Instagram is a really fun way to engage with people around the world by sharing pictures of everything under the sun! There are numerous reasons people are on Instagram – to stay connected with friends and family, to share a portfolio of work, to grow business and gain new customers, to tell a story through images or simply to have a ton of fun documenting life through photography. If you are an Instagram user looking to grow your following and expand your reach, here is a quick, no-frills list of some of the reasons people unfollow you on Instagram.

  1. You binge post with multiple photos per day.

    Binge posting, or posting multiple photos at once, is annoying to your followers because it takes over their feed. Save the multiple pictures for a photo album on Facebook where people can click and view at their leisure.

  2. Your pictures are blurry or grainy.

    Be honest, do you enjoy looking at blurry, grainy or less than stellar photos? Remember back in the days when we would get photos printed? Those blurry photos would be the first to get thrown in the garbage. Moral of the story, don’t post garbage!

  3. Selfies selfies selfies, too many selfies!

    Unless you’re in the business to sell your face, read: model, we don’t need to see your face day in and day out. Mix it up a bit!

  4. You post a lot of pics with Snapchat filters.

    Snapchat is fun and the filters are definitely cool, but save the filters for posting on snapchat! Yes, it’s okay once in awhile to share a cute filtered pic on Instagram, but when it’s the majority of what you’re posting, it’s not authentic, creative or visually appealing anymore.

  5. Too many pics with quotes or wording.

    It’s okay to post quotes or words sometimes, but folks generally don’t go to Instagram to read. Save it for Facebook or Pinterest.

  6. Your profile turns into a sales feed for your business.

    It’s fantastic you’re in business, but using Instagram to constantly hock your products is not really what this social media platform is intended for.  Remember, the key is moderation!

  8. 98% of your feed contains pictures of your kids. 

    Yes, kids are adorable! And sharing their pictures is definitely cute – in moderation. If you have a lot of followers on Instagram, there are likely a ton who don’t personally know you and won’t want to see your kids’ pictures four times a day. Save all the daily cute pics for grandma and grandpa!

Everyone has a different intention for Instagram and frankly, some folks just don’t care what others think which is totally cool too! However, if you’re looking to gain loyal followers that are interested in what you are doing, the key is moderation. Yes, you may be guilty of one (or more) of these blunders, but it’s okay! There are no concrete rules to Instagram and the key is to have fun and keep playing around with it until you find what works for you!

© Makina Marketing Group, April 14, 2017