You just spent hours coming up with images, captions, and hashtags for your Instagram account.

Minutes, hours go by. No one showed up or responded to your amazing content. 🤷

It seems like every time someone comes up with Instagram marketing tips or formulas to help you grow your engagement, the algorithm changes.

You can't seem to hit your stride.

Even when the algorithm changes, there seem to be three mistakes that Instagram users keep making which doesn't work for any formula.

So before you try to tackle next big Instagram marketing strategy, make sure that you're not making these 3 mistakes.

Instagram Mistake #1: Using the wrong hashtags

There's a lot of hashtags and it's easy to use the wrong one for your content. You could have the best image and amazing Instagram copy, but if you're using the wrong hashtags, you might not be engaging with your audience.

Make sure that your hashtags:

• Aren't followed by millions of people. When you use hashtags that are generic, huge, and followed by a lot of people, your content can get buried easily because so many other people are using the same hashtag.
• Aren't followed by too few people. When your hashtag only has 100 followers, you won't reach the people you're looking for.

Depending on your niche and how quickly these hashtags move, you may find success with a hashtag that has 10,000 posts or even 300,000 posts. You have to experiment with your industry's hashtags and see which ones work the best for you.

Make sure your hashtags are not banned from Instagram. There are several apps online that you can use to make sure your hashtags aren't banned.

If you use even one banned hashtag, you can get shadowbanned and none of your posts will show up on Instagram for a while. 😢 All of your marketing efforts will be wasted!

Doing some hashtag research on your content can make a huge difference in your Instagram engagement.

Struggling with Instagram marketing?

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Included in this class is an invitation to a membership where I teach how to connect directly with your future clients, including on Instagram.

Instagram Mistake #2: Not knowing where your clients hang out

It's not enough to create content and then put it out into the world. Guessing your hashtags and making content that appeals to you (rather than your audience) will keep your engagement low. 😫

You need to find out where your clients and potential clients are hanging out on Instagram.

Figure out:

• Who they're currently following and engaging with
• Which Instagram stories they're watching
• What types of posts do they best respond to?

Knowing who they're following will help you understand what type of Instagram account appeals to them. (Psst... you can also check the followers of those accounts to find more of your ideal customers!)

You can also check their Instagram stories to give yourself an idea of why your audience is so responsive to that type of content.

Lastly, check their posts. This will give you a good idea of what hashtags you could be using and what type of content you should make. For example, if your audience is responding well to motivational types of posts, this is your cue to make similar posts. If they seem to enjoy cartoons or memes, that's a sign that you need to make that type of content. 

Doing background research on your audience will help you create more effective content.

Instagram Mistake #3: Not checking your analytics

You don't even need to know how to read the charts that Instagram and other apps give you on your content, to check your analytics.

It's enough to go through your past month of posts and pick out the top posts that had the most engagement and responses. 

Knowing what your audience is engaging with gives you an idea of what people want to see more of. Use this information to shape the type of content that you put out in the next month. Eventually, you'll know exactly what your audience wants to see.

I hope these tips were helpful 😊

I'd love to hear which one helped you the most. Leave a comment below!

 You can also tag me @missellenyin & @cubicletoceo with your response