6 Instagram myths you need to stop believing right now

The thing with Instagram is that nobody really knows what’s going on, except for the people at Instagram. And, because nobody really knows, it means that people love to speculate about things. Especially inside Facebook Groups. If you're a member of any business-related Facebook Groups, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.  Here are 6 Instagram myths you NEED to stop buying into.

 

6 Instagram myths you need to stop believing

There are so many myths about Instagram floating around these days – and it doesn't help that many influencers like to talk about them as well. Here's the thing: You need to stop believing these Instagram myths before they have the potential to harm your business.

Instagram myth #1: That comment pods are a good way to boost your Instagram engagement

The short answer is that no, they’re not. 

Comment “pods” are groups of around 10-15 Instagram users who comment on all of each other’s posts, in an attempt to game the algorithm and trick Instagram into thinking that their posts are super popular, which in turn would result in the algorithm showing the post to more people.

The truth is that comment pods are a lot of work for very little, if any, boost from the algorithm. Instagram is a lot smarter than we are, and it knows when you’re trying to game the algorithm.

Intagram made it very clear that they don’t like comment pods by removing a bunch of Facebook Groups designed to help people find comment pods, so it’s likely that being in a comment pod could actually HURT your account, at best, and at worst, get your Instagram account deleted.

(You might also like: The truth about Instagram comment pods)

 

 

Instagram myth #2: Shadowbanning

Last year, Instagram confirmed that shadowbanning isn’t a real thing and that it was just a temporary glitch. So, if your engagement drops suddenly, don’t run to your nearest Facebook Group and complain about how you’ve been shadowbanned – because you haven’t.

It was rumoured that using the same hashtags over and over again would get you shadowbanned – but that’s not true either. So you can go back to using the same ones if you want. I wouldn’t recommend it, as it does limit the potential audiences you’re reaching – you could reach a far broader audience if you mix it up and ensure you’re using relevant hashtags for each post, rather than just generic ones.

That said, I know that some of you operate in pretty small niches and you don’t have a lot of hashtags to choose from in the first place. So don’t stress about using them frequently.

Instagram myth #3: The more Instagram followers = the better

We all want more Instagram followers, right? The more Instagram followers we have, the more successful our business will be, right? Mmm, not quite.

You see, you could have 100k Instagram followers, but if they’re all US-based and you only ship within Australia, then how many of these followers do you think will translate into paying customers? Zero.

So while it might make your business LOOK successful, it’s not translating into actual business success – business success here being defined as sales, because as much as it’s fun to run your business as a hobby, unless you’re actually making money, it’s not sustainable.

What really matters is the quality of your followers, rather than the quantity. Focus on creating great content, really hone in on who your ideal customer or client is, and stop stressing about the number of followers you have. 

Instagram myth #4: Video content reaches more people than static images

Instagram told us last year that this isn’t the case. What really determines whether video or image posts get more reach is what your followers tend to interact with most.

Put simply: If they watch more videos, they’ll see more videos in their feed – and your video posts will reach more of your followers. If they don’t watch videos and they interact with static image posts instead, they’ll see more of these in their feed.

The takeaway: Get to know your audience and find out what works best for them.

Instagram myth #5: You have to post 3 times a day to see any results

This one used to be kinda true, but since they changed the Instagram algorithm a while back, it’s no longer true. Instead of focusing on how OFTEN you’re posting, I want you to channel that time and energy into posting fewer, but higher quality posts. By high quality, I mean posts that are valuable to your audience, that they want to engage with. Not just fluff, for fluff’s sake.

If you can only produce 2 high-quality posts each week, then so be it. That’s a heck of a lot better than 21 posts that do nothing but fill your followers’ feeds with junk.

(You might also like: How often to post on Instagram in 2020).

Instagram myth #6: Switching to a business account will decrease your reach

I get why people would believe this – it makes sense that Instagram would want to charge businesses to show their posts to people. But, it’s not true. Instagram confirmed it, and back when we were managing client accounts, we switched them over to business accounts and noticed no change in engagement whatsoever.

So, if you’re holding back from making the switch, I would consider doing it, because the extra features you get are totally worth it.

(You might also like: How to optimize your Instagram business profile).

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