2020 is fraught with danger when it comes to doing the wrong thing on Instagram. Learn what they are so that your account doesn’t get action-blocked- or worse, disabled!

Mistake #1: Hiring a Robot

Using automation.  I know that in this day and age we like to use as much automation as possible to make certain aspects of our business “hands-free” or streamlined. While this is great for time management, it could also get you action-blocked or get your account shut down in 2020.  Instagram is a platform that wants to encourage genuine, candid human interactions.  So, if you’ve hired a bot or bot service to do anything for you on IG, drop that automation as fast as possible so that your account won’t have to suffer the wrath of the 2020 Algorithm.

Automated actions include having a bot view stories, comment on posts, like, DM, or follow or unfollow accounts for you.  It’s also best to post to your account manually, without any schedulers. I know that this can be tough, especially for busy business owners, but the extra five minutes are worth it to increase your reach and keep your account safe with IG.

I occasionally schedule posts with Hootsuite (over the holidays and such.) Here‘s a good article about using third-party posting programs with Instagram.

Mistake #2: Looking Like a Robot

You probably don’t have a metallic exterior or a monotone voice, but you can still perform actions that make you look like a robot to Instagram. Doing too many of the same actions in one hour will flag you as a robot, even if you’re a human. I know this from personal experience.  When you unfollow or follow people, try to do no more than ten per hour. Acting on natural impulses to follow, unfollow, comment, etc.. like a normal person will help keep you safe as you interact and network with other accounts.

Mistake #3: Being Irrelevant

That’s kind of a harsh heading…

Anyway, doing irrelevant things on Instagram is a good way to not grow and not increase your reach.  Using the same hashtags every time, using irrelevant hashtags, posting random content and generally spamming people is frowned upon by the algorithm.  IG also has new image-recognition AI to help sort through irrelevant posts.  So, whatever you post, make sure that it’s accompanied by honest and relevant hashtags.

This is also why niching down is so important! When you niche down and post relevant content about your niche, it’s much easier for Instagram to introduce you to people who are interested in your niche.

Mistake #4: Spamming

Instagram is trying to weed out spammers. So, If you’re mass-messaging people, or posting too many salesy posts, your reach may decrease.  Basically, if you’re going to do cold calling (messaging), Instagram is not the place to do that. This ties right in with irrelevant hashtags and following.  if you’re using a hashtag that has nothing to do with your post, that’s spam. If you’re following people whom you have no interest in and who have no interest in you just for a follow back, that can be spam as well since Instagram now allows people to see which accounts they interact with the least and gives them the option to unfollow.

How to Stay Safe

The safest thing you can do on Instagram is taking a little time to manually post stories and feed posts, taking time to interact with your audience and community as a regular human being, using relevant hashtags, creating top-notch content and not falling prey to methods heralded as “easy, fast and free.” Easy, fast and free almost never exist at the same time within the 2020 Algorithm.

If you’d like to find out how to clean up your IG strategy, grow and increase your reach in 2020, check out my Instagram Strategy Sessions.