Posted by Good content is simply putting love and creativity into the content as you do in your product or business as a whole. Instagram has so many features that allow you to explore your creative side and publish content for your varied audience.
For someone who prefers long-form content- it’s IGTV, Crisp video content- Reels, text in your captions, images on the feed, raw content on your stories, and more.
There are a bunch of things we read up around what we should be DOING on Instagram. Some of those I’ve put together earlier are-
- Tricks and tips to try on Instagram
- How to create and use Instagram highlights
- How to create and schedule Instagram stories
- Content Ideas for Instagram
- How to create Instagram Reels
Few people are telling us what we should avoid doing on Instagram.
Let’s take a look at 13 of these things?
1. Engaging too little with your audience
Creating content and scheduling posts is one side of the coin and looking at the published post, the engagement, and replying to each of the comments is the other side.
On Instagram, the latter is an important to-do in order to keep your account active. Being active by responding to comments plays a bigger role in Instagram algorithms.
So, the next time if you don’t know what to reply, you shouldn’t just leave it as is, maybe drop an emoji instead? That’s also equivalent to engaging on your end 😄
2. Buying followers
Instagram is a platform, where authentic connections are greater than the number that shows up on your profile. Buying likes and followers on Instagarm is equivalent to fraud and will do more harm to your brand than good. Your engagement is also based on the organic followers you’ve gained.
Instagram takes the fraudulent activity seriously and has taken steps to reduce inauthenticity. This could affect the security of your Instagram account and may also end up getting deleted from the platform.
3. Underestimating Captions
Putting out well-thought captions is super important and acts as a matchstick to set your engagement on fire. This is crucial when your image needs more explanation. It’s also noticed that posts with captions have higher engagement. You can ask a question, share an experience, put out a riddle, and then watch your comment section do the talking.
This simply means one should try to never post anything without a caption.
4. Sticking to only one type of content
Not making the most of Instagram features is one of the most common mistakes marketers make. It’s suggested to create different kinds of content using IGTV, Reels, Stories, Guides and Feed as well.
This makes your business account have something for everybody and also increases your reach within Instagram.
5. Skip proof-reading
We’re only human. So, mispelling misspelling something, missing a letter in a word or a word in a sentence happens to the best of us. Also, what may seem right to us may not be the best for your audience and this is why proof-reading content should not be skipped.
This also ensures your content is polished well before it’s out for the world to read.
6. Tagging too many people
Good content speaks for itself and tagging too many people on a post may lead to lesser visibility of the image or message you’re trying to convey. This is also slightly unprofessional and may seem like you’re clawing attention.
7. Adding non-clickable links in captions
Instagram is an image platform, that doesn’t allow any clickable links on any of the posts. The only clickable link allowed on Instagram is the one that you can add in the bio. And the newer creator/ small business features include adding a link to the store/ product.
Adding links in captions not only looks ugly but also does not serve the purpose of leading you to the right source. This is why it’s best to avoid adding links in captions and instead add a CTA (Call to Action) by directing your audience to check the link in the bio.
8. Publish UGC without credit
There may be times when we run out of content and bank on curated content from different authors or your users. While it may be okay to repost them, it’s wrong to publish them without proper attribution.
Publishing without credits could get you to violate copyrights or an infringement activity that may put you and your Instagram account on a hook.
9. Posting inconsistently
Posting occasionally may sometimes feel enough, but, this pattern makes your account inactive and affects your algorithms too. Similarly, posting too much isn’t the best way to go ahead and may come off spammy to your audience.
The two golden rules on Instagram are to be Authentic and Consistent.
For this, it’s best to plan your Instagram content calendar ahead of time and schedule it using a Scheduler like Crowdfire.
10. Using too many hashtags
Hashtags are one of Instagram’s features that is native to the app and works best on this platform. It focuses on bringing in content from around the world under a #hashtag making it relevant and giving it more visibility.
While it’s good to add hashtags on each of your Instagram posts, it’s not the best thing to go overboard with it.
The right way to use hashtags is to pick something very specific that resonates with your brand or you create a hashtag to kick off a campaign. This new hashtag could be you putting together a story specific to your niche or brand as a whole.
11. Prioritizing quantity over quality
Instagram is an image platform and it is only fair if you put all your love and efforts into ensuring you put great quality content — both aesthetically and while communicating.
Posting average content, low-quality images, blurred-out photos, or sketchy videos in order to be consistent and active may not be a good thing to do on Instagram.
It’s best to think your content through, explore editing tools, use apps to preview your grid, and then publish content as per Instagram’s standard size post.
12. Miss updating the bio
Bio’s go unattended on most Instagram accounts.
It is one of the most important features that help your business gain better engagement and exposure on the explore page.
While you already may have followers that know you or your business, growing your audience takes more than the people who already know you. For this, you must optimize your bio with the necessary keywords and hashtags for the best results. It should also give a visitor an idea of what your brand offers and its entire image in one glance. You must update the website, especially if you’d like to redirect them to more related content or get them to try your product or service.
13. Post something against IG guidelines
Instagram’s community guideline clearly mentions what is allowed and what’s not.
Images and videos with any sort of violence, hate speech, Intellectual property, portraying self-injury, spam, and illegal content is prohibited.
Publishing content that comes under any of these criteria can result in your account being disabled or even deleted completely.
That’s all folks! 🙌
With Crowdfire, you can find curated content, schedule your posts, engage with your audience, deep-dive into analytics and create custom reports. Try it for free.