6 Instagram Marketing Strategies Your Brand Needs to Avoid

These days, most articles talk about the best strategies to employ when doing Instagram marketing. What they fail to mention are all the pitfalls you need to steer clear of when you’re starting.

Loads of new businesses are signing up on Instagram to market their products and services. The allure of having millions of customers out of the 1 billion Instagram users is simply too good to pass on. 

The goal of each business is to outdo the competition and make a profit from sales. This has led to the creation of various IG marketing strategies—some terrible, some excellent. This step could also help your Instagram profile stand out from the crowd.

Since it's important to avoid willfully harming your brand with poor strategies, this article will look at a few of such Instagram strategies. They can negatively impact your marketing efforts, so here's exactly what to avoid:
 

1. Scam SEO companies

Using search engine optimization (SEO) companies or agencies for your Instagram marketing isn't entirely a bad idea. It only becomes bad when you get to leave it all to the SEO company; that is not a great idea. You need to carry out hands-on reviews when it comes to content that goes up on your Instagram page. 

While SEO services could be all you need to build a great website, you don't need them for your Instagram account. If you're planning on improving the visibility of your brand's Instagram page, then opt for social media marketers and SMM tools like Stormlikes. Marketers will be able to use their particular set of skills to create a great strategy for your Instagram marketing.

The visibility and ranking algorithm of social networks and search engines vary, so each platform requires different approaches. When your goal is to generate great content for your brand's IG account, you're the best option available because of your insightful knowledge of your brand.
 

2. Quantity over quality

You may think consistently putting out content is the best way to game the system and get engagements, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Instagram algorithms are programmed to hide such posts from users when it becomes too frequent with fewer engagements.

For instance, if you have just 5 likes on a post per 100 followers an hour after putting it up, Instagram sees this as poor content and shows it to fewer people.

The opposite is true. If your post gets lots of engagements in the first few minutes or hours, the algorithm sees it as content users will want to engage with. Thereby, it shows the post to more people. 

Don’t just churn out content because you want to fill your page with photos. Quality over quantity should be a rule that guides you in this instance, and most of digital marketing. You could also annoy your followers by posting too frequently and clogging their feed.
 

3. Too many hashtags

Using hashtags is one of the best ways to improve your reach on Instagram, leading to higher engagement rates. But the drawback comes when you decide to use way too many. You may think you’re doing yourself a world of good but instead, you may be shooting yourself in the foot.

The Instagram hashtag limit is 30 per post. Studies have shown that the posts that receive the most engagements are those which have just 7-9 hashtags, all depending on the follower count. 

Try to use hashtags that are relevant to your business and not just those tags your feel are trending the most. Hashtags help categorize your posts for your target market to find you, so you need to be particular when choosing them.

Besides, there's the option of creating a brand hashtag. E.g., PrettyLittleThing uses #PLT in all their posts to make sure it's associated with them.
 

4. Joining Instagram follow and like groups

These are groups of Instagram users who band together to increase their followings and help create impressions on each other’s pages. While it may seem like a smart idea at first, joining groups to boost your engagements artificially is not a good idea.

These groups will get you nothing more than an impression and at the end of the day, all you would have done is skew your analytics. Data that could have helped you create a killer strategy. 

The IG algorithm, as we know it, shows your posts to those who engage with you the most. This means your group sees all your posts first, which is useless because they aren’t interested in buying anything. In the long run, all you are left with are just impressions.

Stormlikes, on the other hand, helps your Instagram posts grow your audience by providing you with likes from real people. This fosters social proof without hurting your analytics data. You can try it for yourself.
 

5. Using bots

Not everyone has the resources to manage a social media account and run various strategies. That's why some brands turn to third-party sites and bots to help them manage their accounts by liking posts, leaving comments, and following user accounts.

It's easy to notice when you’re interacting with bots as they can't emulate that natural, personal feel. This is something your followers are bound to notice, and when they do, you can say goodbye to their patronage and engagements.
 

6. Similar and predictive posts 

Being too similar in your posts can get boring to your followers. You keep churning out the same content every day and your followers are bound to get tired. While consistency is important, you need to make sure your posts aren't monochromatic and repetitive.

Once in a while, try to introduce a new type of content your followers may find interesting. Posts with specific knowledge or even quizzes can give your Instagram page the lift you're looking for. You don’t need to play it safe all the time, try to experiment and learn what works best for you.
 

Above and beyond

These are just some of the few pitfalls you need to avoid when considering an Instagram strategy for your business. There are some other things you shouldn't do with a business account on Instagram.

These include:
 

• Having an incomplete profile. This tells your customers that you aren’t ready to do business and it comes off as unprofessional. Have your profile set and ready to go right off the bat. 
   

• Taking a stand. While social justice causes are important, be careful what you lend your voice to. You could end up alienating a whole faction of your followers with the wrong post.
   

Understanding the dos and don’ts of Instagram marketing will help boost your follower count and level of engagement. The next step is to rectify the harmful moves you may be making, then experiment, and try to stick to what works best for your brand.