Instagram Mistakes: Watch out for #6 – it can really get your account banned!

Want to start marketing your business on Instagram?

Then you need to know what actions to avoid.

Instagram can be a fantastic tool to reach new audiences and build engagement.

Especially with such a large pool of different people that use the app daily.

But if you’re a new business you might get confused with what is the best way to market your brand on the app.

Lately, Instagram has become overhyped by business coaches and marketing gurus telling you:⠀⠀⠀

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💰 how much money they’re making on Instagram

👼 how easy it is to earn money on Instagram 

🚫 if you don’t cash 6 figures you’re not working hard enough

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See the problem?

There’s also a lot of BS going around that’s setting the WRONG expectations for new businesses. In this post, I am sharing 6 mistakes I’ve seen new businesses make on Instagram so you learn and improve. 

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Here Are 6 Instagram Mistakes New Businesses Make (And How To Fix Them)

Instagram Mistake #1: Always selling, and not engaging

I know many business owners who are so eager to sell more products directly to their Instagram audience – but this is actually hurting your business long term…

The truth is, you’re more successful when you don’t sell at all!

Think of marketing on social media as offering solutions for people’s problems.

According to multiple market studies, the following are the best ways to use Instagram:

1. Build brand awareness by sharing about your business
2. Building a community (and engaging with users)
3. Offering customer service

Give your Instagram a fresh perspective. People don’t come to Instagram to see your ad. There are plenty of adverts they’re already forced to watch on YouTube, TV and Facebook.

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Tip: Try to do less selling and self-promo and more community engagement! A good strategy is to draw people from your other social channels to Instagram where you can build a more personal connection.

Instagram Mistake #2: Not wanting to know your audience 

Eh… let’s not even get into this. If you don’t know who you’re targeting how can you even market successfully? The first step in planning your marketing strategy is KNOWING who your ideal customers are and then creating content that attracts & delights them. 

Tip: Use Instagram stories to do polls and find out who your followers are and what problems they face

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Instagram Mistake #3: Only talking about “me” and not “we”

Being arrogant and self-centred is sooo early 2000s!

A successful marketer is a marketer that is transparent, ethical, humble and wants to help others.

Your Instagram needs to be all about your customers and followers and not about making you look good. 

Tip: Design your Instagram profile like a landing page your ideal customers will immediately want to follow

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Instagram Mistake #4: Not providing value in your content

I know you’re bored to hear the phrase “You need to create valuable content” for your audience.

But I am telling you – THIS is the secret to growing on Instagram.

If your content doesn’t teach, educate, help or entertain a group of people – WHY should anyone follow you, leave comments and send you DMs? 

There are three types of valuable content you can provide on Instagram:

• Educational content: free tips, hack and tutorials

• Entertaining content: memes, jokes, satire

• Motivational content: inspirational quotes & motivation

Tip: Share more of these types of content and more people will follow and engage with you.

Mistake #5: Not building a community on Instagram

Suggested: How To Optimize Your Instagram Profile for Business

Growing an Instagram account from scratch is really hard. It takes you 3-6 months to get your first 1000 followers. And only after you hit this milestone, the Instagram algorithm will feature you on the Explore page where you can have more eyes on your profile. But until you reach that stage, you need to engage with people daily, consistently. 

That’s why communities are very important for startups.

This is what is going to help your small account grow faster. You need to find people in the same niche and connect with them regularly. 

Instagram Mistake #6: Acting like a spammer* (this one can get your account banned!)

Among all the mistakes, this one is the most serious! (🧐 yes it can get you banned!)

Now you may be thinking: “I’m not a spammer, why would Instagram deactivate my account for no reason?”

You’re in for a reality check: Instagram deactivates a lot of accounts for various *insignificant reasons all the time.

Here are some common actions that most surely will get you banned:

• Massive increase in the no. of posts/day (aka. posting too much will signal you’re a bot)
• Mass Messaging & Commenting (eg. sending > 50 DMs/day)
• Mass Follow-Unfollow (eg. follow >50 new accounts a day)
• Logging in from different geographical locations (the algorithm may think you’re a bot)
• Typing your Instagram password wrongly repeatedly (will get you locked out)
• Sharing photos of celebrities (other people that you don’t own)

These are just a few actions that if you take, the Instagram algorithm will mark you as a bot.

The good news is that you can get your account back by doing an appeal.

The bad news: it can take a long time to get reactivated, and many get denied.

Conclusion:

If you’ve made some of these Instagram mistakes, don’t worry! Everybody makes mistakes at some point.

But the important part is to identify these as mistakes and learn to make better decisions that will help propel your Instagram growth.