Five Mistakes You Have To Stop Doing on Instagram
Working on dozens of Instagram accounts since I started as a social media manager in 2011, I’ve had my fair share of mistakes when it came to Instagram. This helped me grow more and become better in what I do - that coupled with experimenting with my own account and creating strategy docs for dozens of small businesses and helping with full campaigns for big brands.
I’ve created this list of the top five mistakes I see small businesses doing on Instagram (and some I have done in the past too) and what you can do about it.
Let’s get started?
Five Mistakes You Should Avoid Doing on Instagram For Your Business
1. Not knowing who your target audience is
If there was something that was hard-wired into my brain working with Nestle and P&G it was that - you need to get as specific as you can with the people you want to reach. And yes, this is applicable for small businesses and service entrepreneurs too. You just can’t go around and target everybody (else you want to say adios to ad money or to all your efforts).
I know it can be tempting to skip this step or that you feel like what you offer is for everybody, but…for you to communicate what your product and brand are all about, for you to get those conversions, for you to connect more - you need to define who you are talking to.
What can you do about this? Start at your core, ask yourself who you want to use your product or who you want to help with your service. Oftentimes, it is reflective of who you are and where you were before.
2. Not having an Instagram Strategy
“I just wanted to start posting - for the sake of posting” sound familiar? This was me too when I started my Instagram account way back. I just wanted to have an Instagram account. But then what happened, you might ask, I just left it there went back and forth, changed posting habits and wasted time not being prepared.
Will you might feel like it can be too much if you go at it with your business’ IG with a strategy, know that when you do this, you are helping your business and yourself so much more than just posting for the sake of posting.
What can you do about this? Start with thinking about what Instagram will play into the grand scheme of things for your business. Will it be your main way of attracting new people to your business? Will it be to build a community? Will it be acting as your portfolio for the service you are providing? Is your audience even on the platform?
3. Not having a Clear Content Strategy
This goes hand in hand with number 1 and number 2. If you don’t know who your target audience is and what your Instagram Strategy is - how will you have a clear content strategy? This also means having a clear structure of how many times you will post and what content pillars you should have. You can’t just post for the sake of posting. It has to come from knowing what your audience needs to see and why you are using Instagram.
What can you do about this? Sit down after identifying your target audience and what Instagram’s role is for your business. After that, get into the mindset of your target audience and identify what they would want to see for you. As an example, I am offering help to small businesses and service entrepreneurs. I know that they are getting frustrated with posting and not seeing results and are getting confused with Pinterest. So my sample content strategy will have content buckets to tackle:
Education - about the two platforms
Entertainment - through memes or reels that can help me relate with what they are going through
Inspire - through testimonials or sharing my journey or even quotes
Convert - via IG story content and offers
4. Not optimizing your Bio
This was another mistake I had when I went back to focusing on my Instagram page. It wasn’t optimized to help me get discovered by my ideal audience. I just used my old handle (dnomadmom), didn’t put keywords in my name, and left my bio at just mompreneur.
You may ask, why should you even bother updating your bio. You need to - to help you get discovered, get follows, and visits for your landing page.
What can you do about this? Carefully look at your bio and start optimizing by:
Making sure your name is in there - people would want to know who the face is behind the brand and not just the logo
Putting the keyword in your name
Making it clear who you want to work with
Adding a clear call to action to your profile
5. Not engaging with other accounts
Are you posting and ghosting? Are you scheduling all of your content and not even bothering to engage with other accounts before your post gets published or even replying to comments? This is such a big no-no. Remember, Instagram is a social platform and you need to be social.
No, this doesn’t mean Engagement Groups on Facebook or Engagement Pods on Facebook Groups or even on Telegram. What I mean is honest to goodness engagement with accounts in your niche and related to your niche.
What can you do about this? Carve out time to engage for your Instagram account. I know things can get hectic running your business, but 20-30 minutes can do so much vs not engaging at all. To get started, you should list down top accounts in your niche that you should engage with daily and smaller accounts with whom you want to be part of your community. Regularly engage with them and earn their engagement back (aka not just leaving emoji comments but comments that matter).
Do you feel like you need more help with your Instagram account? Can’t quite figure out where to get started to help you promote your business?
Which Instagram mistake are you guilty of? And will you be ready to work on it to help your business succeed on the platform?
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Hi, I’m Denice!
In 2019, I decided to leave my corporate job as the Digital and PR Manager for a globally known brand to start my own business. My goal? To help service-entrepreneurs thrive through a holistic Social and Pinterest approach.
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