Instagram is one platform that has surprisingly emerged to be so successful that it has become second most popular social media platform, followed by Facebook. In fact, currently this photos sharing platform has more than 700 million users and gets more than 4.2 million likes on its posts every day.

And since Instagram has opened its floodgates for the businesses to advertise on the platform, entrepreneurs and marketers are jumping on the opportunity to appear on the newsfeed of their target customers. And why wouldn’t they? A study conducted at the end of 2016 claimed that Instagram has 20x more engagement rate as compared to Twitter and 15x more as compared to Facebook.

However, another true fact is that there are many businesses who are failing to convince the proactive and highly engaged user base of Instagram to click on their advertisements. And not just small brands or startups but big names across the industries like Coca-Cola, Victoria Secret and McDonalds apparently also fail to entice Instagram users.

So, what mistakes are these brands or you could be making which are making you lose the game and not take benefit of one of the fastest growing social media platforms to its full potential?

Let’s discuss the common mistakes that brands make while advertising on Instagram so that you have a checklist for next time about what not to do.

#1 You are Not Being Unique

Remember, there are lots of brands on Instagram trying to get the attention of the users (some having same products/services and target audience as yours) just as you compete with so many brands in the market. So what is it that you are showing different in the pictures you post for your audience which will differentiate you from other brands.

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#2 You Have Bad Timing

When you post on any social media platform, the timing matters a lot. Though Instagram’s algorithm is relevance based rather than being time based (which implies that it shows posts in the news feed of the users on the basis of their interests and relevance rather than the time at which they were posted), you still need to be watchful that you post at times when people check their social media apps the most.

 #3 Your Content is Not Focused

When you are posting advertisements on Instagram, those are obviously going to be infographics. Every user scrolls through his feed and stops to look at something carefully only if it catches his eyes. The more you put efforts to ensure that your content is to the point and focused, the more will be the chances for the user to stop and check your post.

#4 The Pictures are Not High Quality

Instagram is a photo sharing app and people who use this social media tool are there just to check out the images that are posted by different users or companies. Thus, you have to make sure that you are only posting originally clicked photos which are shot is proper lightning and in high resolution. Keep the editing minimum as that could make your image look fake.

#5 You Don’t Post Frequently Enough

Most of the brands think that posting just once or twice in a day is just enough. However according to a Union Metric’s study , the brands which posted once in every hour each day witnessed an engagement rate which was above average on all of their contents (read posts or advertisements).

 

#6 You Are Misusing Hashtags

It is very important that you understand the significant roles which hashtags play on Instagram. Using too many or too few or irrelevant ones – everything can prove to be disadvantageous for your brand. So, make sure that you are not just including the right amount of and relevant hashtags but also short ones because those are the words with which users search on Instagram.

#7 Your Business Account is Private

It doesn’t really make any sense to keep your business account on Instagram private because the entire idea of creating an account in the first place is to let users see what you are posting. If you would keep your account private, the users will not be able to view your past posts and know if they should be following you or not.

Summing It Up

With the increasing level of Instagram’s popularity, it is only going to grow from here. The intriguing factors about the picture sharing platform are that it’s visual, it grabs undivided attention from the viewers/users and it keeps the users interested and hooked to the platform with its continuous fun additions and features.

Yes, it requires some investment but if you would have focused and creative campaigns designed for the platform then it can really get you more conversions than any other social media platform. You should know that Instagram users prefer to shop online more than Facebook users, thus making it a perfect platform for you to generate business from.

Just display as many images as possible and post as frequently during the day as you can on your account, follow the users to get them to follow you back, use proper and relevant hashtags, use original and high quality images, respond to your users’ comments and queries promptly and you can grow your customer base to a huge extent from this social media platform alone. So, get started and make sure you have the tips written above as a handy checklist with you to ensure more probability of success.