12 MIN READ

Instagram –  a social media platform loved by millions of users for its visual content – can be a powerful marketing tool for businesses. Posts with high engagement rates can help to increase brand awareness and boost sales, but what happens when your posts don’t perform well?

Low engagement rates on Instagram can be seriously damaging to your business. Not only does it mean that your content isn’t being seen by as many people as it could be, but it can also make you look less credible and trustworthy. When your target audience isn’t engaging with your content, it’s a clear sign that you need to change something up.

Instagram itself says that about 1 in 2 people surveyed has used, whether the app, or site, to discover new brands, services, or products. That of course means that these people view the stories, reels, IGTV videos, and of course, posts that these brands put out. But there’s a catch to it all, especially to posts. They don’t always perform well. Some will initially gain some traction and then die. Some never get anywhere. And some will be hiccuping their way to get to your targeted audiences. 

This does not bode well for businesses, though. After all, Instagram is the 4th most used social platform in the world. With about 110 million users from just the US alone! A business cannot possibly afford to miss out on such a huge market. But alas, you can’t do that with posts that are tanking the whole time!

So Why Do They Fail?

Well, there are many reasons why your posts aren’t gaining the traction that they deserve. They can be anywhere from not having a link in the bio, to not being consistent with your theme. Here they are:

1. Your posts are too promotional

Nobody likes to be sold! If all of your posts are just blatant sales pitches, then it’s no wonder that your audience isn’t engaging with them. Try to mix up your content and include some posts that are less promotional. This could be things like behind-the-scenes images, customer stories, or even just fun and quirky posts that show the personality of your brand.

For instance, check this screenshot:

What do you see? Each post has some personalized emojis, and no post seems to be selling anything. Rather, they’re just having fun and showing off the personality of their brand. That’s Slack for you! They know how to make their posts less promotional and more engaging.

2. There’s No Fixed Theme

A theme is what your content is all about. It’s about whatever information you’re putting out that needs to be consistent with who you are. Let’s say you’re a digital marketer. But you’re talking the whole time about WordPress. In the minds of your audience, it doesn’t add up, as your posts conflict with your personality.

When you don’t have a fixed theme, your posts will seem more like spam. And when people think that all of your posts are spam, they’re not going to want to engage with them. So make sure that your posts are all about something, and that there’s a consistent theme running through them.

For instance, check this screenshot by Shameel khan:

Look at their posting strategy: Every product is shown in a sequence. That’s their fixed theme. These posts show the brand 100% resonates with elite people who prefer quality over quantity.

Check another example: The theme of MVMT Watches on IG. 

Themes like these help your audience to understand what you’re all about. Every single picture reminds them about who you are and what do you do?

3. The Bio Has No Link

This is yet another point that many people don’t pay attention to. If you’re a business looking for sales, but have no link to your sales or home page, people can’t approach you. The longer this scenario stays, the more potential leads you might miss out on. It also adds authenticity to who you are, which is an added bonus.

4. You Have No Profile Picture

People have no idea about who you are; hell, they might even mistake you for a bot! What this also means is that you’ve no chance of ever being verified. So getting a professional profile picture is, in the long run, indeed going to pay off dividends for you. 

But The Issues Don’t Stop Just There! If you thought that that was the end of problems people face on IG, well, you’re in for a ride because there are more. Though these are the ones that happen after you’ve added a good picture that defines who you are. A bio, a theme, and the account are set to public. 

5. Low-quality Photos

There is no hope of gaining any traction if your posts are grainy as hell. Remember this, it’s Instagram, where pictures (and videos too) are the fundamental mode of getting the message across.  The better the quality, the better the picture performs. High-res photos, like the one below, can mean all the difference. Look at the photos Coke is using. All of them are high-res and have a clear message. Photos like these help immensely in capturing an audience that likes every post of yours!

6. No CTA

A CTA (call to action) is when you evoke some response from the audience. No activity evoked will directly mean that there is no post-performance.  Picture this. You’re a Youtuber who has just uploaded a sneak peek of your latest video. You can tell your audience to  “go like and comment on your favorite place in Switzerland” to gain performance on your IG post + Youtube. 

This way, you drive your audience to your YT. In tandem with this, you may add a CTA in your video with you saying, “Go follow me on my Instagram. What this move does is send the YT audience to your IG.  With these two simple calls to action (CTA), you will keep getting new viewers on both platforms. 

7. Lack or Absence of Related Hashtags

Hashtags are an important way to get your content in front of more people. When you use relevant hashtags, you’re more likely to show up in searches for those terms. And when people are searching for those terms, they’re more likely to be interested in what you have to say.

For instance, if you sell eco-friendly products, you might use hashtags like #ecofriendly, #sustainability, or #zerowaste.

For instance, check this screenshot:

#ecofriendly has over 17,311,526 posts! That’s a lot of potential people that will see your post if you use this hashtag.

A hashtag helps the algorithm get your post to even more people. People who search up that hashtag will see your post(s) there, which drives up engagement and reach. There are a few things to keep in mind when using hashtags, though.

• Don’t use too many hashtags.

Though Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, using that many looks spammy and can actually hurt your engagement. We recommend using between 5 and 10 hashtags per post.

• Use a mix of popular and niche hashtags.

Including both popular and niche hashtags will help you reach a wider audience while also reaching people who are interested in specific topics.

• Change up your hashtags occasionally.

Using the same hashtags all the time can make your account seem stagnant. Mix things up to keep your content fresh.

• Use a tool like Hashtagify to find the best hashtags.

Hashtagify is a free tool that allows you to see how popular a hashtag is and find related hashtags. This can be helpful in finding both popular and niche hashtags to use.

• Don’t use banned hashtags.

Instagram has banned certain hashtags, so using them can result in your post not being seen by anyone. Banned hashtags include things like #instagood, #nofilter, and #followme.

8) No Posting Strategy

We cannot emphasize this enough but time, when posting on Instagram, is literally is of the essence. Therefore, we’ve added this heatmap, so you may post only if there are enough people to interact with your posts.

Image credit. Posting at the right time can mean all the difference, The more people online = the more organic reach you get!

9) No Chatbot Deployed to Build Customer Relationships With

You are probably wondering what AI chatbots have to do with low-performing Instagram posts. The answer is a lot. AI-Chatbots can help you immensely in identifying the right audience, making your posts relevant to them, and also helping you get more engagement on your posts.

AI-chats can help you engage with your customers in comments, and also help you understand what they’re looking for. This can help you in creating better content that is more relevant to your target audience.

For instance, if you have a product that is relevant to people who are looking to lose weight, then you can use an AI chatbot to engage with people who have mentioned “weight loss” in their comments. This way, you can offer them your product as a solution to their problem.

Chatbot deployment is the key that serves multiple purposes, like responding to customer queries on the fly.  You can then utilize that time to manage orders and handle the backend of the business.

10) Just Be Who You Really Are

You don’t have to be extra salesy in order to have your dead posts be magically revived by the Instagram algorithm. Interact with your followers, reply to their comments on time, and post comments on other accounts’ posts (so that you may be noticed more often). 

Adidas is a big brand, right? But look how friendly the response they give to the customers. 

It’s important to build a healthy relationship with your fanbase. And one of the most efficient ways to do so is by replying to their comments.

11) Give The People Some Value!

Sharing some extra and free value with your followers goes a long way to building your identity as a product or service provider on Instagram. 

Let’s say you’re a freelance writer looking to make it big on such a massive platform. One easy way is to teach your targeted audience how to format your content correctly, or how to write an intro that grabs attention immediately! Value posts like these are very liked by the audience. 

Giving value like this ascends you compared to everyone else. While everyone else is posting ordinary content, you can post value and get far ahead of them!

So Should I Delete These Low Performing Posts?

Long story short, no, doing this is neither going to help you nor your audience. Erin Neumann from Be Aligned Web Design says that it will adversely impact your analytics and engagement. 

What should thus be done is to retain those posts. Let’s say that your posts were linked to a blog or website, and vice versa. The last thing you’d want is to have broken links on your website that deter your target audience from further viewing your content.

But There is Always A Solution to Every Problem!

Seeing your Instagram posts perform poorly is a sight that many will not be able to handle. Given that 90% of users on Instagram follow at least one business, deleting your posts will reflect poorly on your social media marketing statistics. But this is where the dilemma begins. You can’t have more dead posts, but you can’t delete them either. So what does the average business do in this scenario?

Quick Fixes to Get Your Posts Going Again!

Here are some easy and quick fixes to get you back in the game! But do remember that these should be combined and used in conjunction with each other, so as to boost your engagement considerably!

1. Influencer Marketing Saves the Day (Yet Again)!

And we mean it when we say it. Currently, the size of just the Influencer Marketing (IM) industry is about a staggering $16.4 billion! Out of these, $800 million were raked in the last year alone. That is, in itself, ample proof that social influencers are thriving on this platform, and people are buying their sponsorships up.

Targeting influencers means having a dedicated audience that will be eager to look at what you sell. This is because those audiences are already loyal to the influencer so they will be loyal to you too! While there indeed are thousands of influencers in any given niche or market, the key is to contact the one that is the most legitimate of them all. Only then will you be able to harness the power of social media truly!

Check this screenshot: Messi is one of the most popular athletes on Instagram. His sponsorship posts are likely to have a high engagement rate.

When Messi posts something, people are bound to see it! That’s the power of an influencer. So, harness the power of Influencer Marketing to tremendously boost your revenue, as well as your global reach.

2. Consistency is the Key! 

It may be surprising to many, but the average business account on Instagram grows by 1.69% every month. That’s 21% in a whole year! Now that says quite a lot about new people coming in to interact with your posts and media. So consistency is of the utmost importance here. The more consistent you are with your posts, the more you seem invested in building relationships with your audiences. 

3. Recency Matters Too

Recency is also the key here. The more your posts show up in people’s feeds, the more likes, comments, shares, and overall engagement they garner. It’s therefore essential to have a proper schedule that you follow to increase said engagement. 

The more recent your posts will be, the more interaction your audiences will have with them. After all, Instagram is the 7th most-visited website in the world!

4. Giveaways Will Go a Long Way!

Do you want to get a sudden boost of organic comments, likes, shares, and messages? And that too within a few weeks? It’s about time you tried a giveaway then! Tailwind says that accounts that do giveaway contests are 70% more likely to grow faster than those who don’t. 

Roma by Rochi is an excellent example of this. They did a giveaway contest and saw an outstanding 741% growth! But of course, it’s not always just growth that matters, but also brand loyalty that develops as a direct consequence of such giveaways.

5. Use Automation to Instantly Respond to All Comments!

If you think that replying to each and every comment on your posts is a Herculean task, you are not wrong. It can sometimes take hours to go through all the comments and reply to them accordingly. And this is where automation comes in handy! Using Clepher’s AI chatbot to get all your comments replied to in seconds!

Not only does this give a boost to your engagement rate but also helps build better relationships with your audiences. After all, they feel valued when you take the time to respond to them individually. Everybody likes feeling special and important, so use this tip to your advantage!

Following are some ways to use Clepher’s automation to your advantage:

Comments automation: This is one of the most useful features of Clepher. It allows you to automatically reply to all the comments on your posts, in seconds!

The story mentions replies: Responding to people’s stories is a great way to increase your brand’s reach. And with Clepher’s story mentions replies feature, you can do just that! You can send thank you notes, give shoutouts, or simply have a conversation with anyone who mentions you in their story.

Instagram automation can help you save a ton of time, which can be used to create even better content for your feed!

6. Posts Aren’t the Only Thing That People Want!

There’s more to it than just posts, though. Reels have been around for quite a bit by now. Other than that, everyday stories with links embedded in them and Instagram Video (which used to be known as IGTV) content are also in high demand. So all of this combined is an easy, yet diverse fix to the problem of getting dead posts. 

Mix-and-match is the way to go on Instagram, though it shouldn’t be completely random. You should plan every post of yours so that it delivers value to your followers. 

Nike’s stories say a lot about who they are. These stories clearly display the values that Nike stands for. You too can use other forms of IG media, like stories, to talk about your beliefs.

7. Trends, Trends, and Moooore Trends!

Every week do you see a new trend on Instagram. And this is a site that absolutely DIGS trends. So if you haven’t already jumped a bandwagon meme or a new music track just yet, it’s probably a good time to do that! But make sure that whatever you post is in line is actually your theme, your area of expertise.

8. Cause Marketing: An Unheard-of Savior

Not all marketing is just for you to sell some product or service. Some marketing is also geared towards a specific cause, such as the Russo-Ukrainian War. Posts like these have a clearly-defined cause and also have the ability to drive your reach much more. 

Images like these are helpful when building a cause as well as a brand identity. They will be shared en-masse by your audience, who will be able to relate with them with ease. 

Image credit

Generate Leads and Build Your Brand Through Instagram!

With Clepher, you get the best tools to succeed and get ahead of everyone else in the game. So if you’re looking for your Instagram posts to be much more active, and bring you new follows, likes, comments, and shares every day, you just need to give Clepher a try. Just click here to get started.

It’s time to put an end to those low-performing Instagram posts once and for all! With these tips, you can start seeing better results in no time. But if you want even more help, be sure to check out Clepher – the AI chatbot that can take your Instagram game to the next level!

 

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