Today we will talk about what not to do on Instagram under any circumstances if you want to get new followers. If you want to learn how to attract a new audience or become a famous blogger, or just have loyal followers, you should read this article.
Mistake # 1: Thinking that new followers will find you naturally
It is wrong to think that followers will come to you on their own only if you make good content. Maybe in 2015, it worked like that, but not now. The only exception is when you have a source of followers from another channel. For example, the mass media often publish articles about you. Maybe you have a popular YouTube channel, and people come to your Instagram from there. But in all other cases, nothing will happen if you only create cool content with zero promotion.
Do you know what is likely to happen? After a while, you will get tired and not see any feedback because you do not have an audience. After all, if it does not grow, you will lose interest in Instagram and probably quit.
Instagram is not the same as YouTube. YouTube gives you organic traffic, organic views, but only if you know how to work with it. Instagram does not provide this — you must get followers in different ways: via promotion, mutual PR, targeting, or other methods.
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Mistake # 2: Starting a promotion without preparing your profile
What happens if you purchase promotion from some big bloggers or even small ones? You pay money, and new people come to your profile, but they do not know you yet — they have only heard about you, for example, in a promotion video. In 15 or 30 seconds, they have formed some idea of you. When they come to your page, there is no complete picture: it is not clear who you are, what you are about, why people should follow your blog.
Let us remind you what should be in the profile header: what the blog is about and what benefits it brings.
Mistake # 3: Writing about yourself in a veiled way
Cristiano Ronaldo’s profile is named just “Cristiano Ronaldo.” He does not need to explain who he is. But you need to explain who you are. Because when you start promoting, people come to you after the promotion or mutual PR, and they have about 5-10 seconds to become interested in you. Or rather, you have 5-10 seconds to make them stay on your page so that they don’t have to guess what this strange profile header means. Therefore, be as clear as possible about what you write in the header and what you publish on your Instagram profile.
Mistake # 4: Creating poor quality visual content
Another mistake is to create poor-quality visual content. For example, if you are a designer or produce creative furniture or your key topic is fashion or traveling lifestyle. You have to create good visual content.
Mistake # 5: Writing bad posts
Making beautiful visual content and launching a promotion without learning how to write good posts within the overall blog concept is another mistake. If you create cool visual content, people will follow you, but what is going to happen after a while? If your texts are about nothing or are boring, and there is no sense, or the posts are just about everything and not within your concept, people will start unfollowing you.
You need to get followers in all aspects: visual part, concept, ideas, and texts. Don’t think that this is only projected onto personal accounts, the same works for commercial accounts.
Mistake # 6: Focusing on one thing
The next mistake is to make either only posts or only stories. If you create interesting and engaging stories, you also spend resources on that. But if, for some reason, there are no posts, what happens? Bloggers lose most of their traffic because Instagram distributes all traffic to stories and posts and a little more to IGTV, but the main thing is still stories and posts. You can’t prioritize one thing; you have to create all types of content.
Mistake # 7: Not checking analytics
Remember, you need growth; this is the most important indicator. Your numbers must grow. If the percentage grows — it is even more important than basic indices — that is what you need to see that your account is developing. And Instagram also needs to see your account evolve to give you more reach. It means that you need to understand the key indices of Instagram — you should see if a response to a particular topic evokes in the audience, what calls to action or visual content evoke a response.
Mistake # 8: Checking only analytics
There is also a reverse mistake: often looking at numbers and panicking if something goes wrong. If the reach falls by 3% in stories, people panic because they have a strong connection between their income when promoting on Instagram, and if they block Instagram, that’s the end of the world. What can you do in this situation? For example, you can have different sources of income and be present on various platforms. This way, at least you don’t need to panic if the numbers are slightly sagging. There can be any reason for it: seasonality, an Instagram glitch, a post, or a story did not work, but this does not mean that everything is gone. Therefore, do not panic.
