mistakes

Take It from an Expert – These Common Instagram Growth Mistakes Will Waste Your Efforts

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Whether they’re running a page for fun, a small business, or a massive corporation, getting attention on Instagram is on a lot of people’s bucket lists these days. As of 2021, analysts estimate approximately one billion registered accounts on Instagram, and with at least 60 percent of this figure using the platform actively, Instagram has rapidly evolved into one of the most commercialized and business-favorable networks in the world.

Thousands of entrepreneurs are running profitable businesses solely off Instagram. However, raking in exponentially increasing revenue is largely dependent on the number of active and “interested” followers on a page. If you doubt it, ask Kylie Jenner or Rihanna (Fenty CEO) – while other factors must be considered when evaluating their business success, the large followings on Instagram (running into tens of millions) certainly played no small part.

However, unless you’re a celebrity or an overnight sensation, growing on Instagram was easier about five to ten years, following its debut in 2010. Back then, the strategies were new, fresh, and easily effective. Today, with inestimable competition across every niche you can imagine, the common hacks have become overused.

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Well, despite how challenging growth and scaling may have become on social media, versatile entrepreneurs are relentlessly coming up with systems that actually work because growing on Instagram is not just an option – it’s essential in 2021. Most times, the most effective strategies are simply a matter of knowing what to avoid, and we’ll discuss some terrible mistakes below.

Those bots will be your downfall – eventually

“Awesome post”, “Great post”, “Nice photo”, “Good post”, “I’m lonely”… Within a second of posting a video or photo, hundreds of bots would turn and drop the same comments all over the place.

The quickest way to lay the foundation for poor growth on Instagram is to entirely automate your engagement. Turning to these inauthentic methods of growing your IG community is not only a way of ensuring zero results in the future, but you’re also micro-damaging the platform. People who follow you to gain value of any sort are more likely to unfollow soon, and when you show up on the explore page, no one wants to associate with a bot-loving brand.

“Bots make your account look great at face value,” said Nick Rogers, digital marketer, and Instagram growth expert. “It appears you have a lot of likes, followers, and comments, but to the trained eye, further glances at your account will immediately reveal that it’s fake. Why would you ever want a following of bots when they aren’t buying from you? Real people following you and your story is where the actual ROI of Instagram lies.”

Not leveraging influencers

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Instagram is a community where trust and admiration validate a lot of transactions. People follow who they admire and patronize who they trust – or a brand recommended by someone they trust.

Based on customer behavior tracking, about 92 percent of people would patronize a product or service recommended by people they trust on social media. Also, your ROI on investments could be 11 times higher through a genuine influencer campaign than a platform’s automated ads.

Many business owners on IG would rather run massive giveaways and spend money on automation than paying for influencer marketing – fees that vary according to the number of followers on a page.

However, it’s also important to look into influencers you plan to connect with for business purposes. These days, the phony ones are making more moves than the genuine community owners.

“One of the biggest frauds going on these days is using giveaways to boost followers,” says Rogers. “Every week, someone is setting up a new one. They get in touch with celebrities, pay a certain amount and have them request their followers to follow a certain listed group of accounts, mostly wannabe influencers.”

Nick Rogers is the co-founder and CEO of Pvsted Media (pronounced “posted”), a successful digital marketing and Instagram growth company. In partnership with his friend, Gabe Robinson, the 21-year-old had launched this company in 2019 following the surprising growth of his first Instagram page, Business-Driven Dream, an entrepreneurial community that organically attained 100,000 followers in the first four months. This page gave rise to several more including Investing Authority, and today, Pvsted Media, the parent company,  has garnered over one million followers across social media – unaided by weak-result tactics such as phony giveaways.

In reality, giveaways might rake in a ton of followers, but you can be certain they are only there for subsequent giveaways. They don’t care about your content, your products, or your value. Just the occasional online gifting fair.

“The followers are simply there for a giveaway,” Rogers continues. “Once the giveaway is done, they unfollow or never engage with your content. These influencers still do brand deals based on follower numbers of an unengaged audience. My takeaway has always been this: short term these tactics might work, but you are set up for failure in the long term because you are trying to take a shortcut rather than build an audience of loyal followers. Many brands these days are more concerned with short-term rather than long-term wealth.”

Irrelevant and excessive hashtags will only result in bans

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Instagram allows thirty hashtags per account and the wise strategy would be to select only hashtags relevant to your brand, the theme of your content, and your page in general. Using hashtags based on popularity or whatever is trending the most is extremely harmful to your page as it often results in shadow bans – basically, you stop growing entirely on the platform.

Use only a few hashtags per post and ensure they are relevant to your content and brand. Also, research on the frequently updated list of dangerous hashtags that result in instant bans. Avoid them and save your account from unnecessary growth delays and suspensions.

“I actually never use hashtags,” says Rogers, founder of the family-run Rogers Organization, an investment management company overseeing businesses in real estate and digital entities. “It often attracts random bot followers to my pages and is more of a distraction than anything else. Dropping one here or there for a unique post is fine, but overall, I’d recommend almost 100% of the time that we never use hashtags to try to reach new people.”

Posting high-quality content alone will only get you halfway through

Going through some of the courses being thrown around on Instagram ads, many would recommend simply posting high-resolution content and expecting your follower count to massively swell. Instagram is primarily a photo and video sharing app, but if you want to maximize its potential as an excellent marketing strategy, you have to do more than just post.

You must promote your page through influencer campaigns, running IG ads, using appropriate hashtags, and connecting directly with customers and other pages on the platform.

Next, you must be consistent with posting. It’s not about the picture quality of your posts but how much value they add to the community, and how regularly you appear on the timeline. Content research is quite helpful for keeping up with a routine posting timeline.

Don’t be all over the place with your content

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You’d occasionally stumble upon a page where it’s difficult to grasp the brand’s concept at a glance. From politics and sports to memes and cuisine, a brand that’s supposed to be marketing clothes and fashion accessories would indulge in posting the most random content. Some people post too much of their personal lives and too little of the actual business.

While a page does not necessarily fare better with a single theme all through, it’s important to be moderate when posting supportive content. Spreading yourself too thin with a wide range of concepts would only leave people confused about your intentions on the platform.

Instagram is the digital marketing goldmine of the 21st century, and the most important values are authenticity, quality over quantity, and patience – you are going to need a lot of it. It’s a continuous journey and not a finish line.

6 Simple Steps to Writing a Scientific Paper

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Every academic citizen who has decided to study at one of the numerous world universities, both globe-famous and smaller ones, has at least once encountered writing different types of papers. This is somewhat logical – the point of such endeavors is to develop the skill of research and learn how to establish theses and conclusions. Many grades and final marks outcomes depend on this form of testing and pre-examination activities, although it often happens that students fall in love with this principle of work so much that it remains their practice even after graduating. This way, various prestigious scientific papers and case studies that are cited today in student seminar papers and essays were born. To some, this doesn’t seem like too much success, but for an educated person, there’s no greater reward than for their efforts to be shaped in this way.

Let’s break this down into simple factors and see how one can gradually write a successful scientific paper that they can be proud of. Careful – you might really need it.

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1. Determine the paper topic

First of all and before anything starts… we can’t know how to go further if we haven’t clearly defined the topic we want to explore and write more about it. This decision depends a lot on personal interests and preferences, but also on the professors who represent the mentors and their ideas and thoughts. At some universities and within certain subjects, students are free to choose the desired topic to develop. In contrast, some courses require explicit adherence to the topic prescribed by the mentor.

When we decide for ourselves, it’s of paramount importance to decide on something we actually feel. It’ll be much harder for us to research and develop a concept that isn’t really that close to us, as it would require twice as much effort and is more strenuous. Therefore, it’s advisable to compile a list of possible titles that you’re personally interested in, and then decide which of them you would like to process and present through your scientific work.

2. Write a concept

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The next step would be to outline the most prominent units your study would contain. Almost every form of written work of this type is mainly divided into several main units, so it wouldn’t be bad to try to imagine what it will look like at the very beginning.

Try to design at least subheadings within these larger segments and to briefly determine where the key points will be indicated and how much space you can dedicate to each of them. It all starts with this – of course, after you have chosen the ways in which you’ll prove the point of your research and conduct certain types of experiments on which your writing will be based.

This section also involves finding the appropriate tables, figures, and other similar data that’ll find their place and application among the pages of your study. Surely, all in accordance with what the subject of your paper focuses on. If you perform the research yourself and get your own results, join them to this group of additional assets – their moment will come once it’s time for the appropriate part of the text that deals with them.

Therefore, the purpose of this step is to arrange what we learned from the materials that were available to us in such a way as to cover all relevant segments and respond to the topic in the right way.

3. Jump over the introduction and conclusion – go straight to the section ‘Methods’

Why is this? So… isn’t an introduction called like that because it should actually introduce us to the whole meaning of what we write and study? That’s right. However, if you think about it a little better, creating the initial part right away can be quite a thankless task. It may happen that at the very beginning, we have one vision of how we prefer to do this, but that everything changes after we really start to put together a body of work, compare the results and implement the methods we describe.

In order to avoid such situations, where it would probably be necessary to delete the entire introduction and start again, we leave this part as well as the conclusion for the very end. Then we’ll already have a complete picture, we’ll know what we’ve achieved with that process and we’ll be able to point out all that more precisely in the first, as well as in the last lines of our study.

We first talk about the methods we’ve decided to implement in our study process. They indicate the ways in which we actually came up with the results we discuss later in the text. Of course, they can be more than diverse and largely depend on the type of topic, and can include surveys, questionnaires, experiments, data analysis, and other types of examination. It’s all up to you and your own ways of research.

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4. Then write ‘Results’ and ‘Discussion’ sections

‘Results’ are probably the very core of this whole process. Why? Because there lies the heart of your exploration. Here you’re able to introduce the readers with the things that were born from the methods you have used and to reveal what you found out on this journey. In fact, without them, scientific work has no point and can’t be realized, since they’re actually the reason why it’s created.

If this whole has several sub-segments, feel free to separate them. Numbers, letters, subtitles… whatever you prefer. It’s crucial that this section is clear, legible and clearly set up so that everyone who reads is able to see the essence and understand where the conclusions you have drawn come from. Too many complex explanations and complications will only make your study more difficult to understand and follow, which again might result in reduced efficiency.

After we’ve managed to present the fruits of our labor, what follows is a discussion. In essence, this section mainly deals with elaborating on the results and answering potential questions that may arise after their publication. It’s a perfect place to compare your results with other scientific papers and similar studies, to explain things that may have remained unsaid, and to clarify ambiguities.

5. And then… finalize this with a conclusion and go back to the introduction

This must be pretty clear. There should be a way to sum up everything within a couple of paragraphs. What should be paid the most attention to here are some of the highlights of the work and the most crucial points within the entire subject of study. In general, it doesn’t have to be too extensive. His point is to bring the text to an end and to get the final word in one place.

Only after this is over, we return to the initial part. Now that we have almost finished a paper in front of us, it’s much simpler for us to compose a decent introductory word and explain to the readers what the purpose of the work is. What do we want to prove with it? For what reasons did we decide to take this step? Make sure there are compelling details in this section in order to convince the reader to follow the text until the end.

6. Check everything

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Finally, once you took care of every single part of your scientific paper, after you have sorted all the subheadings in order of importance and processed them in a quality manner, there comes a check-up. What kind? Every kind.

The first step of the final part of the assignment is to ensure all the words are written correctly, without any spelling or grammar mistakes. Lack of literacy is the biggest turn-off, apart from missing the point of the topic. Font and style need to be adapted to prescribed writing instructions provided by your university or institution.

Also, it’s not a huge sin to ask professionals for their opinion. While some opt for the assistance provided by subject professors, some will prefer to choose legitimate essay writing service. Have you known that, for example, essay.biz counts a huge number of authors who not only help, but also write whole texts. This might be a decent option for the ones who don’t have enough time to work it out or who have it as an urgent assignment.

How to Write a Good Review as a College Student

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While there are a lot of different types of review you will be asked to write at college, the one we want to talk about here will be your typical literature review. This is where you will be going through various pieces of literature in your field of study and, essentially, summing all of them up. On this page, we are going to teach you how to write a good review. Don’t worry, it is a lot simpler than you may think.

Know what you are writing about

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Literature reviews tend to be very narrow in focus. This means that you need to have a solid understanding of the task. If you don’t know, then make sure that you ask your professor. If you misunderstand the focus, then everything you write will be wrong. The focus is too narrow for you to go ‘off the beaten track’ and still write a good one.

Do your research

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A lot of what makes a good review is the amount of research that you put in. The writing doesn’t matter that much when it comes to producing a literature review. It is the research that you put into it. Remember; the whole purpose of this task is to go through the most important studies and articles related to the subject. This is all for your research.

It is likely that you will be given a few starting details about what you are meant to write on. It is rare that you will be given a literature review essay to write before you have studied the subject in class. This means that you should have a decent idea of the main studies. These provide a fantastic starting point because as you go through the main studies, you will find smaller studies that will either support or disprove your point.

Make notes as you go

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As you do your research, make sure that you are writing notes each and every step of the way. This will make your job a whole lot easier. After all, you are going to need to use references for the articles you review (use proper citations!), and if you have to go back through all of that research you have collected, it is going to be a waste of time.

The ‘big’ suggestion we can make is to have a few pages of notes. Maybe split up into sections. Write short snippets of bits you may want to include on them. It makes it easy to categorize your research, which will make writing a good review a bit easier.

Write your review

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Now, you need to take all that research and put it into your literature review. Thankfully, if you have done your research, then this should be pretty easy. No matter the type of literature review you are writing, the format will be roughly the same:

  • Statement (this will be your studies!)
  • Comment on statement
  • Issues with the study

A literature review isn’t just writing out reams and reams of studies. You need to write about how that particular study applies to the subject you are talking about. If you can’t think of how it applies, then it shouldn’t be included. As we said before; you can’t write a good review if you go off the beaten track. Stay on task. Take this review on Omnipapers as an example and follow it.

As you write these statements out, you will go through your research and find points where you can link up with other studies. Make sure your essay flows well.

Go through and edit

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Once you have done this, you can go through and start editing your work. You aren’t just looking for mistakes with your writing here. You are looking for continuity issues. You need to be ruthless with your editing. If something looks like it doesn’t belong in your review, then take it out. It is pointless. You will need to edit several times before you end up with a good review.

Yes. We know that writing a literature review may be wildly different to anything you have done before, but if you follow the guide on this page, we are 100% positive you will end up producing a quality review.

Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

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Today, for an advertising campaign to be successful, a business must not overlook digital marketing. The online advertisement form has taken over the industry and has already helped millions of businesses find success. However, it takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work to create a successful strategy, and people often tend to overlook certain elements or fail to recognize their importance.

Luckily, this can all be avoided with learning, careful preparation, and making smart choices, so here are the 5 most common mistakes many businesses tend to make.

1. Failing to Determine a Goal

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Developing an effective online marketing campaign is crucial for success Having a clear goal of what you want to achieve with it is of the essence since it will allow you to plan and build your entire strategy around it. By failing to determine your goal before anything else, you will be unable to utilize the best tools for the job and will not know how to develop an optimal strategy.

2. Not Choosing a Target Audience

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While it might seem nice to have customers from diverse demographics, locations, and different walks of life, it is not something that will boost your business and profit. Depending on what services or products you are offering, you need to choose a target audience that will truly be interested and willing to spend their money. Trying to reach many types of people might also result in a financial loss since you will be paying for ads that are targeted at people who have no interest in becoming your customers.

3. Neglecting Current Customers

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So many businesses only focus on increasing the number of new customers that they completely forget to pay attention to current consumers. This mistake can be detrimental to one’s business since it might lead to customer dissatisfaction, loss of trust, and ultimately consumer loss. It might also cause damage to your reputation, so never forget to keep engaging with your users.

For example, you can create interesting content, write informative blogs, share relevant posts, and include them in your newsletter. This way you will show your consumers that you care and appreciate them, which will ensure they stay loyal to your brand. You can also send personalized birthday offers, develop loyalty programs, and respond on social media platforms to maintain that positive connection.

4. No Smartphone Optimization

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Each day, the number of smartphone users is drastically increasing and more people are using these devices to get information, conduct product research, and shop. According to a recent study, around 51% of smartphone users have said that they discovered a new business via their phone. Making your website mobile-friendly will not only boost your visibility but also increase your traffic and meet potential customer’s expectations, increasing their satisfaction.

5. Overlooking Analytics

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Ignoring and not utilizing analytics can greatly hinder the success of your campaign. Not only do analytics enable you to track website traffic, but it can also allow you to study your audience and monitor the effectiveness of your content across all platforms. It can be of great help for remarketing, retargeting, and extending your reach.

Conclusion

Always remember that success does not happen overnight and that creating a successful campaign takes a lot of planning and time. By being knowledgeable and well-prepared, you can avoid making major mistakes and make sure you succeed.

Worst Social Media Marketing Mistakes

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Is your business or brand not getting the attention it deserves? You might be doing these social media marketing failures!

Social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, can be awesome platforms for telling the story of your brand in a visually inspired, artistic way. But in some cases, they can be a laughing punch line.

Remember the Dove transformation ad when a black woman shifted into a white woman after using Dove lotion? Well, we can say it does not really fit with the company’s brand messaging and potentially sends an insult feeling to the huge part of their audience.

How about the Snapchat’s “Would You Rather” ad featuring the faces of Rihanna (Slap Rihanna) and Chris Brown (Punch Chris Brown)? There are social media marketing mistakes out there, and we don’t have enough time to detail all of them.

Instead, take note of these social media marketing mistakes and learn from them. Happy reading!

  • Not determining your goals

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One of the social media marketing mistakes that most companies do. What do you want to obtain and how will you achieve it? With clear business goals, you’ll have an accurate vision of your target as well as determine where you’re heading with your marketing roadmap. This will help you to stay focused and move so quickly as well.

  • Targeting the wrong audience

Social media platforms compose of different types of people. Hence, it is crucial to know who your target audience really is. After all, your sales will come from them. Your target audience is a set of people you want to see, hear, and communicate with regularly. To figure out who these core clients are, ask yourself the following questions:

“What is their average income?”

“Where is your audience located?”

“What are their hobbies?”

“What industry do they work in?”

  • Not constructing a social media plan/strategy

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Let us say you are a home designer, with a goal of designing a property. Do you first build a rough draft to plan out your strategy or go and purchase your supplies and then immediately go to the job site? It is just like social media.

An unidentified plan or strategy will not allow you to tailor your campaigns to your goals. A social media marketing plan is specifically crucial if you’re planning to develop services and products in your business that will meet your target market’s needs. And it’s always a good idea to look into Instagram automation so you don’t need to spend so much time responding to every person when you could be building your business.

  • Not creating video

Social media video marketing is a massive explosion, and you should be taking advantage of it before anything else. Around ninety percent of internet users claim that video plays an integral role in buying decisions. You don’t necessarily have to be very skillful in creating video content. Just keep in mind not to post videos that have low sound quality, gritty, or pointless.

  • Posting crappy photos or stock images

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Be aware of this, or else your audience will hit the unfollow button! Most consumers do not like stock photos or crappy photos in their newsfeed, so avoid posting them. If you really have the need to use stock photos, make sure to pick one that looks like an actual sincere shot and tell a real story.

  • Being tactless

I can say one of the important tips for beginners to Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites. Never let your tactless side ruin all your effort. Several big brands have fallen into the trap by posting ads on their websites and social media platforms that are completely offensive and insensitive to certain events and groups.

Take for an instance the Dove advertisement we have mentioned earlier. Say no to posts that show violence, sexism, racism, and other related-contents. Using a foul language is also a no-no.

  • Abusing your social media platforms

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Some marketers have a firm belief that posting in various social media sites is beneficial, which is actually NOT. Remember the rule: “Quality over Quantity”. Making one to two publications is enough, just be sure they are well-designed and captivating. All your audience does not spend time on some platforms, despite everything.

  • Ignoring your customers or their feedbacks

Social networks are all about communication. Thus, always be responsive as often as possible. Do not neglect your subscribers and even the reviews and comments. You don’t need to reply too long messages or a question. A simple thank you will bring a good impact both to your post and business.

Your audience wants to feel important, so give it to them. Of course, there are haters and a few hateful comments – you cannot please everyone as they say. Don’t attempt to reply with the same feeling. Instead, respond in a respectful and kind manner.

  • Not being straightforward

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Another worst social media marketing mistake to avoid is generating fake news. If you’re unsure of a thing, keep your hands off the keyboard. Your business will be the one to suffer most if you post false claims or lies even one. AND… don’t plagiarize and copy.

  • Spamming

The most successful social media pages are those that do not self-promote and spam. The false engagement versions or spammy links won’t work at all. Try to engage, provide valuable contents, and get in touch with your share of the audience.

  • Ignoring paid social media advertising

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Yes, social media advertising works and it can help your business or brand to boost. While you need to lend some dollars, the perks still weigh over your cost. These paid social media advertising tools enable you to target with incredible detail. Plus, you’ll get a certain ratio of guarantee that your visitors will see your posts.

There are many options given for paid social media advertising, which include LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. There are niche and emerging platforms too, like Houzz, Snapchat, and Nextdoor. If you’re starting on Instagram, make sure you don’t make any rookie mistakes, by following these Instagram tips for beginners.

It is very crucial to review your social media campaigns thoroughly to avoid these and more social media marketing fails. By having a solid marketing strategy and having the right tools at hand, you can establish a brand that is next to none!