant topics in your niche.
Mistake #4: BEING INCONSISTENT
If you want to have a solid strategy, you need to post consistently. If you are making this Instagram mistake because you feel overwhelmed and you don’t know what to post, don’t worry.
You don’t need to post every day in order to keep your audience interested, a few times a week are perfectly fine. The point is that your audience needs to know when you post. It doesn’t matter if it’s seven days a week or three.
Dig into your analytics and find out the best time and days to post, and then decide how many times a week you want to post. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. If you can only be consistent with three posts a week, do it.
You can use Instagram stories to interact with your audience during the days you don’t post. Stories are such a powerful tool to interact with your audience in a genuine way, with some raw, genuine content.
I strongly believe that posting powerful and targeted content a few days a week is better than posting random content every day.
CONCLUSION
At the end of the day, the most important thing is to create valuable content that speaks to the right people, but it’s always good to know which mistakes you should avoid from the beginning.
