Instagram offers brands and individuals a platform to engagewith their followers through visually appealing content. One such type of content is User-generated content (UGC). This type of content allows your brand to be a leader and shows customer satisfaction first-hand. This can be a goldmine if done correctly. There are a few common mistakes that can hamper the effectiveness of UGC. Let’s look at these pitfalls and know how to avoid them to maximize reach, engagement, and Instagram likes.
Mistakes Related to Instagram Rules
1. Violating Guidelines
Creating a nuisance by posting hate speech, inappropriate images, or misinformation, all violate Instagram’s community guidelines, which can lead to the diminished image of the brand and its products.
This can be easily avoided by ensuring the content is clean and devoid of any controversies. Always adhere to and study the Instagram’s policies thoroughly because if once your account gets suspended, it will be aburden to establish the credibility.
2. Ignoring Copyright laws
When you borrow someone’s content, ask their permission first. Even if the content is related to your brand. Consent is important. After you post the UGC, never forget to credit the original creator. It shows that you are genuinely promoting the brand and not stealing anything. Not crediting can also turn off the community and the creator.
This is also simple to avoid, just credit the original creator and ask for their permission while posting it. When using the music and images, obtain a proper license for the copyrighted material. Try using royalty-free music.
Mistakes Related to Content Creation
3. Poor-quality photos and videos
Low-quality visuals can ruin your profile and interest of the audience. This can make your account and content unprofessional and unappealing. Invest in good equipment and learn the basics of photography and videography. Make sure your editing game is strong so you can hide some ofthe discrepancies through the edits.
4. Overly promotional content
Promotion is good, but excess of anything is always bad. Constant promotion can present you as salesy and make your feed look like an advertisement. This move can disinterest your followers and cause them to driftaway. Always try to strike a balance between the promotional posts and value-added or fun content. The ideal ratio is 80:20, with 80% Value content and 20% promotional content. Post more behind-the-scenes and relatable stories so that your brand is more relatable.
5. Lack of consistent Branding
Even if its User-generated content if the branding is inconsistent with respect to colors, fonts, and themes they can confuse your audience and make your brand identity weak. Always have a brand tone to the post even if it’s something as small as having right colors and fonts. Developing a consistent style can create a cohesive and recognizable brand image.
Mistakes Related to Content Strategy
6. Posting Schedule
Users’ content, if posted too frequently, can overwhelm the audience, and if posted too little, it can cause to raise questions about the authenticity or as to why people are posting too little. This can get a little too tricky, you’ll have to find a sweet spot to make it realistic and genuine. Remember, not all User-generated posts are for reposting.
7. Ignoring Captions and Hashtags
This is the tip of every post. Never neglect captions or use irrelevant hashtags. This can halt your reach and make your post less interesting. Your captions should always inculcate curiosity and encourage interaction, tell a story or ask questions. Make use of both popular and niche hashtags relevant to your industry and content to improve visibility.
8. Failing to engage
Many brands and individuals make this rookie mistake ofposting and ghosting. Posting and then ignoring the comments or Dms can make your followers feel undervalued. Once posted, take an hour to just reply to comments and messages, this increases your trust and makes your followers heard. Show appreciation for their efforts and create a community by liking and commenting on their posts as well.
Note: you can always tap into the zone of buying Instagram likes to promote your content, what Instagram likes basically do is they boost your brand to the masses, making it more likely to be seen by varied audiences. But never get them from untrustworthy providers, many such providers drop likes from bots or inactive accounts, which signal Instagram that the engagement on this post is fishy and prone to permanent ban from Instagram. Research and find providers like Powerlikes Store who offer real Instagram likes from real accounts, which improve credibility of the posts.
Conclusion
These mistakes may look small but can cause a significant impact on your Instagram account. Avoiding these mistakes can assist increating more effective and solid presence on the platform. Value is still chased by the audience and they crave it. So, the more you provide it with a hint of spice with promotional content, things would go well. Be holistic and maintain a strong brand voice which will ultimately define your value while even handling user-generated content.