There’s no denying that Instagram’s popularity is on the rise; yet, there are a few common blunders that businesses make while promoting themselves on the platform. Since its introduction in 2010, the Facebook-owned app has become a firm favourite among both smartphone owners and advertisers. It’s no surprise that the popular social media app has amassed over 300 million users, given the channel’s appealing design and user experience.
What could be better for business promotion? Instagram’s level of activity is quite high compared to other well-known social media sites. About half of all app users spend an average of 21 minutes per day looking at content posted by their friends and favourite companies.
More good news: 86% of Interbrand’s 2014 Top 100 Brands (as ranked by Interbrand) not only had an Instagram account, but also actively used it, as shown by data from the Quarterly Instagram Network Study conducted by Simply Measured. That’s a whopping 71% rise over the previous year. Now that 2016 has begun, it will become clear that this pattern has persisted.
Avoid being too self-promotional.
In recent years, content marketing has skyrocketed in popularity. Creating and sharing information that is useful to a defined demographic is at the heart of content marketing. The more useful content your brand can provide, such as blog articles, white papers, video clips, and infographics, the more probable it is that people will grow loyal to your business.
Instagram, as a social media platform, plays a significant role in this content marketing strategy. While intelligent and timely product promotion is crucial, it may quickly become a distraction if Instagram is used only for that purpose. Self-promotional postings are a sign of laziness, boredom, and egotism. In fact, you may promote your business without resorting to tacky methods.
Put a premium on the visual quality of your work.
Breaking news: Instagram is primarily a visual platform. In all candour, this shouldn’t be too much of a shock. As a result, everything you post should be of the best possible quality.
Consider for a minute or two the most typical use of Instagram, because they are crucial. The typical user scans their feed in a matter of seconds. Attention is captured when something interesting appears. If not, the following picture is taken without any consideration for the ones skipped.
Instagram postings also tend to remain relevant for longer than those on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, according to the research. Producing a top-tier article for an individual user may need a little more critical thought and some hard work, but the advantages in the long run more than make up for the extra effort in the short term.
Try to be as consistent as possible with your posting schedule.
Consistency is one of the worst things you can do while marketing on Instagram. Instagram users should make it a priority to post frequently. In an ideal world, the images you post to your followers’ feeds would help them feel more connected to you and your company.
However, the loyalty of your brand to its audience will also be reflected in the regularity with which you update. Finding the sweet spot between output quantity and quality is the challenge here. If you have to choose between them and the user notices, you’ve gone too far and need to back off.
Leverage the influence of your current audience.
You shouldn’t resort to underhanded methods like buying followers just because you know they’re vital for your account’s growth. These are, to put it mildly, unethical methods that will hurt your efforts to create relationships with Instagram users.
Instead, keep things simple by capitalising on the people who are already following you to build an even stronger fan base. Confused? Don’t worry; it’s not hard to figure out. User-generated content (UGC) is one of the main reasons why social media is such an effective marketing strategy.
Concluding Remarks on Common Instagram Advertising Errors
Anyone may perform lousy work, but not everyone does wonderful work; those are famous words of Paul Simon. He makes a valid argument. Just as with anything else in life, if you aren’t fully committed to doing Instagram properly, there’s no use in doing it at all. What’s worse is that unattended accounts create emotional estrangement between businesses and their customers.
While this may seem overwhelming, please rest assured. If you and your team of marketing whizzes can avoid these common mistakes, you’ll have far more success with your Instagram marketing strategy.