Instagram has skyrocketed to success over the last 7 years and it's no surprise, it introduced a whole new visual platform that has become a mainstay since its creation. With such rapid growth, it's easy to get lost in the hype to make sure you're making the most out of it at a network marketer! It's easy to make Instagram mistakes, but we'll lay out what you need to avoid to grow your business through Instagram connections!
1. Not Having a Story
I don't just mean and Instagram story, but a story for your profile! Instagram, like every other social network, started as friends and family and expanded to business, it's important for your business, your brand, has a story behind it and to follow. Instead of your business is about how to collect leads to growing and making money, you want to make it about your business's 'life' and give them a reason to follow. To focus on the human factor, your business should look into what really describes itself, what ideals you hold true, and how you can represent this.
In a nutshell: share your brand story
Mark and Shanon are always posting about how crazy their days are, but also how much they love it because they get the freedom they need and want in their lives. Not only is their instagram account about their business, but about how they work together to help each other succeed.
2. Overdoing Brand or Product Posts
Why is this a mistake, take a look at mistake 1 - by sharing your product too much you lose your story and your audience! Your logo and your products don’t make up your business’ entire plot line, so they shouldn’t be the only focus of your feed. Show the behind of the scenes of the product, why you fell in love with it and want to share it and how you use it time and time again.
Hayley Hobson does a fantastic job of avoiding this Instagram mistake by periodically posting products but not ever in a promotional way, she always treats her posts as if she is talking directly to an old friend and with a little humor (just take a look at the punny joke in this post!).
3. Little Focus on Visual Content
We all know that this platform is made up of pictures and videos, so this Instagram mistake can seem a bit obvious, but constantly having quality images and videos is a challenge. Not only do you want clear images and videos, you need something that is going to grab your viewers eye. Take a look at any high follower count make-up artist and you'll see the difference between a thought out Instagram feed and throwing up any ole picture to keep your feed active.
Beyond image quality (because they can't nor do they need to all be picture perfect) you need them to match your brand colors, styles and feel. If you haven't settled on what your brand encompasses take a look at 3SS University, which will help you establish this and much more in just 4 weeks.
Emily Vavra's images could be taken on an iPhone or a DSLR (it doesn't matter because she looks gorgeous no matter what) and her images would ALWAYS be on point with her brand. Whether she's working out in the gym, sharing a motivational quote or speaking at a conference, her images seem to flow from one to the other.
4. Posting at the Wrong Time
Just as on Twitter and Facebook, you want to stay away from posting a lot of pictures in a row or not often enough. You want to have a consistent posting schedule, but also not overload them with images (that get filtered out of their view by Instagram's algorithm anyway). One great way to not post too many images at one time is by doing Instagram stories throughout the day, which is especially perfect for events or teasing your viewers with application use cases or new products. Just swipe left to take or upload an image or video (with fun filters and editing tools) and hit "+ My Story" to let your followers see a particular image or video for 24 hours.
If you find you aren't posting enough, jump onto trends like #MontivationMonday or #ThrowbacKThursday. Look no further than Sharon McDonald at Oils2Go to see what an active, but not overpowering feed looks like.
5. Writing an Essay for a Caption
Unless you do not have a website (which you should 100% be working for) you should not be writing multi-paragraph captions for your Instagram images! These long posts are really just mini-blog articles (something like 300-500 words) and will be doing your business more work on your website, gaining website traffic and building SEO value and sharing the link on Instagram than residing solely on Instagram. If you have a long message, recipe, workout, whatever the case may be, to post, consider putting it into a blog and sharing the link with one or two sentences on Instagram.
Brandy Sinoto knows how to pull you in with her images and keep you coming back for more without losing valuable contact in Instagram comments alone. You won't find her captions to be long, but instead asking you to act, whether in your own life or in joining one of her Facebook Live or in-person events
Every Instagram mistake leaves room for an Instagram improvement and for you to take your business even further on the platform. Take a look at where you can improve and start making better and new connections with your followers!