Why you’re not growing on Instagram in 2022
1. You haven’t given your audience a reason to follow you
Firstly, your bio is crucial in helping a potential new follower understand why they should follow you. Ask yourself, if someone new went on your page and only looked at your bio, would they understand what value your content is going to provide them? The first thing people will notice is your bio, not your feed content. The bio is essentially the hook which aims to attract people to consume your grid content. So make sure your bio is really clear on why people should follow you, and what they can expect to get out of your content.
Now, if you were to cover up your bio and only look at your feed content, is your content strong enough to stand on its own and let viewers have a clear understanding of what they can expect from your page? Or is it a bit messy, maybe you’ve been posting about lots of different topics lately or been promoting brands that contradict each other.
Everyone’s attention spans are so short these days so if you don’t make it clear on why people should follow you and what value you’re adding to their lives - they’re not going to follow you.
2. Your engagement is low
If your engagement rate is low and you aren’t doing anything to actively fix this, you could get stuck in a repeated cycle of low engagement resulting in less new followers.
Low engagement → Instagram won’t push your content out as much → low reach → even lower engagement. You don’t want to find yourself stuck in this cycle!
My top tip to increase your engagement is develop and nourish the relationships you have with your followers. Comment on their posts, chat with them in DM’s, respond to their stories etc. Have you noticed that you never miss a post of someone that you’re constantly messaging in your dm’s? That’s because Instagram knows that you’re friends and that you’re interested in that person's content. Therefore, you’re likely to spend more time looking at their post or interacting with it (eg liking, commenting, saving)
3. You’re not utilising the reels feature
To maximise your visibility on Instagram, you need to incorporate Reels into your Instagram growth strategy and be consistently posting them. It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon, Instagram is still pushing the reels feature out more than others.
They have a much longer shelf life than in feed static posts. This means new people will find your account from reels for longer. As we all know, Instagram is no longer just a photo sharing app and video content is where social media in general is currently heading.
4. You’re not posting consistently
The frequency of your posts really does matter. You want to be consistently showing up on the platform and not having long breaks of neglecting the platform. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely okay to take a break from social media every now and then. It’s important to look after your mental health and know when you do need a break from the online world - look after yourself. But if you’re constantly taking long breaks off the platform, Instagram will significantly reduce your reach when you do post.
My goal currently is to increase my posts to about 4 or 5 times per week. I know, this is a lot, so I’d only recommend doing this as long as the quality of your content won’t be jeopardised and you don’t get burnt out. As long as you remain consistent, even posting just a couple of times every week will help you stay in Instagram’s good books.
If you’re not making these mistakes, it’s definitely possible to grow on Instagram fast in 2022!
