Irrespective of whether you are fond of social media or despise its presence in your life, the fact is that you cannot ignore the presence of social media in the world of marketing. As people spend a good fraction of their free time on social media, brands have started using the medium to reach out to their target group.
Among the host of social media options available, Instagram has always been the preferred choice for marketers. The fact that most Instagram users follow at least one brand page further prompts brands to make this choice.
Myth 1: Business Profiles Will Be Shadowbanned for Overactivity
Shadowbanning an account is a process of stopping posts of that account from appearing in the feeds of its followers. It is a common myth that using the same set of hashtags repeatedly or linking too many posts can cause Instagram to shadowban a business account.
However, the fact is the use of hashtags helps you find all relevant posts in one place, which would otherwise get lost in a sea of posts. Moreover, having a unique brand or product hashtag is encouraged, and multiple usages of such a hashtag help the item get online visibility.
Myth 2: If You Switch to a Business Account, it will Take a Toll on Your Engagement Levels
In the year 2016, the concept of business accounts was introduced as a part of the Instagram growth service. Even today, some brands are skeptical about using it because they fear a decrease in the engagement levels.
One must note that by switching to a business account, you unlock several exclusive features like giving you swipe up links for your Instagram stories, analytics tools to understand the interests of your target groups, etc.
There will not be any drop in your engagement levels when you switch from your regular account to a business account. Even if there were to be a drip in engagement levels, with the analytics tools, you could plan our marketing strategies to drive better engagement than ever before and get more organic traffic to your official website.
Myth 3: You Need to Spend Money on Instagram Ads to Make Sales on It
In recent days, Instagram has shifted towards a commercial framework wherein you have ample scope of paid advertisements. However, there are many ways through which you can use Instagram to boost your sales without spending a penny. Build-in features like product tagging allow you to integrate shoppable posts as per your brand’s requirements.
You can also share a link in the about section of your Instagram page. Users clicking on this page will be taken to your brand website to make a purchase. As Instagram is a more picture-centric social media platform, this provides excellent business opportunities for brands in lifestyle, food, or travel sectors.
Instagram stories is another effective way for you to convey engaging details about your product or service without having to pay for it, With direct shoppable links on your Instagram story, you can get immense traffic for your product page.
Myth 4: For a Business to Grow, it Needs to Post At least Once a Day
This is an absolute myth, and the only way for a business to grow through Instagram is to be consistent with its post. If the frequency at which you are comfortable posting is 1 or 2 times a week, so be it.
Instagram allows you to schedule your posts, and you can make the most of this feature to save time on strategizing and planning your feed. Prior scheduling of posts also helps you to design your posts in a manner such that the overall feed looks visually appealing.
Understand that Instagram prefers quality over quantity, and if you focus on the quality of your posts, you can drive your business to success through this platform.
Myth 5: You need Professional Photography Skills Here
As this is a more visual platform, there is a common myth that one needs to have professional equipment and advanced photography skills to sell their products through Instagram. While it is true that your posts need to be eye-catching, you need not outsource your photos or invest in expensive equipment.
Most mobile cameras today are capable of clicking HD pictures, and that should suffice. While clicking a picture, remember that Instagram always needs a picture in a square format and adhere to that. Otherwise, you may end up with a good section of the photograph being cropped out, and thereby the picture losing its aesthetic appeal.
Also, remember that there is more to Instagram than the picture itself. Focus on an eye-catching caption, appropriate hashtags, posting at a time when you expect maximum engagement, etc. are some of the things that you may want to consider.
Myth 6: A Brand’s Instagram Post Reaches to Only 7% of Its’s Followers
This was one of the biggest myths surrounding Instagram. The type of content that will show up on their feed would depend on the type of accounts or posts the user generally engages with, frequency of using Instagram, timeliness of each post, the number of people the user follows, and several other factors.
Under no situation does Instagram deliberately hide any brand’s (or individual’s) posts from their followers. If a user scrolls the app for long enough, they will find the post.
Conclusion
You can see that although the Instagram verification of your business account may seem daunting at first sight, it will be a worthy investment in the long run. With more and more users taking to Instagram, this might be the best place for your business to engage with potential customers.
The fact that you can do this without having to pay money gives smaller businesses a fairground to compete with the already-established ones. By debunking these common myths surrounding Instagram marketing, you now have the edge over your competitors in making the most of Instagram as a marketing platform.
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