5 Myths About Instagram Marketing In 2021
Do you know how myths are created? When something has a tiny grain of truth in, the misunderstanding of the truth has trespassed the barriers of time and space; heightened either by some fools or by some super wise control-freaks who make them look like fools deliberately.
We already know that Instagram is the new emerging platform for brand marketing and brand recognition (no wonder why so many marketers visit the best place to buy Instagram followers with such hype). And especially for small and medium businesses that can easily gain a good audience outreach via simple interaction with their customers on Instagram, as this studies show.
Some myths revolve around marketing strategies on Instagram, and we are here today to debunk 5 of those. Let us begin.
Collaboration with ‘traditional’ celebrities yields successful marketing.
This notion might have been true in the past but not any longer.
However, allow us to clarify one point moving forward; there are two types of celebrities under discussion; Instagram celebrities and traditional celebrities.
What we are talking about is traditional celebrities. A California Polytechnic State University paper shows that people are less eager to follow a brand’s Instagram page and engage with it when a traditional celebrity features its products.
On the same note, however, another paper published in Marketing Intelligence & Planning shows that consumers exposed to Instagram celebrity’s brand posts perceive the source to be more authentic and trustworthy.
This only means one thing; Do not go for traditional celebrities. Because a) you don’t have the funds for it and b) it isn’t worth the effort. If you still want to do some sponsorship, go for influencers instead.
Fake followers are useless
This myth cannot be more wrong.
Fake followers have the potential to bring you equal benefits, if not more than real followers. People believe that one must not waste money on buying fake followers. Well, people are wrong.
In an HBO documentary, Fake famous, Bilton talks about how Fake followers are programmed to act just like real followers and are equally beneficial as the latter, as he prepares his wallet to buy fake followers.
The documentary also analyses 3 influencers as they fake their fame and eventually grow from 2500 followers only to tens of thousands of followers while receiving perks and sponsorships from brands looking to be featured on their Instagram posts.
This proves the enormous impact fake followers hold, despite being fake. You might want to reconsider your stances and buy Instagram followers if it is long-term growth you desire.
Engagement isn’t as important as followers
Wrong. Engagement is as important as followers.
Without a good amount of engagement on your posts, it is doubtful that you will retain the already present followers, let alone gain new ones.
Plus, the higher the engagement, the more chances of people seeing your posts and buying your products. A study published in the Journal of Communication Management shows that visual engagement positively influences the chances of selling the product in the image. The higher the engagement, the higher is the salience of a brand and vice versa.
So, if your posts aren’t doing well enough and you aren’t making as many sales as you’re aiming for, then you might want to buy real Instagram likes, comments, or both. It will help a lot. Promise.
It’s the real follower count that matters
This could’ve been discussed in the previous section, but it deserves its section because why not?
It’s not just the follower count that matters. It’s the combo of both followers (real or fake, nobody cares) and engagement.
And to prove our point, let’s do a small case study of an Instagram Influencer known as Arianna Renee (@Arii). The influencer with 2 million active followers received a sponsorship from a company with a task that couldn’t be more simple: sell at least 36 T-Shirts. And to everyone’s surprise, she couldn’t do that.
This proves that other factors besides active and real followers influence the successful outcomes of brands and influencers’ posts for promoting themselves on IG. Factors such as good engagement, positive communication with your audience, and building trust are some of them.
Go for fewer Hashtags
This myth probably came from Twitter, where people keep on saying not to use more than 2 Hashtags for better results. And just like every other myth, this one is false as well.
Twitter’s algorithm runs differently than Instagram’s algorithm and should be treated differently as well. You can use up to 30 hashtags on your Instagram posts, and our opinion is to use at least 20 of them if you are a small business or just starting. You’ll be surprised to see just how many people reach your brand just by hashtags when you know the number on the post statistics.
Conclusion
And that is it for busting 5 myths about Instagram marketing. Hope you enjoyed the read, and we will see you next time.