We all want a piece of the Instagram follower pie through the content we post and engaging other users. Sometimes, it seems like the results we expect are not happening. This may be due to unintended mistakes that harm our following like not scheduling posts, posting inconsistently, and not returning a follow. The latter which may be taken personally may not be the intent on your part but it will affect you nonetheless.
While there are several ways to gain a following on Instagram, it is similarly easy to find ways that can harm that following. There are periods of slow or no growth at all which may be an indicator that there may be something you are doing wrong but it may also just be a plateau for your account. Could it be that there are some mistakes you are making? Here are a few ways you may be doing more harm than good to your Instagram.
Not using hashtags
Hashtags are the GPS or the Google Maps of Instagram. If you want to find similar content and similar users, hashtags are often your answer without doing too much leg work. If you are ignoring the use of hashtags, you will have to do more work than necessary to locate a niche that works for you. Without understanding that niche, the content you create or reshare will miss the mark most of the time which will draw followers away from you.
For example, if you have a fitness business, you can use fitness hashtags to gauge follower interest and learn more about your audience. Hashtags will give you a better idea of your niche and while you may have up to 30 hashtags to use, you need to gauge what number is most appropriate for your audience. Some love many hashtags, some very few.
Not creating entertaining content
When you first got onto Instagram, you were probably drawn by some entertaining, interesting, and great quality content. Similarly, other users on Instagram seek the same kind of content. A lot of users are on the platform to binge on something interesting before getting back to their busy lives so they are drawn to content that hits that mark as fast as possible. You can get ideas from hashtags and other user-generated content rather than reinventing the wheel. Participating in popular hashtags will also make your content reach more users than creating your own content.
Not having a niche
When you join Instagram, the excitement may get you creating content for everybody but that is not how it works on there. There are over 1 billion users with very different tastes. The best way around this is to find a niche. A niche is a group of users with similar interests in the content shared on Instagram such as fitness and health and travel. Depending on what your interest is, you can look for a niche and use the content shared there or create your own similar content to draw followers to your page. Niches will narrow down your focus to a manageable group of users.
Posting too little
Since the newsfeed is always full of content and users are often on the app, it is better to post more often than less often. Posting too little will make your page a distant memory for most users and it shows a lack of consistency. People love pages that interact with them regularly and consistently which may be about one to three times a day.
Posting is like evidence of the heartbeat of your page so without it, users will think that page is dead or near dead. if you are pressed for time, it may be helpful to have a content plan and a schedule for posting that will allow automatic posting to your page without having to take you away from your busy work. It makes posting regularly much easier and keeps the engagement with followers consistent.
Conclusion
Instagram mistakes can make followers rethink their engagement with your page. If you are posting too little, posting broad content, avoiding hashtags, and creating boring content, users will go elsewhere. In order to get even more Instagram followers, it is better to steer clear of these but rather use them to your advantage. the fewer mistakes you make, the more followers will be drawn to your page and possibly, follow you.