Take a look at these 5 Steps To Take When Cleaning Up Your Instagram Account
Step 1: Timely Content
Identify the time-sensitive content that you may have in your profile. It should be content that drives a specific message home; a message meant for a definite purpose at a certain time. If that period comes and goes, then that content will have lost its relevance. For instance, what you used for a flash sale will have no relevance when it is still live since will not have any cohesion with the new content.
Failure to pull such posts down from your gallery can hurt your Instagram profile. Such content can hinder brand development, dilute the power behind your message, or even dent first impressions to new visitors. Therefore, you need to be out with old to make room for the new.
However, keep in mind that not all old posts will have little or no relevance. You may find some of the time-sensitive content still working its magic. You can keep such posts but consider refining them to ensure they are in line with your overall strategy.
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Step 2: Clean Up Your Copy
With Instagram, people are there to look at pictures. That means that every other thing will come in second. So, you need to focus more on the imagery side of things rather than the text. What you post should closely align with the interest of your brand’s identity. That then will need you to also give some thought to how you caption the pictures you post. You may use the dialogue slot to elicit some reactions from your followers or as a link in bio CTA. Whichever the case, the referred-to bio blink will have an expiry. It will not be available in your post that is more than a year old.
Perhaps, you might have held a contest that has stipulations in the caption block and an outline entry mechanism. You will pull down the post and update it with the winner of the contest. Most importantly, you can use this as an opportunity to enhance or bolster your brand’s values and its narrative as opposed to having a post-specific approach to the content.
For instance, you can look for an old post (a year old) whose caption you can update to read “the first 3 people to DM us this post including a celebration emoji will get a free sample of our product.” You will have to keep the tally current and live on the post to that people know the contest is ongoing. It is a strategy that will get the word out and have people revisiting the old post that they otherwise would have overlooked.
Step 3: Delete Them Hashtags
The hashtag cloud cannot go unmentioned when you talk about updating how you use your Instagram account. The use of hashtags is the fuel that drives up visibility, thus increasing the exposure of your posts, be they text or images. But in as much as they hashtags will get you or your content noticed, the effectiveness of this will only last around 24 hours before losing its influence. Therefore, you need to get rid of the old hashtags and cleanse your tag cloud.
Step 4: Content From Back In The Day
If you scroll down your Instagram profile, down to the first content you posted, you may be surprised by what you find. Some may put smiles on your face as you reminisce, and others will have you asking yourself, “what was I thinking?”
You will be quick to think that some of the posts should not be there anymore. In as much as you will not pull down everything, you should trim some fat. Remember not everything you post will be a home run. Some will be turn out to be something you regret.
You can make fun of this exercise by taking screenshots and sending them around or sharing them on your Insta Stories. Get a good laugh out of it; it will enhance your morale while also doing away with the hustle of deep Instagram cleaning session.
Step 5: Who Are You Following Who?
Who you follow can be a reflection of the content you share and your online presence; therefore, you need to take stock of these individuals when cleaning up your Instagram. You should know how are these that are interested in you or your brand.
But we are not trying to tell you who you can and cannot follow. The decision is left to you as you comb through your list with a fine-tooth comb. Some of the followers may have expired (are not active on Instagram), and others can be a negative association for your brand; thus, they are a dead weight that you should offload.