Hey Active Rain!
Looking to grow your instagram following? Well below are some mistakes that you should avoid.
1. Buying Followers
I understand the appeal. Having more followers make you seem more legitimate...but follower count is just a vanity metric. All those followers mean nothing if you aren't closing any deals with them. It also looks suspicious if you have 10,000 followers but only 30 likes per post.
2. Using Too Many Hashtags
Hashtags is the strategy that marketers will tell you to use, when a marketer doesn't know how to use Instagram themself. If the majority of people who use hashtags are doing it so they can be found, then who is actually doing the searching? It's like living in a city where everybody is a musician, but nobody is a fan. Hashtags help, but are not the end-all solution to being found on Instagram.
3. Posting Regularly, but Not Engaging Regularly
It's important that you keep a consistent posting schedule on Instagram. However we have to remember that social media is 2-way communication, not 1-way broadcasting (like radio or TV). That means we can interact with our followers and non-followers. You'll find a lot more success if you like, comment, and follow other people's content on the platform. This is more effective at being discovered than hashtags, because you are actively notifying people that you exist - and they are more likely to follow you if you area already interacting with them. As opposed to just existing in a hashtag feed amongst hundreds of others.
4. Never Using Instagram Stories
This is where you can show off your personality! Instagram stories supercharge your engagement, and can get people jump right into your direct message inbox. Instagram stories is where the best conversations can start. And if you are good at having a conversation (who are we kidding, you are!) - then it'll be easy to convert a follower into a lead - or at least sign them up for a long-term nurturing email campaign.
5. Using IGTV
There is nothing inherently wrong with Instagram stories. Since the feature was released, it's gotten better. However if you are going to put effort into creating video content, you should instead post it to Facebook or YouTube. Facebook will get you high engagement in a short amount of time. It's great for open houses, listing videos, etc. YouTube will rank on Google, and can lead to new business while you sleep. IGTV is lacking a few of those benefits.
Did you know PropertyPulse can do Instagram ads now?
