Do you ever feel like the Instagram algorithm is out to get you? Marketers share hacks and tricks to gain more followers on Instagram, but those hacks might actually be killing your engagement! In this episode I share 3 ways I see people self sabotage on Instagram and what you can do to organically grow your following instead.

 

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Episode Highlights

• (0:46) What you need to know about Follow Loops and Follow Trains
• (1:38) What to do instead of follow loops 
• (2:00) The second way you might be killing your Instagram engagement
• (2:31) What to do instead of using bots
• (2:57) The third Instagram hack I see people use to grow their account
• (4:02) What to do instead of joining a comment pod
• (4:42) Download my social media cheat sheet to organically grow your Instagram and actually see results from posting to social media
• (5:30) How to actually grow your Instagram account

 

Three Mistakes You Might be making on Instagram that are hurting your engagement

1. Follow trains or loops… a few months ago my DMs blew up with follow train requests. (You know, the ones where you get added to a list and follow everyone else on that list.) While your followers might spike, you’re most likely not adding accounts that will convert into customers or engagement. The reason this is a problem is that you want followers that engage with your content, because that’s going to boost you in the algorithm and show your posts to more people. So what can you do instead of doing a follow train or follow loop? You can intentionally find a few new people to follow every single week. Make a list of ideal clients or strategic partners that you’d like to connect with and start following them and engaging with their content.⠀⠀⠀
2. Instagram Bots… I understand it saves you time, but social media is about being social! You might think it’s helpful to have a bot engage by liking a bunch of posts under a hashtag or to comment with some cute emojis, but people sniff that out! Spend 15 minutes a day engaging and leaving genuine comments instead!
3. Comment pods… I’ll admit I gave this trend a try a few years back, but I’m surprised it’s still a thing in 2020. A pod is a group of people that agree to leave comments on each other’s posts. Sounds great, right? The problem is that you’re engaging with the same people over and over again (and a lot of times these pods are industry specific). You’re letting Instagram know what type of content you want to see more of and who you want to engage with. Instead of joining a comment pod, you’ll want to post consistently and then stick around for about 15 minutes after you post so you can engage with others. What I like to do is pick a few hashtags that I’ve used on my latest posts and engage with people that have used those hashtags.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

 

So to recap… In order to grow your Instagram you want to use strategic hashtags (not just for your post, but also to find others to engage with through likes and comments), be consistent and post daily (download my free social media guide if you need content ideas), and intentionally find a few new people to follow each week (like ideal clients or strategic partners you’d like to connect with)!

 

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Download my Social Media Cheatsheet