Debunking the Top 5 Instagram Myths
Lots of rumors flying around there these days, let's debunk 5 popular Instagram myths!
#1 PUTTING HASHTAGS IN YOUR COMMENTS ISN'T EFFECTIVE
You absolutely do not receive more or less engagement if your hashtags are in the caption as opposed to the comments. Putting hashtags in the comments can make your caption appear cleaner, but it has no effect on the performance of your post. Your hashtag strategy however, does. Make sure you are using relevant hashtags as well as a mixture of popular and unpopular tags.
If you're looking for an easy way to come up with hashtags check out displaypurposes.com. Just type in your niche, location, or occasion and it will come up with 30 of the best hashtags to use!
#2 THE INSTAGRAM ALGORITHM IS HIDING MY POSTS
Instagram doesn't often speak publicly about their algorithm, but they took to Twitter to break the claims on this one:
“We have not made any recent changes to feed ranking, and we never hide posts from people you’re following – if you keep scrolling, you will see them all. Again, your feed is personalized to you and evolves over time based on how you use Instagram.”
“What shows up first in your feed is determined by what posts and accounts you engage with the most, as well as other contributing factors such as the timeliness of posts, how often you use Instagram, how many people you follow, etc.”
Although it can be frustrating when some posts don't preform as well as others, it's comforting knowing that there's nothing shady going on. Instagram shows posts based on what people interact with. If your engagement is down, focus on creating content that engages your audience by asking questions, providing useful knowledge, starting conversations, and digging deep or getting personal. In turn, your posts will start showing up in more feeds, more often.
#3 SWIPING THROUGH INSTAGRAM STORIES HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT
Given everything we know about Instagrams's algorithm it would make sense that when you click through someone's stories, Instagram will populate that feed far less than those you've watched all the way through. Although there's no definitive proof, this is largely fiction. Swiping through someone's story doesn't necessarily harm that particular account.
Instagrams algorithms typically work to promote the things they think is right for you. Instagram prioritizes content using an extensive algorithm based on your prior history.
#4 EDITING A CAPTION WILL HURT THE PERFORMANCE OF A POST
This one is simply not true. Instagram is not going to punish you because you made a spelling mistake. In fact, it might even be worse if you delete the post to make a change to the caption. I have tested this theory and edited many captions and see the same reach, engagement, etc as any other post. However when I make a post and delete it because of an error and then repost the same post again, I noticed the repost did not do as well at all.
#5 INSTAGRAM IS SHADOW BANNING MY ACCOUNT OR SPECIFIC POSTS
Shadow banning is the concept that a platform hides a specific user’s posts from the hashtag feeds or searches of those not following you. Instagram won't ever randomly shadow ban you, but it really boils down to posting like a spammer or bot.
If you post content with only super popular hashtags, banned hashtags, tag people who are not in your posts (all the time), leave spammy comments like “great pic”, play the follow/unfollow game then Instagram will think you are a spammer or bot and restrict your content. I’ve also heard it doesn’t like when you copy and paste hashtags or use the same hashtags over and over. All of these things have limits unfornunately due to the fact that there are bot and spammer accounts out there. So just be cautious of those things and you're all good!
Thank you for taking the time to read this today! Don't forget to subscribe to my email list for even more tips and tricks! Don't worry I won't spam you. If you want to learn how to monetize your Instagram and turn content creation into a full-time job then check out my guides below.
My guides teaches you everything you need to know to be a successful influencer! From increasing your engagement to building a media kit, landing high paying collaborations with as little as 1,000 follwers, building multiple streams of income and everything else you need to know! My goal is to help people like you live a more fulfilling lifestyle and spread all the good vibes into the world!
Wishing you all the best,
Chas
