There’s a lot of advice given out there about social media, myself included (hiiii).

And I know a lot of the time it can get really confusing – and frustrating.

So I wanted to remind you that there’s really no “must haves” in business. Just a lot of “here’s what worked for me, so I’m trying to pass it on to you” type of stuff. So there’s no need to feel guilty for doing (or not doing!) everything someone says you must do to be successful. 

However with Instagram, I feel like there’s still SO MUCH noise and confusion on some pretty basic ideas that I wanted to clear up five of the most common Instagram myths that are hurting your business (or at least holding you back).

5 Instagram Myths That Are Hurting Your Business

Myth #1: You can’t post your product over + over again. It’ll annoy your audience.

I just can’t agree with this one guys. Don’t buy into it. People clicked follow because they like your stuffff. So give ’em what the people want!

No, this doesn’t mean you can shoot your product the exact same way in every single post; but come up with 5-7 image “ideas” you like and swap out patterns, colors, or props to keep things interesting instead. (Try this post for some photo inspiration)

Or join the (free) Find Your Feed 3-day challenge to come up with your own account theme inspiration and 9-grid template.

Hana’s account at @quietclementine is an absolute killer example of this – always completely entertained by her posts and yep! her product is in every.damn.shot.

The truth is we crave repetition and having expectations for an account. If I started following you because I love your boho desert vibes, I don’t want to suddenly see a post about your dinner plans. It’s confusing! And after a few confusing posts, your customer starts to feel like “oh, I thouuuught I liked this account. Maybe she doesn’t always share her fashion advice.” which is what I was looking for.

And… BAM just like that. Follower lost.

Again, this doesn’t mean you can’t post other images that represent or complement your brand. But keep the “outside topics” you share consistent and repetitive; instead of occasional and random. When shared consistently and with purpose, having a personal ‘thing’ you share outside of business posts can actually solidify your personality and help you stand out.

Myth #2: You shouldn’t sell on every post.

Truth: you don’t – and shouldn’t – hard sell on every post, but you should be reinforcing your brand which naturally helps sell as they get to know, like and trust you.

Meaning both you as a person, and you as the brand.

Your position on Instagram is to talk about what matters to your customers and audience.

Be relatable to her. Show why your products are a good fit for her lifestyle.

Talk about how you struggled to find the right art for your home (*insert your product category here*), that you get she also finds it frustrating and give tips to overcome it; and then product name drop the sh*t out of yourself.

Look at one of the corporate big leagues in your category — do you think they feel bad about mentioning themselves in every post? No. No, they don’t. Because they’re focusing on how they benefit/help/entertain their customer or are just plain beautiful and they know their customer wants to see what they’re cookin’ up.

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Myth #3: You only need pretty pictures.

If you’ve ever read an article on how to grow your Instagram account (who am I kidding, you’ve read 100), you know “post pretty pictures” is like numero uno on every single one.

And well of course that helps (a lot); your captions matter too!

You need to create a space and a dialogue where your customer feels like they connect and want to hang out. If your pictures are just PRETTY AF it probably doesn’t matter what you say.

But for most of us to truly stand out and more importantly – earn a sale – getting a conversation going between you and your customers is where the magic happens. I give you two simple tips to follow in this post.

If you want to get serious about converting followers into customers, come learn how to weave a customer’s story into your brand with the IG90: Creative Instagram Plans course.

 Here’s a preview for one of the modules:

Myth #4: Don’t use hashtags or only use a few – they look spammy.

Nope, nope, and nope.

A) This is how customers will organically find you. While I encourage you to interact with your followers and reach out to audience members every day, you don’t exactly have time to be trolling on there for hours. Hashtags let the people come to you, without any extra work on your end.

B) When used correctly, they’re incredibly powerful. In my experience, think getting 100-150+ likes and comments when you have less than 1,000 followers. That’s over a 10% engagement rate! (hint: the average sits at a sad 4.4%)

C) You can keep a clean, uncluttered post with one of two tips:

2 | Or (like I prefer) post as the first comment to keep it so fresh and so clean clean, since the comments collapse and aren’t shown while scrolling through a feed:

If you feel like you haven’t figured out their potential, the Hashtag Discovery Workbook walks you through the exact steps I use for my clients to find where your customer hangs out and how to connect with them through hashtags.

Want to feel confident in finding your customer on Instagram and easily earn new followers each day? Check out the Hashtag Discovery Workbook to learn how.

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Myth #5: Scheduling your Instagram posts isn’t authentic, you should post “in the moment”.

Ohhh deep breaths.

I don’t know when this notion started flying around, but it never really made sense to me. YOU took the picture, wrote a thoughtful caption, and will engage with your audience in the comments… how does scheduling your posts make you less authentic?

Having a strategy for what you post and when you share something doesn’t make you fake or your message any less real — it makes you a smart and efficient business owner.

And when you’re strategic about how you spend your time, you’ll actually have more time to devote to your audience and hang out in your Instagram community.

For example, once a week you could set aside time to take your photos, write your captions, and schedule your posts with the right hashtags; and be able to knock it out over the course of a few hours.

OR you could “be authentic” by spending time every day trying to find the right lighting, setting up your “photo studio” (it’s okay, at this point we all know we’re using faux backdrops), figuring out what to say, picking hashtags, and then remembering to post at the right time.

You’re not in the business of “come see this really cool thing I’m doing right now”… you’re sharing your brand’s message.

What Instagram myths have you bought into or struggle with?