So you’ve hit a wall when it comes to Instagram. No matter how hard you try, you’re followers have plateaued and you can’t work out why. Today we’re talking through the 8 most common reasons why you Instagram isn’t growing, plus how you can fix them to make 2021 your biggest year of growth yet!
1. You’re Not Being Consistent
Consistency is key on Instagram. I guarantee that the period of time that you’re most likely to see growth is when you’re being consistent with your posting. This is for a number of reasons:
- The more content you post, the more likely you are to be found. Instagram loves new content. Unlike search engines, such as Youtube or Google, Instagram prioritises new content. This means your post will get the vast majority of its engagement within the first 24 hours. After that, it’ll fall pretty quickly into oblivion, never to be seen on the home page again.
- The more people see you, the more invested they’ll become. Being consistent with your posts is like constantly reminding your followers that you exist. They start to care about you and what you’re doing. This is what takes them from a regular follower to a loyal and engaged follower (the kind of followers you want!)
- The algorithm likes consistency. Remember, Instagram wants people to spend time on their app. So if you’re posting every single day, it’s likely to reward that behaviour.
2. You’re Misusing Hashtags
In my opinion, people don’t take hashtags seriously enough when it comes to growing their Instagram. Often people get scared to look spammy and can sometimes avoid using them altogether.
There’s definitely a right and a wrong way to use hashtags. I’ve written a whole blogpost on this topic, that’ll take you through the best strategy to use, so make sure to check it out here: Ultimate Hashtag Strategy Guide.
But if you just want the headlines:
- Don’t use hashtags with millions of uses
- Avoid banned hashtags
- Use community hashtags
- Only ever use relevant hashtags
3. Your Posts Aren’t High Quality
This one might be hard to admit to yourself, but one of the reasons your account might not be growing is because the quality of your content just isn’t up to scratch.
There are millions of accounts on Instagram nowadays, with plenty of people posting incredibly high quality content. If you want people to follow you, you need to give them a good enough reason to.
Try to ask yourself, ‘how does this post help my followers?’
If it’s meant to inspire them, the imagery needs to be impeccable. If it’s meant to teach them to how to build muscle, does it do that in a unique and eye-catching way? Quality content is all about being both beautiful to look at and helpful to your audience in some way or other.
4. You Aren’t Maximising Instagram’s Features
It can be easy to see your main feed posts as the be all and end all to your Instagram account, but this isn’t the case! Using all of the other features on offer makes others much more likely to follow you as it boosts your exposure!
For example, if you post an Instagram story and include the geotag plus a relevant hashtag, it’s very possible that someone could find you through searching for these specific things.
So make sure to make use of stories, IGTV and reels as much as you possibly can!
7. You’re Over-Promoting
Surprisingly, people don’t follow accounts just to be sold a product! In fact, they usually follow because they find something inspiring, entertaining or useful.
Whilst it’s definitely important to use your Instagram account to market your product, it’s possible that you could be overdoing it. If people feel as though something is constantly being shoved down their throats, they’ll probably unfollow you.
Remember, even posts that don’t explicitly ‘sell’ your product can do a great job of selling your product. If your post provides value to your audience, they’re likely to interact positively with it. A good track record of these positive interactions are likely to result in a sale. If someone likes your brand and assigns positive emotions to it, you’ll probably find them willing to buy something in future. So don’t overdo it when it comes to promotion on Instagram!
8. You’re Not Interacting Enough
Maybe you’re creating amazing, high quality content and using some great hashtags but still aren’t seeing your following increase as quickly as you like. In this case, you might be putting so much work into creating content that you forget about the social side of Instagram.
Instagram was ultimately built as a social media network. It’s a place for people to connect.
So if you’re just posting a photo and then leaving the app straight away, chances are your account isn’t going to be growing much anytime soon. It’s really important for the algorithm that you reply to all of your comments, as well as making sure you interact lots with other accounts!
6. Your Posts Don’t Encourage Engagement
Engagement is what tells Instagram that people like our photos and that they should show it to more people. If your photo gets lots of shares, comments, likes, and saves, the app is more likely to push that photo out to other people.
If you’re working on growing your account then, it’s really important to focus on posts that encourage engagement. For example, you could ask your audience a question, which encourages them to leave a comment on your post. Or you could do a little ‘save for later’ guide, detailing information about something that they should save and come back to at a later date (this works really well for recipes, travel guides, and styling options!).
5. You’ve Been Shadow Banned
If you truly don’t believe that any of these options explain why your Instagram isn’t growing, then it’s possible that your account might have been shadow banned.
A shadow ban hides your posts from users that don’t currently follow you. So if someone searches for one of the hashtags you used, your post won’t show up. This can be extremely detrimental for growth as it makes it almost impossible for other users to stumble upon your account.
The best way to avoid being shadow banned is to stop doing these 3 things:
- Using bots
- Using hashtags that may be deemed inappropriate
- Being reported by other users
If you think you’ve been shadow banned, the best course of action is usually to take a short break from Instagram for a couple of days. When you come back be extremely careful with the hashtags you use (as well as any controversial topics you might be sharing about) to avoid being shadow banned again!
