Five Instagram Mistakes Which Lead to Social Media Marketing Failure

How is your Instagram for business strategy performing?  Has your business made the decision to start using Instagram in its social media marketing plans?  Whether you are experienced or just starting out with this photo-sharing social network, if your business makes these five Instagram mistakes, then you are setting yourself up for failure.

Subject Matter Matters

Does your business sell outdoor gear for camping, fishing and other outdoor activities?  If so, then why do you keep posting funny cat photos or memes with inspirational quotes?  Unless you have photos of cats fishing or relaxing by a campfire, then stop posting these irrelevant-to-your-brand images and start posting Instagram photos which are relevant to your business’s products, services and branding image.

Image is Everything

Are you posting brand-relevant photos but not seeing decent engagement from your followers?  Take a look at the quality of your Instagram photos and make sure that you are only posting high-quality images.  Failure to put an effort into the quality of your photos on any of your social networks (Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) not only discourages engagement, but it also reflects badly on your business.

#Don’tForgetAboutThese

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past few years, then certainly you have heard of the hashtag.  Most brands spend time thinking about a Twitter hashtag strategy, but they often forget to incorporate a hashtag strategy across all social networks.  Failure to create and utilise an Instagram hashtag strategy – for contests, promotions, events, etc. – is asking for social media marketing failure.

Hiding In Plain Sight

Do you have a hashtag strategy in place but don’t seem to be growing your Instagram follower count?  A huge exposure-killing mistake some businesses make is accidently setting their photos and videos to private.  Make sure to review your privacy settings to ensure your Instagram for business account isn’t hiding from potential customers and followers.

Number-Crunchers

Are you reviewing your social network analytics on your Facebook for business and other social channels to ensure your daily actions are producing effective online marketing results?  If you don’t do the same for Instagram, then you are making a big mistake.  Use an Instagram tool like Iconosquare (formerly Statigram) to discover important information such as the best time of day to post, the photo filters which deliver the most engagement, and how your Instagram hashtags are performing.

What Instagram mistakes have you noticed business making?  Share those mistakes and your Instagram tips in our comments below.