If you're an Instagram user, you've probably noticed a message appear in your feed this week alerting you that deactivated and spam accounts have been removed from your list of followers.
While that may be a bummer for those of you who have padded your followers lists with those spam accounts (without following them back, of course), users have been asking the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app to purge these spam accounts—and their ability to spray comments—for a while now.
“After receiving feedback from members in the Instagram community, we recently fixed an issue that incorrectly included inactive accounts in follower/following lists,” an Instagram spokesman said in a statement, according to re/code. “We believe this will provide a more authentic experience and genuinely reflect people who are actually engaging with each other’s content.”
With a nod toward real people engaging with each other's content, let's take a look at some tips on how to get the most out of your brand's message via Instagram, courtesy of Matthew Clyde, chief strategist and founder of Ideas Collide. When planning for Instagram, you should:
- Make me care. Or no one will follow you.
- Spark conversation and create a community. It’s about the people.
- Observe. This should be a daily discipline/practice. Learn from your competitors’ mistakes and victories. Observe consumer interaction. Social networks are essentially enormous focus groups where you can learn the consumer’s opinions on your strengths and weaknesses.
- Have a consistent message. It should ape the one on your other social platforms.
- Have a theme. With brands using so many platforms today, it’s important to create a consistent theme for your content. Constant product placement is not a theme. Your themes may vary slightly in order to fit niche audiences or specific brand products.
- Inspire. Use your visual story to inspire your audience. A great example is what Sharpie has done on its Instagram page; it inspires followers by posting images fans have created using their Sharpie markers.
Follow Brian Greene: @bwilliamgreene