Hello hello! Back at it and this time we’re diving into the gram.

Here’s the thing about social media. It’s ALWAYS changing. Instagram is constantly adding new features, taking away features, so you have to be adaptable and learn quick how to use the current features to your advantage!

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Mistake 1 – You don’t have an appealing or attractive profile bio.

Believe it or not, what your profile bio says about you has a lot of influence on whether people will want to see your content or not! I have noticed when my profile bio says certain things or has more emojis, I get more following and more people clicking my website link. Sounds silly but it makes a difference!

Here’s an example of a profile bio that would probably not attract much attention…

Simply stating your age and location or some sort of quote isn’t going to hook anyone. I would highly recommend mixing it up a bit, add some emojis, and share what your goal is with your profile! Whether it’s to create positivity, share fashion, blog tips, etc… Make it CLEAR in your bio who you are and what content your followers can expect.

Mistake 2 – You are not utilizing Instagram Stories the way you should.

Many users now on Instagram will prefer scrolling through the Instagram Stories as opposed to the actual posts down the feed! Crazy, I know. However, you can use this to your advantage. Some top tips for you to get the most out of the Stories feature…

*Share that you have a NEW post on your actual profile, so people will check it out.

  Here are a few examples of how I share a new post to my stories:

I notice a significant increase in likes & comments when I do this on my Story versus when I don’t! Give it a try and see the difference.

TIP – You can link people directly to your post when they click “Tap Here”, just go to your post on your profile, click the Share icon, click Add to Story, from there you can add the “Tap Here” sticker and post! This will enable people to click your story and go directly to the new post. 

*Post interactive polls to get your followers interested and engaged with you! By doing this, they will see more of your content on their feed! Polls could be about anything, 2 different tops you’re indecisive on buying, which color is better, etc…

*Spend 10-15 minutes a day going through your friends’ stories and react/reply! This will result in a return of them checking your content out.

Mistake 3 – You don’t have a Business profile!

If you are reading my blog and wanting to learn how to better your social media, chances are you run a blog yourself, or an online business, or have some sort of goal to building your social media! If so, you NEED a Business account! Analytics are so important to know, you should take time to understand who is your audience, who is following you, that way you can cater/target better!

It’s super easy to set one up, just go to your Instagram profile, under Edit Profile you will see the option to Switch to Professional Account, from there you can select your business, add any important links, contact information, and you are set!

Mistake 4 – You do not post enough.

It’s simple, the more you post, the quicker your Instagram will grow! Obviously, I would recommend you post as often as you can if you want to grow your profile. The most important part is to STAY consistent! Don’t overwhelm yourself at first to post every day if you know you won’t be able to keep up after a week, I’d start out every other day or at least 2-3 x a week.

You can use helpful planning apps to schedule your posts ahead of time and plan out your feed! I love the Preview App for Instagram and use it all the time!

Mistake 5 – You are not engaging with others!

This is something a lot of people overlook and don’t realize how much an impact your level of engagement on others’ has to do with your own level of engagement! Sure, you can use Instagram stories and polls to get people interacting to see your content. BUT you won’t truly see a return of engagement until you engage with others.

By engagement, I don’t just mean scrolling down your feed double-tapping everybody’s pictures, I mean commenting! Take the time to comment something about the post, if you just like the photo you aren’t doing too much of a favor to yourself. A good way to start getting in routine for this would be taking 10-15 minutes in the morning and before bed to dedicate to commenting on other people’s posts. I saw huge growth once I started doing this!

Mistake 6 – Your photos are low in quality, hard to see, dark, and grainy.

People like, comment, and follow other people who post quality content! They want to see clear photos, they want to understand what’s going on in the picture, and are more likely to engage when you post a nice picture! It’s simple but even I once wasn’t the best with this.

Luckily, the iPhone has a pretty great camera to use, nothing wrong with using your phone camera to take the pictures, it mainly has a lot to do with the lighting and the way you edit them afterward! Here’s the type of pictures I would post back a couple of years ago.. please don’t laugh at me. It’s a little embarrassing…

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, I am not joking. This was my feed a couple of years ago, I had a weird phase where I liked dark dark photos where you could barely see what was happening, don’t ask me why! Point is, I saw the light and came out the other side eventually… My feed now:

It’s like night and day. So, don’t feel bad if you also post photos that may not be the best quality… I’ve been there girlfriend. Now, what I do differently is, first of all, take pictures in the DAY. I try to often stand in front of a window or simply go outside, and afterward, I use the app Snapseed, this app is the BOMBBB! You can alter the brightness, contrast, all that good stuff. Especially what I like are all the different features Snapseed has to make your picture go from blah to AMAZING. Check it out it’s totally free!

Mistake 7 – You are not putting effort or energy into your captions!

Some say that people don’t even read the captions, but I believe captions make a difference. I notice when I take the time to write out an engaging caption and ask questions, my audience engages more! I use to post simple little captions of quotes or something totally meaningless, now I try to connect more with my followers, let them know how my day is going, what I’m up to.. and I love to end off with a question! Always interact with your followers!

How I use to do my captions:

How I do captions now:

Let’s observe 2 huge differences… first of all, my photo is currently of higher quality, more clear, more bright. My engagement also significantly increases going from only 41 likes on a picture that’s slightly blurry and dark, to now, 167 likes with a clear photo and engaging caption.

Those are the 7 mistakes you could be making on your Instagram and you just didn’t know it!

Q: Which one of these mistakes have you caught yourself making and how did you correct it? Comment down below and let me know!