Now you are creating a ton of Instagram reels, yet you are seeing zero results on your account.
Now, one of the reasons why this might be happening is because your content simply isn't good.
A lot of people don't want to face that truth.
And instead they rather blame the algorithm.
They rather say their shadow band, or they rather blame the strategy that they're following.
But the truth is, is that your content's just not good.
And the sooner you acknowledge that, the sooner you can fix it, so you can actually grow on Instagram.
Now, one of the reasons why your content may not be as good as you think it is is because you haven't spent time to understand the ideal audience you're trying to attract.
And, as a result of you not having a solid understanding of the person you're trying to attract, you end up creating content that doesn't resonate.
And when content doesn't resonate with people, they don't engage.
And when they don't engage, Instagram pushes your content less and less in the algorithm.
So how do you fix this?
Even for me, after four years of creating content on multiple social media platforms, I still invest the time to get to know my current audience and also the audience that I hope to have, and how I do this is in a few ways.
The first way is I like going to my competitors comment sections on whatever social media platform that they're on, whether it's YouTube Instagram, anything.
And what I like to do is, when I get into their comment section, I hyper-focus on the questions that their audience has, even after watching their content, because not only does this tell me what content I should be creating, but it also gives me insight to the gap that exists in the market.
And especially if you are a newer content creator, this is the arena that you are going to want to play in.
A lot of people complain that the market is saturated or that there's already a ton of competitors, but the gold is in the comment section because their audience is basically telling you what that creator failed to address and failed to do in their content.
So if you are a newcomer, this is a really great way for you to use those content ideas as your competitive advantage.
Now the second thing that I like to do to get a pulse check on my audience is I utilize Instagram stories to do polls and question stickers of what my audience is interested in, what their pain points are and what they would like to see from me from a content standpoint.
This really keeps me updated in the needs and wants of my audience.
Now to build on top of this.
The third thing that I like to do is, once or twice a year, I like to facilitate a feedback form with my audience.
This is a formal form where I ask them for more information about themselves, more information about what they'd like to see from me, what platforms they hang out in, what other social media accounts they follow which tells me who my real competitors are and also feedback on how they'd like to see my content change and improve.
This really gives me a lot of insight on the person that I'm trying to attract and some gaps that currently exist with my content strategy.
Now to accelerate this even further, I've recently started to do focus groups on zoom, where I'll invite maybe 10 people and I'll actually have a conversation with them to understand what their needs and wants are.
Now, if you're not comfortable with doing a group call, you can also do this one on one.
Even for me.
I spend a lot of time DMing my audience voice, noting back and forth to get a better understanding of what they'd like to see more from me, not just from a content standpoint, but also from a services and product standpoint from my business.
Even after four years of being in business, I still do this.
So if you are someone who is starting out, this is definitely a really great habit to get into, because it keeps you relevant from a content standpoint and it creates a deeper connection with your audience.
Now let's say you're watching this video and you are rolling your eyes at me.
You are just so sick and tired of hearing the word market research because you have done it all before, yet your account is still not growing.
Well, the next thing that I challenge you to ask is whether or not your content answers these two questions.
What's in it for me?
And so what a lot of times I get DMs from people asking me why they're not growing on Instagram.
And when I look at their content, it's really obvious to me that their posts have zero value.
For example, I once had someone DM me asking me why her reach on her Instagram reels was so low.
So I checked her content and I noticed most of her reels was centered around photos and videos of herself and her family.
Now, while this is cute and it works really well for a personal account, if you are someone who is serious about growing on Instagram, your posts need to add value.
It needs to answer the question of what's the main takeaway?
What's in it for your audience?
Because if it's just photos and videos of yourself and your family was zero value, then of course you're not going to grow because people don't resonate with the posts.
Therefore they don't engage with it.
And if they don't engage with it, Instagram doesn't push it out in the algorithm, which is why your reach is not at the level that you want it to be at.
So how do you fix this?
Now let's say I have a video of myself and my boyfriend building a cat tree together.
If I post this on my Instagram.
Yes, it probably would be fine if my Instagram was personal or private account.
But if my goal was to actually grow substantially on Instagram and I'm not a public figure, meaning I'm not like Kim Kardashian and people don't have a public interest in my relationship then what I would do to improve this video is I would either add a quote that would be inspirational or that speaks to relationships.
Or I would do a voiceover and share one of my biggest learning lessons of what it means to be in a long-term relationship.
Or I would add a text sharing three top tips of how to make a relationship work.
These are all components that I can add to this reel to make it more engaging, more relatable and actually have a key takeaway that allows my audience to want to engage and share.
And when Instagram sees that this activity is happening, it's then going to push this reel to more people.
Now the problem is most people don't think about those components and therefore their posts don't have educational or entertainment value, which is why their posts don't actually get the reach that they want.
Now this leads me to the next mistake that a lot of creators make which is a big reason why they're not growing as fast as they'd like to is because they do not know how to package their content in a way that is digestible for their audience.
So let's say you are using an Instagram real strategy, but the text disappears too fast.
Or maybe you put way too much text but the real is so short that people don't read the text in time before the real ends.
Then of course people will not engage.
Or let's say you're doing a talking head video but you take forever to get to the point, or your hook isn't strong enough or your audio isn't really loud enough or it's really blurry or pixelated, then of course people are not going to engage.
And so it doesn't really matter if you're using an Instagram real strategy or if you have really great content.
If you don't know how to package your information properly, then of course you're not getting to get the engagement you want and therefore you're not going to get the reach that you want either.
On the flip side, let's say you're using Instagram carousels to grow.
Another problem that can happen is maybe your branding is too hard to digest, meaning your colors are too bright.
Your fonts are really hard to read, or maybe you are using all 10 slides, but each slide is basically like an essay.
Then of course, people aren't going to swipe through.
And when they're not swiping through, they're not going to engage because they didn't get the value that was intended with your posts.
And when they don't engage with your posts, then of course your post is not going to get bumped in the algorithm.
And so bottom line is is that it doesn't matter how good your content is or whether or not you're using the right strategy.
If you do not know how to package your content effectively, then you're not going to grow the way that you want to.
Now, if you are someone who is unsure of whether or not your content is digestible, I highly recommend sending your content to a trusted friend or team member for them to audit your content and let you know whether or not things need to be changed.
As creators, we get tunnel vision on our own content.
We think that what we've created is a masterpiece, but until you've actually asked a third party to get an objective opinion on your content, you're not going to be able to improve your content strategy.
So definitely make sure that when you are unclear on whether or not your content is good, to get a third party to actually audit your work.
Now let's say you're someone who's watching this video and you understand all of these elements to creating great content, yet you are still seeing zero growth on your account.
Well, this might be because you don't know which feature to leverage on Instagram in order to hit your goals.
For example, let's say your goal is to increase your reach, specifically your reach to people who don't follow you yet.
Well, you'll absolutely want to integrate an Instagram reels strategy instead of a carousel strategy and to boost your efforts.
You may want to layer on trending audio in order to get more views.
Now, on top of reaching people who don't follow you yet, let's say you want to nurture your existing audience.
Well, here's what I would do.
I would still incorporate an Instagram real strategy, but instead of doing shallow trend based content like this, I would do talking head videos, where I can go deeper on a subject and accelerate my authority.
In addition to this, I would also leverage Instagram stories and even go live with my audience to deepen connection even further.
Because even if these two features stories and lives don't necessarily reach people who don't follow you, there are really great tools to actually build community with your existing following, which would then increase the loyalty for your brand over time.
Now let's say you are someone who wants to reach as many people as possible.
Then you'll want to listen to my next tip, which is to increase the variety of the features and of the content that you produce.
The truth is, even though there's a lot of focus right now on doing Instagram reels, I do not agree that all of your content should be Instagram reels.
And the reason why I believe this is because a lot of people don't want to watch a video.
Some people still want to read their content.
This is exactly why, even for my Instagram strategy, I have a good blend of Instagram reels and carousel posts.
And what I like to do is I like to use the text that I put in my carousel posts and use that as my script for my talking head videos.
This allows me to increase accessibility.
Because if you are someone who is only doing video based content, you are excluding a lot of people in your audience who wants to read your content instead.
On the other hand, if you're only doing text based content, you are also excluding a lot of people who enjoy watching videos.
And so if you want to have the best content strategy to grow on Instagram, I highly recommend that you have a variety of different content pieces so that you were excluding no one.
Now, beyond having a diverse content plan, whether it's the content you create or the features that you use the next thing that you want to be on top of is how the Instagram algorithm works.
If you understand the rules to the game, you're going to be able to play the game a lot better.
So, as a refresher, Instagram values number one recency, meaning that it is a platform that will always show content that is the most recent.
Unlike platforms like YouTube, where I'll often show content from months or even years ago, Instagram only focuses on new content, meaning that if you are a creator and you're only posting once a week, you're going to grow a lot slower than a creator who's posting five times a week.
And so you want to increase your frequency so that you're posting more relevant content on the platform.
The second thing that Instagram values is relationships, meaning that it will show content to people who they believe have a relationship with you.
So knowing this as a creator, you want to ask yourself, how can I increase interactions?
How can I increase different touch points that my audience has with me?
So what I would do is in my stories I would often put poll stickers or question stickers so that people are engaging with my stories.
I'll also have call to actions encouraging people to DM me, like my content or comment, so that Instagram sees that they have a relationship with me.
The more interactions and touch points that I create or that I invite my audience to, the more likely my content will be pushed out to them.
The third thing that Instagram values is interest.
So if Instagram knows that you're interested in a particular topic, it's going to show you more accounts that speak to that topic.
For instance, if you're interested in cats because you recently looked at cat videos or you're searching up cats in the search bar, then Instagram is going to show you more content about cats.
Now, if you are a creator and you know this, you want to make it easier for Instagram to categorize your account properly so that it's able to push your content and your account to the right people.
So let's say you are a cat account, but the problem is is that your content often talks about dogs cats horses cooking, weddings.
It's just a mishmash of stuff.
It's going to be really hard for Instagram to know what your account is about.
So you want to be consistent in the content that you're creating.
Other things that can help.
Instagram is putting keywords in your caption so that if someone is searching for your content, your content is going to easily come up.
And, by the way, you don't need to have hashtags and you can watch this video to understand why, but ultimately you want to incorporate keywords in your content and your bio and in your name so that Instagram can properly categorize you.
All right.
So my video just got real dark real quick.
So we're going to have to deal with this lighting change.
But I also want to say that, on top of these three values that Instagram has, which is recency, relationships and interests, a fourth value that Instagram introduced is video.
And so as much as possible, you want to incorporate video in your strategy.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, Vanessa, that is so hypocritical.
You just said to diversify your content plan.
Yes, I did say that, but as much as possible, I encourage you to turn your text based content into a video format.
For example, let's say you often do these quote posts.
I recommend that you actually turn them into quote reels and you're going to see way better results, simply because it is a video.
Now this doesn't take away from the fact that your audience can still read your content.
It's just the formatting that is a bit different.
Or let's say you were going to do a photo dump of all of your cute photos.
Instead of doing an Instagram carousel, I recommend using Instagram reels, because that way you're going to increase your reach.
Now, regardless of what you do, the bottom line is is, when you learn the rules of the game, you're going to be able to play the game even better.
That's why I want you to watch this video next, because I share the outdated tips that you should stop doing immediately if you want to grow on Instagram, and what you should be doing instead.
Thanks for watching this video and I'll see you in this video next.
