Transcripts
1. Intro: If you've been posting
consistently on Instagram and seeing no results,
you're not alone. Many creators believe
that the lack of growth is caused
by the algorithm, but they completely fail to see the mistakes that
they are making. In this course, we'll talk about the most common Instagram mistakes people make and most importantly,
how to fix them. You learn how to
create better content and improve
discoverability over time. This course will help you
identify what's holding your account back and give you practical
steps to improve. So if you're ready, let's get
2. Posting Random Content: Posting random content. One day you're posting
a motivational quote. One day you're
posting a travel log. One day you're posting
a fitness advice, and one day you're not
even posting at all. This is called random posting, and it doesn't work on Instagram or on any platform
for that matter. Who should be looking
at your post? Instagram doesn't
decide that with just your post but your
entire account history. So be mindful about
what you post. For example, if you consistently post on Instagram or
what photography, let's say photo editing or camera tutorials or
something like that, these people will be
your code audience now, and it will be easier for Instagram to decide who
to show your content to. But if your content
strategy changes midway, like sometimes you're
posting photography. Sometimes you're posting
an opinion piece, sometimes you're talking about news or something like that. So Instagram will become confused who to show
your content to, and ultimately your
reach will plummet. Now, this doesn't mean each and every post
should be identical, but it should serve
similar people. It means your content should
fit within clear categories. These categories are
called content pillars. For example, a photographer might focus on photography tips, photo editing tips, behind
the scenes content, camera reviews or
something like that. Ultimately, you're
making content for a similar group of people. And you're just creating
different type of content, but ultimately for the
similar type of audience, and that's what you
should do on Instagram. A business creator, take
Gary V, for example, a business creator should focus on making business case studies, business tips, marketing tips or something like that.
You get the idea, right? Before creating content or before thinking
about a video idea, just ask yourself, does
this fit my niche or not? If it doesn't, that piece of content will do more
harm than good.
3. Copying Successful Creators: Being successful creators
instead of learning from them. It's completely normal to study creators who
are doing well. In fact, it's pretty obvious. I mean, that's what
everyone does. The problem starts when
inspiration becomes imitation and you start
blatantly copying the creator. Many creators see a
viral reel and they try to copy the
exact same thing, exact same editing
style, same hook, same lines, exact same
thing word for word. But here's the issue. If someone can get the original video from
the original creator, why would someone follow you? The goal isn't to copy
successful content. The goal is to understand why it became successful
in the first place. Ask questions like, why did
this hook grab attention? Why did people watch
until the end? Why did viewers share it? Learn the strategy behind
the content and then apply the same principles
to your own content. Your personality and
perspective are what make you unique and your uniqueness
help people remember you. The most successful creators don't sound like everybody else. They develop their
voice over time. Use successful creators
as inspiration, not a template for success.
4. Chasing Every Trend: Chasing every trend. Trends can absolutely
help your content. They can also improve your
reach on a temporary basis. They can also introduce your content to a
brand new audience. But what happens is a lot of creators become completely
dependent on trends. Their entire account is trends. Every single real has to
follow a viral template. Wiout viral templates, they can't even do content
creation anymore. Eventually, the
account will lose its identity and people will forget the person who
is behind the account. The best approach is balance. Use trends when they make
sense in your niche. Add your own perspective, put your own unique spin on it, but don't rely on
trends for everything. You should also create
evergreen content. Evergreen content
is content that stays relevant even after years, for example, a tutorial
that you created. For example, a photography
tutorial you created, it's going to stay relevant
for years and years to come. And it will still give you
views even after years. Evergreen content last for
years, I mentioned, right? Just do this as an experiment. Go on Instagram right now and search for
whatever you want. It could be photography, it could be dance, it
could be music, anything. Just go on Instagram and
search for a popular keyword. And every post you see, just see when was
that post made. I did this experiment on my own. I searched for photography, and I was seeing posts that
were sometimes 2-years-old, sometimes six weeks old, sometimes ten weeks old. I was seeing older
post mixed in with newer post. Ranking pretty high. So all of these posts that
are ranking very well, even now, they're
still getting views. They're still getting likes, they're still
getting engagement, even after such a long
time because Instagram now prioritizes keywords and proper
SEO and not just recency. And if your content
is ever green, People will search for
that particular piece of content for years to come. That content will get you
views for a very long time. Ultimately, take advantage
of trends sometimes if they fall within your
niche or you can bend the trend to fit
within your niche, then you can use trend, but ideally, not every
reel should be a trend. Make evergreen content as the
majority of your content, and some of your content
can be trending reels.
5. Weak Hooks That Kill Watchtime: Weak hooks that kill watch time. You can have amazing
content, great diction. Every single thing can be
great about your reel. But if you can't stop
people scrolling, no one will watch your reel. The hook is the first
thing people see. It's the first two to 3
seconds of your reel. Its job is simple
to get attention. If your hook fails, people will watch before
finishing the reel. People will probably watch only three to 5 seconds of your reel before getting
completely bored, and they will switch
on to the next tree. And when people scroll
away that quickly, your watch time drops, and the retention rate is
absolutely in the gutter. Lower watch time tells Instagram that people
are not interested, and then Instagram will show your content to fewer
and fewer people. Now, let's talk about some common mistakes
that people make. First is starting too slow. If you have noticed, I have not even introduced
myself in this video. But what a lot of
people do is you know how they start their
video, Hello, guys. Welcome to the new
video by SubumjenTday, we're going to be talking
about whatever topic we are going to be talking
about. It's a suspense. I will reveal that after
a minute of yapping, that's how people
start their videos. And it's a 1 minute reel. I've seen people
create that kind of an intro that I just
did for 1 minute reel. For a 1 minute reel, get into the content quickly. Not even quickly, instantly. You should start
with the content. Don't introduce yourself. People don't care. Ultimately, people don't care, and that's what you
have to realize. It's a harsh thing
to say in a way, but people really don't care. People only care
about the content. People only care
about the value. You come later,
value comes first. Another mistake that I just
did in the intro, I did. We're going to talk about
something today. No one cares. Get into the topic quickly. Get into the topic quickly. Don't be vague about the intro. Now, okay, this is something that I haven't written
in the script yet, but let's talk about
two to three areas where you can find
Instagram hooks. First would be Pinterest. Just go to Pinterest and
search for Instagram hooks. There you will find a lot of
videos and a lot of examples that people use to hook
viewers to their videos. Next, you can go on to Google and write hooks for Instagram. There on the first page, just go to every
website you see, and you will find a lot of written hooks that
you can add to the beginning of your
script to make it sound, you know, more interesting. The third would be to study
more content creators within your niche within your niche and other
niches as well. You don't limit
yourself to your niche. Sometimes what happens is what works in other niche may
also work in your niche. So study famous and
popular content creators across multiple niches, whoever you find interesting and study the hooks
that they use. How are they able to
stop people scrolling? And don't study content
creators who are too famous or actors
and things like that. Their face is enough of a hook. They won't even have
to do anything to hook people into
watching their videos. See proper content creators, just make notes on
how they do it. Also, please, one
thing to remember the goal is not to clickbait
viewers into watching. Don't bait people into watching. The goal is to explain your value proposition
in one to 3 seconds. That's it. This is why you
need to watch this video. I just two to 3 seconds, you need to make it very clear why people
need to keep watching.
6. Poor Lighting & Visual Quality: Lighting and visual quality. A lot of creators
believe that they need super expensive cameras to succeed on Instagram or even YouTube or any video
platform for that matter. But this simply is not true. A lot of successful
Instagram creators use only their smartphones. You are seeing these
quotes right now. This is being shot
on an iPhone 12, and I'm using a
Bluetooth Lapel mic. And I'm using a basic
LED light right here, window light right here and a simple fluorescent
bulb in front of me. That's all the light I have. Because I don't have enough
natural light in my room, so I have to use these
additional lights. The thing is, even when
people are using their phone, they're still paying a lot of attention to how they
present themselves and the overall video production and how they present
their content. People judge others
very quickly, and it could mean other
people and their background, for example, in the background. Now, right now you see there isn't much
in the background. The wall is painted, and there is barely anything
in my background. My entire home is not like that. So this is the only
background that I can use. So I'm using it because
it's clean in a way. The background should be clean, minimal is optional, but it
ultimately should be clean. If it is cluttered, if there are 1,000 different elements lying around
unaesthetically, ultimately, it will
look unpolished, and people are more likely
to skip that video. Also one thing, dress better. For example, I'm wearing a
basic like shirt right now, and I have a hair comb. I'm probably sweating a
little bit because of the light and it's
summer in India. So dad is something, but ultimately dress better. Because the truth
is, if I was wearing a ragged t shirt or
something like that, what I wear in home, my content would not be that
interesting to you. Dad is just basic
human psychology. We are more drawn towards
attractive people. Now, attractiveness is a
completely different topic. What I'm asking you to do is be the best version of
yourself and nothing more. Wear clothes that make
you feel confident. Okay, I just remembered. Do this experiment
with yourself. If you're a new content creator, this experiment probably won't work on seasoned
content creators, but if you're a beginner,
just do one thing for me. Make two videos, identical
videos, exact same script. Don't change your talking
style even a little bit. In one video, wear
what you wear at home. Like, it could be a
basic like night gown. I don't know what people
wear at home, basic clothes. And in second video, wear
something more formal, more better, I could
say, more dressier. Make yourself look
better, groom, wash your face before
creating the video, and comb your hair. Like, everything should
be proper and set your camera up on a tripod
and like everything. Notice the difference
between the two videos. I'm sure you will be
surprised because even if I tell you to keep your delivery exactly the same, the tone of voice, the confidence in your
voice will completely change when you're
wearing better clothes and are looking better
for the camera. And now as for lighting, you don't have to buy
an external light like I'm using here right now. I'm only using it
because I don't have enough natural
light in my home. If you have enough
natural light, use that. For example, this exactly
here is the window. If I have to use this light, I will just set
up my phone here, right next to the window. And I will set like this so I get proper direct proper
light on my face. Natural light will look the
absolute best on most people. Use that to your advantage. Most Instagram creators, I see don't even own
external lights. They only use their
window light, or they just go sit on the terrace or anywhere that
they can find natural light, and they just speak
to the camera. It works. Next
very important tip would be to clean
your camera lens. A lot of times
people just take out their phone and start
recording right away, whatever they find interesting. What they fail to understand is there is a lot of greasiness
on the camera lens. Just clean it with
the microfiber cloth or your shirt or whatever
cloth you have with you, and you will instantly notice the video becomes more
sharper, more detailed. Also record on the highest
quality available. I've seen some people do this. I have an iPhone 12.
It shoots in four K. It can shoot in four K. But a lot of people what they do is they shoot at ten
ATP for some reason. Oh, I want to save
space on my phone. Okay, great. But please know that a ten ATP video
and a four K video, even if you're
uploading in ten ATP, I'm uploading in ten
ATP on Skillshare. The difference will
still look staggering, a basic ten ATP video if
I scale down this video, if I'm recording in ten ATP versus recording in four K. The video will look crisper and
sharper and way better. Record in the highest
available quality. I'm reiterating, you don't need super expensive equipment
to create better content. You just need
better planning and better strategy with your
surroundings, and that's it.
7. Ignoring Subtitles & On screen Text: Ignoring subtitles
and on screen text. A lot of people assume
that viewers are going to watch the video
with the sound on, but that's not
true because a lot of people are scrolling
Instagram in, let's say, public
places or next to a sleeping spouse or just someplace where they
can't play the real loud. Now, if your content relies
entirely on audio, like, people have to
listen to you talk, then it doesn't matter.
It doesn't make sense. If your content
completely relies on your voice or the audio, a lot of people will be alienated and will not be
able to watch your real. You also get
accessibility benefits because I mentioned pretty
harmless examples before, but some people are
short of hearing. They physically can't hear, so they won't be able
to enjoy your content. Have on screen text so things
become more accessible. If you're using subtitles, keep a larger font. You can also have font that has a contrasting color border, so it's more easier to read. Also make sure the
font is not at the edge of the screen
or isn't too small, otherwise, people won't be
able to read it at all. On screen text is not
just for subtitles. You can also use
the onscreen text to introduce the topic. This way, your watch time
will also increase because visual change people find visual change interesting
in the video.
8. Making Content Too Long: Making content too long. A lot of content creators think more content means more value, but this simply isn't true. In fact, one of the bigger
reasons people leave the video is that the creator takes too
long to get to the point. If your content feels slow, people will just scroll away and start watching
something else. The goal is not shorter content. The goal is tighter content. One of the easiest
ways to improve retention is to remove filler. Filler includes things
like long introductions, repeating the same point, unnecessary stories, extra explanations that
don't add any value. Ask yourself this question
before posting any video. Can I remove anything from this video
without losing value? If you can remove anything
without losing value, remove it immediately, and your content will perform
much, much better.
9. Posting & Ghosting: Posting and ghosting. This is when you upload your content and
immediately disappear. Wham wham, thank you, ma'am, sort of thing. No replying to comments, no engagement, nothing
absolutely crickets. You just make your
post and leave. See, Instagram is called social media for a reason
you have to be social. Instagram rewards interaction. A lot of people
think that Instagram will reward me if I post
more and more and more. But ultimately, if
you're not engaging on these post, it's
completely useless. When people leave
positive comments or any kind of
comment on your post, Instagram sees dad as
a positive signal. And when you reply to that post, and when you reply
to that comment, Instagram now sees
dad as interaction. Small interactions like these make the followers
feel appreciated, and when people know
you'll respond, they are more likely to
comment in the future. Don't just focus on
your own content. What a lot of people do is they only engage with their
own comment section. What you should do is if you find something
interesting online, any post, it could be any post. Leave meaningful comments. Don't spam, don't leave
5,000 comments a day. Leave a few meaningful comments a day on other people's post. They could be within
the same niche. They could be from a
different niche as well. But ultimately, Instagram
is a social platform. The more social you
are, the more rewards you'll get from Instagram
in the long run.
10. No Call To Action: No call to action. A call to action is simply telling the viewer
what to do next. Many creators spend time
creating great content, but ultimately fail to give the viewer any direction
on what to do next. The problem is most people won't take any action
automatically, and they will just go
to the next video. Even if they enjoyed
your content, they might not think
about leaving a comment, leaving a like, saving
the post or sharing it with their friends
unless you remind them. A simple call to
action at the end of the video can significantly improve the engagement on your video because it gives
people a clear next step. Now, on your screen,
you'll see examples that work pretty well
and just save them, create some notes and save
them to your Notes app. Also match your call to
action to the content. Now you will see different types of call to action for
different types of post. Just keep one thing in
mind. Don't overdo it. Don't ask people
to like, comment, share, subscribe, follow
all in one single post. You only get one
primary call to action.
11. Ignoring Instagram Stories: Ignoring Instagram
stories completely. A lot of people put all
of their energy on reels, causals and post, but completely forget about
Instagram stories. If reels bring people in, stories are what
keep them around. A lot of times you
must have noticed post and reels are
hyper polished. From no matter what
creator you follow, their post and
reels are sanitized and just your dad,
sanitized completely. But their stories
often feel personal, more grounded and
gives an insight in how their mind works and their personal details
and things like that. The more familiar
people become with you, the more likely they are to
engage with your content. When followers see you
throughout the day, for example, you're uploading two
to three stories every single day or
every alternate day, so people are watching
that story consistently, they are getting used
to seeing your brand. It could be personal brand,
it could be anything. You know, if any person is
uploading personal stories, that is also brand. You are building a
personal brand, let's say. So if people get used to
seeing you in their stories, your engagement on the post
will increase as well. Whenever you're creating
Instagram story, don't just create
image based stories. Sometimes you can create a poll. You can use those interactive stickers that Instagram has, like question stickers, pools, Imoge sliders and
things like that. That will improve the engagement
on the stories as well.
12. Only Posting Promotional Stories: Only posting
promotional stories. This should be a crime. Like every single time, there are some people I know. Every single time
they post a story, they're like, check this out, check out my new post, buy this, sign up on this
link or something like that. Every single story, they're
trying to sell me something. If every story feels
like an advertisement, people will stop
paying attention. Followers want value, not
constant sales pitches. What I have people follow
is the 80 20 rule. 80% of your post should
be value driven post, and 20% of your post
can be promotional. They may be promotional. It's not a hard rule that 20% of your post
will be promotional, 20% can be promotional if they have to be maximum
of 20%, up to 20%. Now, value driven post
can include tips, education, entertainment,
behind the scenes, personal stories,
and opinion pieces. Promotion becomes much more effective if it's surrounded
by valuable content. People are far more likely to create content creators
that they trust. Now, let's talk about some
story content creation ideas. These are all the content
that I've seen people create and share with
really good engagement. So you can use that to
your own advantage.
13. Not Using Keywords: Not using keywords. A lot of people still
just type thoughts, question mark on the caption of their post or just write
new post in their caption. What all of this is not doing is it's not letting Instagram know
what your post is about. So ultimately, it will decrease
the reach of your post. People are using Instagram
as a search engine. So people are searching
for things like photography tips,
Instagram tips, light room tutorials,
fashion tutorials, travel guide to a certain
place or anything like that. And Instagram uses keywords
from multiple places. Instagram is picking
up keywords from multiple places to rank a post. So have important
keyword in every place. Now, what are places? First would be your caption? You should always have important relevant
keywords in your caption. Then it would be
through spoken words. Instagram is constantly scanning for spoken words as well. So say the word. For example, if a real
about photography, mention the word photography
in the first few seconds. And it will be very helpful. Next would be on screen text. Instagram is scanning for
on screen text as well. So have the word photography in the on screen text
if it's relevant. I have an SEO course as well. Please feel free
to check it out. Actually, I have multiple
courses on Instagram already, where I cover each and
everything in more depth.
14. Relying Only On Hashtags: Relying only on hash tags. Hash tags are old news. They don't matter anymore. All of these people,
for example, I remember my journey, I remember other
people's journey. Back in 2017, 2018, every person was adding
30 hashtags on Instagram. It was like a mandatory rule. You had to add 30, 28 to 30 hashtags on
your post on Instagram. Only then it would
perform better. But now things have changed. Now Instagram is looking at metrics metrics like
watch time, shares, the number of likes probably and watch time and things
of that nature. Instagram is looking
at engagement to promote a post to decide whether a post
should be promoted. Instagram doesn't even care
about hashtags anymore. They themselves don't
care about hashtag. So it's best for you to
focus on keywords and making relevant content rather than depending on hashtags, because it's not 2017 anymore. It's 2026 and you have
to focus on keywords.
15. Buying Followers: Buying followers,
another huge crime because I've seen a
lot of big brands, even small time brands do this. They make a few
posts on Instagram. They don't work
because obviously most accounts are
not going to be successful with just
five to ten posts, and they think, Oh, we
only have 50 followers. Let's just buy 10,000 followers, so our account looks
more professional. So they end up buying
10,000 followers. Now what happens is their reals earlier were
getting, let's say, ten likes on 50 followers
out of 50 followers, they were getting ten
likes on a regular basis. So this is an engagement
of about 20%, which is okay for an
account of that size. But now on 10,000
fake followers, they are still getting
ten to 15 likes. Now, what is the percentage
of that account? Also, a lot of these
bought accounts, they are consistently
removed from Instagram. So those 10,000
followers will not be 10,000 followers two
months from now. It will be 8,000 followers. A few months from now, it
will be 6,000 followers. The number of
followers will keep reducing and they will never
engage with your post. And Instagram will be confused on who to
show your account to. See, all of these people who buy followers will never be
able to rank organically. That becomes a big issue. You should never, ever
think of buying followers. Also, ultimately, what
happens is because only fewer people out of your 10,000 followers are reacting and interacting with your post, your post will be shown
to even fewer people. Because Instagram decides,
Instagram sees that only ten or 15 people out of 10,000 people are
engaging with your post, so it's bad content, ultimately. Bad engagement rate will kill your account faster
than anything else. Don't buy followers. Instagram may even remove
your account, too. So don't take the risk.
16. Expecting Instant Results: Expecting instant results. A lot of people start posting on Instagram and they expect to go viral instantly or within
just five to ten posts. And when that doesn't
happen, they get frustrated. Some people stop
posting consistently, and some people drop
out altogether. But the reality of the
situation is for most people, content creation is going to be a journey, a long journey. You have to create at least 5,200 reels before being
able to find your voice. After you create 50 to
hundred well optimized reels, now you can say, like, Okay, this didn't work. But before that,
just keep at it, keep improving your content, keep using better hooks, and follow all the tips that
I gave you in this video, and you will rank pretty high. In some time, it will take time, but ultimately, it's
not a losing battle. It's just it takes time. That's it. Think about content creation like
going to the gym. You're not going to build
muscles in just one day. You're not going to change your body structure in one day. It's going to take repeated
workouts performed over months and then your body
will transform over time. Content creation is similar. You get better at it,
the more you do it. Just be consistent at it and improve slightly
with each video, and you will see fantastic
results in the long run.
17. Outro: DAG brings us to the
end of the course. I hope this class
was able to help you identify what mistakes were
holding your account back. The good news is that most Instagram growth
problems can be fixed. Often, it's not about
working harder, it's about making
better decisions. As you move forward, focus on applying what you've learned in this course one step at a time. Fix the biggest
mistakes first and keep improving your
content with every post. Thank you so much for
taking this class. Please make sure to check out my other courses as well.
I'll see you in the next one.
Shubham Jain, Everything about Etsy & Social Media
