instagram

  • Social Media Marketing, Social Media Tips

    Preventing Instagram Spam Comments with Hidden Words

    • by

    Are you tired of sorting through a barrage of Instagram spam comments? Do you long for authentic engagement and meaningful interactions with your followers? If you’re a small business owner or solopreneur who wants to foster genuine social media connections, this article is perfect for you.

    In the evolving digital marketing landscape, Instagram is a powerhouse for brand visibility. Yet, spam comments can often ruin the true essence of real interaction. If you want to improve your Instagram experience and create a space where real conversations can thrive, putting a stop to spam comments before they get published is the place to start.

    Are Spam Comments Helpful for Your Instagram Account?

    Before we discuss the solution, let’s debunk a common misconception about Instagram spam comments. Many people believe Instagram spam comments can be beneficial because they are still a type of engagement for your post. However, in reality, these comments rarely provide any value to your content. Instead, they create a nuisance as they clutter up your feed and overshadow real interactions.

    How do Hidden Words Settings Work on Instagram?

    Introducing Instagram’s ‘Hidden Words’ feature – a powerful tool enabling you to control your comment section. With this feature, you can easily remove Instagram spam comments by specifying particular words or phrases you want to block so you can foster real and meaningful conversations in your comment section.

    Step By Step Guide on How to Activate ‘Hidden Words’ to Prevent Spam Comments on Instagram

    One of the best ways to prevent spam comments on your Instagram posts is by activating “Hidden Words.” Here’s how:

    1. Access Settings: Open your Instagram app and navigate to your profile.
    2. Tap on Settings: Click on the gear icon and choose “Privacy.”
    3. Go to Comments: Select “Comments” and find “Hidden Words.”
    4. Customize your List: Add specific words common in spam comments.
    5. Save Changes: Make sure to save your settings to apply the filter.

    What are the Phrases to Include In Your Instagram Hidden Words List?

    Creating a comprehensive list is key. Try to think of the obvious spam terms and variations, misspellings, or industry-specific terms that spammers commonly use on your posts. For example, words like “giveaway,” “promo,” or “discount” might be fine in some situations but can be flagged as spam in other contexts.ย 

    Should I Delete or Block Existing Spam Comments on My Posts?

    When dealing with existing spam comments, the question often arises: should you delete or block them? Deleting removes the comment from immediate view but doesn’t prevent the user from posting again. Blocking, on the other hand, restricts the user from interacting further. Your strategy might depend on the severity and persistence of the spam.

    How to Delete Comments on Instagram

    1. Open Instagram: Launch the Instagram app on your mobile device.
    2. Access the Comment: Navigate to the post containing the comment you want to delete.
    3. Tap the Comment: Locate the comment you wish to remove and tap and hold on the comment.
    4. Select Delete: A pop-up menu will appear, then tap “Delete” to remove the comment.

    How to Block Comments from a User on Instagram

    1. Open Instagram: Launch the Instagram app and go to your profile.
    2. Access the User Profile: Locate the profile of the user whose comments you want to block.
    3. Tap the Profile: Once on their profile, tap the three dots (โ‹ฎ) at the top right corner.
    4. Select “Block”: From the options presented, tap on “Block” to prevent the user from interacting with your content.

    Other Ways to Protect Your Business From Scams and Spams on Social Media

    Although the Hidden Words feature of Instagram is useful, it’s not the only thing you can do to safeguard your business on social media. To get a better understanding, check out this article on how to prevent scams and spam on Facebook.

    Getting rid of spam comments on Instagram is not just about cleaning up your feed. It’s essential to maintain a genuine and valuable online presence. By removing spam, you create a space for better interactions with your audience, free from clutter. Focusing on quality over quantity improves your brand’s image and helps build real connections and a positive space.ย 

    Need help managing your social media profiles? We offer done for you packages and digital marketing coaching if you want to handle everything in-house with a bit of expert guidance. Reach out to get started now!

    CONTINUE READING

  • Social Media Marketing, Social Media Tips

    Instagram Pinned Posts – What to Pin on Instagram and How to Pin

    • by

    If you’re like most small business owners, then you’re always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to market your business. And if you’re not already using Instagram, then you’re definitely missing out! Instagram is a great way to connect with your customers and share images of your products, services, share a peek behind the scenes, and so much more.

    One of the newest features – and coolest to my marketing-focused mind – is that you can pin posts to your Instagram profile so that they stay at the top of your feed. Instagram pinned posts are front and center for new people first checking you out and those long-time followers who are finally ready to engage more with you.

    The question is what to pin. Should you share your most engaged posts, a sales pitch, an educational reel, or something else?

    In this blog post, I’ll show you how to set up your three pinned posts on Instagram and a few ideas of what you should be pinning to get the most value out of them.

    What to Add to Your 3 Instagram Pinned Posts

    Instagrammed pinned posts are a great way to address HubSpot’s Flywheel model that replaces the marketing funnel of days past.

    The idea of the Flywheel is to “Attract, Engage, and Delight” the strangers who become prospects, then customers, and eventually promoters of your business. It keeps your business growing. You can learn more about the HubSpot Flywheel on their website.

    Back to the Instagram pinned posts…

    The three posts that you pin to Instagram should move people along in their buyer’s journey and help them to build a relationship with you and your brand.

    Following the Flywheel, let’s look at a few options. The types of posts listed could overlap in multiple steps of the Flywheel:

    • Your newest post
    • An educational post with a CTA to send you a DM
    • A post that quickly shares what you offer
    • A Q&A thread post to keep the conversation going
    • A client testimonial
    • A post that sets the tone for the rest of your feed (colors, fonts, design, etc.)
    • A post that explains how people can get started
    • An introductory post that shows why you’re the right person to work with
    • Your most engaged post or reel

    Use a mix of single-image posts, carousels, reels, and videos in your top 3 pinned posts. People absorb information better in different formats so trying to connect in multiple ways is always helpful.

    How to Pin Posts to Instagram

    ย The process to pin posts on Instagram is simple to do the first time and when you want to switch out your pinned posts to something else in the future.

    Here are three easy steps to set your pinned posts on Instagram once you’ve identified them:

    1. Go to your Instagram profile and tap the post.
    2. Click the ellipsis (…) and tap “Pin to your profile.”
    3. Repeat for the other two posts.

    That’s it! You can confirm the three posts that are pinned by the pushpin at the top right of the images on your profile.

    Removing pinned posts is just as easy. Click the post you want to remove, tap the ellipsis, and tap “Unpin from your profile.”

    Need help with your Instagram strategy?

    In addition to our done-for-you services, we also offer digital marketing consulting and coaching. This option saves you some money and allows you to handle digital marketing yourself. Click here to schedule a 20-minute discovery call. Your first 20 minutes are free!

    CONTINUE READING

  • Marketing, Social Media Tips

    How to Find Powerful Hashtags for Social Media

    • by

    Over the last few weeks, I’ve had two yoga teachers ask me about how to use hashtags on social media. Technology is often not high on the priority list for many yogis, and I’m gathering that very few in our industry know how to attract new students or customers by properly utilizing hashtags.

    If you grew up with social media this may not apply to you, but you still may learn a new way to find powerful hashtags that can help to get your brand noticed. Skip down to the section on Finding Hashtags if you already know how to use them.

    Finding Powerful Hashtags

    Hashtag Basics (or #basics)

    Hashtags help you to get noticed. If you click on a hashtag on Twitter, it jumps you to a stream of every tweet with that hashtag. Same goes for Instagram and Facebook. Someone that is interested in yoga is likely to scroll through photos/posts with #yoga. If you’re using #yoga too, they’ll see your image.

    Try to use only two per tweet, maybe three max. You should be using them in EVERY tweet you post.

    On Instagram put your hashtags in a comment below your caption. You can use up to 30 on Instagram.

    For Facebook, a lot of people don’t use them. I’ve even had some people ask me why I was using them there and almost get defensive like I wasn’t following the “Facebook rules.” But, these were individuals who don’t work on digital so, poo on them! If you do use some in your Facebook posts, three is a good number. Test it out and see how your audience takes to it.

    LinkedIn is another place where many users aren’t used to seeing hashtags, but you should still be adding them to your posts. The hashtags on LinkedIn help to categorize posts and allow new readers to find your content.

    Finding Hashtags

    You’ll need to find hashtags that are relevant to what you’re sharing. So if your post is about writing a book use tags like #amwriting #fridayreads #amreading, etc. You can find new ones to use by looking through the streams of others using these hashtags. Click a photo in the hashtag stream you’re viewing and see what other tags that user listed.

    If you are targeting a geographical area, use relevant hashtags to your region, i.e. #StAugustine #JaxBeach #Jax. Again, if you look at other people’s posts, you can find new hashtags to use on yours.

    Here’s a trick to finding new hashtags on Instagram:
    Go to the search section on Instagram and click the Tags tab.
    Type in the hashtag you want to find more about (using yoga in my example). You can see from this screenshot a list of other relevant hashtags.
    >hashtag_research_instagram

    Click one of the tags and then read the Related hashtags at the top of the page, you can scroll to the right for more. This can be a rabbit hole and lead you to find tons of new relevant tags.
    >instagram_hashtag_research

    Hashtag research will lead you to new accounts you may want to take notes from and follow. Reviewing what works for others in your industry is smart. Check out what are other yogis are using that appears to beย gaining traction for them.

    Another way is to start writing a word and see what tags auto-populate.

    When looking for hashtags to use on Twitter, I often consult Hashtagify. It provides you with a popularity rating of a particular hashtag and gives a web of relevant hashtags. Again, this can be a rabbit hole and can lead to an overwhelming amount of results. I use Hashtagify weekly to find new hashtags to use on social media.

    hashtagify_yoga

    Finding hashtags is something you want to revisit regularly. New ones are popping up constantly, and you’ll want to test and reevaluate the ones you are using every so often.

    Do you have any other ideas about how to find new hashtags?
    Let me know in the comments below!ย 

    free-def-guide-facebook-pages
    style=”display: none;”>How-to-find-powerful-hashtags

    CONTINUE READING