So you’re on Instagram. You post some amazing photos. You complement gorgeous sunset shots and mouth-watering food photos with witty captions. You even engage in the occasional banter with fellow Instagram users. However, your follower count is still lower than you want it to be – in fact, you’re losing followers quicker than a B787 take-off at Tullamarine. Why?
Your shot of a cronut-topped chocolate milkshake in a sturdy mason jar looks fantastic, especially bathed in natural light soaking through the window against a clean white background. Upon seeing said photo, your users might smile and double-tap the photo. Post the same image (or a variation of it, rather) more than once though and they are more likely to think ‘meh.’ Do it often enough and it will annoy even the most patient of Instagram users at which point, they might even unfollow you.
Solution
Don’t post the same thing twice in a row. Or at all. If you really want the world to see more than one amazing shot of your freakshake, then at the very least spread the postings out by a week or so.
Hashtags are useful on Instagram, particularly for businesses. Not only can they can generate more traffic to your page, they can also be used to target particular market segments. Too many hashtags, however, spoil the broth. People will notice it and think you’re trying a bit too hard – and that’s not the image you want to convey to the world.
Solution
Use hashtags but make sure your hashtags list isn’t longer than your caption. Less than 10 is ideal.
You might want to direct your Instagram users to a witty article that you’ve written on your website or get them to like your Facebook page – all valid reasons for you to post on a link on Instagram. Unfortunately, links just don’t work on Instagram. People can’t click on them and no one’s going to bother manually typing an entire URL onto their phone browser – it’s too much work for them.
Solution
Avoid links. If you really MUST direct users to a link, pop it on the website field in your Instagram bio and tell your users to ‘click on link in bio.’ It’s the only place on Instagram where users can click through easily.
As with any social media platform, people on it can be nasty. If you’re running a business account, you might find the odd negative comment written by a disgruntled customer or you may simply receive a nasty comment from an internet troll. It is often easy to retaliate – DON’T.
Solution
Instagram is a public forum so everyone can read what you say. Resist the urge to fight back; you want your users to see you as someone who’s dignified rather than a bully. If possible, see if you can deal with the offender in a private message.
We hope these four tips will assist you in reducing the flow of unfollowers. Still not working? Then perhaps it’s time you lay off the sunset photos – only kidding!