If you have created an Instagram profile, not for a narrow circle of friends, but to broadcast your lifestyle to the world, share tips, and earn money on social networks – you need a profile audit.
The audit is a check that helps to objectively assess an account’s status.
It gets on with things and answers important questions like these: “Why is activity falling?”, “What can be improved?”, “Am I positioning myself correctly?”, “Is reading my posts convenient for users?”.
It is important to regularly monitor your account dynamics and check it for quality. Without analysis, you will not be able to identify weaknesses and strengths. As a result, it will not be clear what must be changed, and what to focus on in promotion. There are multiple solutions that can assist you with Instagram Audit, and one of our favorite ones is the service provided by Spam Guard App.
Who needs an audit?
First of all, SMM specialists, PR specialists, and targetologists need a full audit and a Fake followers audit. Before they start working with a company profile, great estimation work should be done. Promoting a beautiful well-designed profile is much easier. This is a fact. But if your account is inharmonious, with low engagement, it will be more difficult to work with.
Only after evaluating your account, you can:
- Outline your work plan;
- Launch promotion;
- Determine whether you need the help of third-party specialists: designers, marketers, photographers, copywriters, etc.;
- Announce the final cost for working with a specific profile.
Bloggers and business page owners that have an online presence, need an audit to “come down from heaven to earth”, take an adequate look at the state of affairs, see what mistakes were made, and find suitable ways to correct them.
Who conducts an Instagram audit?
SMM specialists, both private specialists and agencies are engaged in auditing the profiles on Instagram. For profile analysis, you mustn’t transfer access to your profile to third parties, it is enough that your account is open.
If you wish, you can audit your Instagram account yourself. It will not be as professional and complete as that of a specialist, but it will still give a general idea of the state of your profile, and help to find weaknesses and shortcomings.
Profile analysis consists of 7 steps
Let’s consider the 7 main stages of analyzing an Instagram account.
Step #1: Evaluation of a nickname and a page name
“As you name your ship, so it will sail” – a similar applies to your profile nickname. In fact, this is your main identifier in any social network, a top-line in your account. It is a nickname that will be indicated when mentioning you in posts and stories, and it will distinguish you from other users.
For evaluating the nickname, answer a few questions:
- Does it reflect the topic of your blog?
- Is typing it in the search bar convenient for users?
- Is it easy to remember?
- Does it evoke associations that echo the profile topic?
- Is it not too long?
- Does it consist of less than two words?
An example of a successful nickname on Instagram is “i. love. fitness”. Not too long, reflects the subject, is easy to remember, and is easy to type in the search
If you answer “Yes” to at least 4 questions, then everything is fine with the chosen nickname
Don’t overload it with unnecessary signs. For example, sometimes users separate words with a double underscore like this:”__”. It will not be convenient for users to enter a nickname overloaded with signs, which are often even impossible to count. If there are fewer divisions it will be better.
Choose a unique nickname because when they add numbers to an already used nickname, like this: “Alex123” it doesn’t look very presentable.
Another important point is your page name. The page name (a line highlighted in bold, placed above your biography) is often underestimated. It’s exactly that using page names the search results are carried out on Instagram.
When a person types “Ivan Ivanov” into the search, the service selects people with such a page name, not a nickname. Therefore, commercial profiles often place key queries in the name, for example, “Food delivery Moscow”, “Massage in Sochi”, etc.
Step #2: Evaluate the avatar
An avatar is an important component of any profile. Treat his choice very carefully if possible it does not need to be changed. People with developed visual memory remember exactly your avatar, and it helps them to find the necessary profile. If you change your avatar you will lose this part of your audience.
When evaluating an avatar, you must take into account these details:
- If there are inscriptions on the main photo, they must be readable, otherwise, there is no sense in them.
- Your logo should fit completely, its elements should be large.
- It’s important not to crop the composition, if a cake is in your photo, then let it be seen in its entirety.
- If you are running a specialist profile, then put a professional title photo where you are in uniform or in the working environment.
- Photos that reflect goods and services of high quality, bright, with good clarity.
Your avatar must be original. Using popular stock images, you will create an image of an unreliable brand and a fake specialist.
Step #3: Analyzing your profile header
Everything is simple here. A profile header can be considered good if it:
- answers to questions: “Who are you?”;” What do you do?”;
- contains a unique trading offer (relevant for companies and stores);
- explains why users should subscribe to you (relevant for bloggers and specialist profiles).
It’s important not to overload the emoji header, choose a readable font for it. If you are conducting an independent audit, close Instagram and take a break from it for at least 4-5 days.
Posts can be uploaded through third-party services and auto-posting. When you reopen Instagram, you should evaluate your profile header, avatar, and other visuals with a clear look.
Step #4: Text Content Analysis
It’ll be better if you view many posts. SMM specialists usually analyze 10-20 recent publications.
The checklist for verification is quite extensive:
- Does the post text correspond to the topic from your profile header? Every beginner’s main mistake is that the content does not match the profile header. If you position yourself as a general practitioner, the ratio of posts on medical topics to personal ones should be at least 3:1. If you abruptly decide to change the blog focus, change the header as well.
- Is it clear from published posts what you do and what you offer? When commercial profiles are full of publications on general topics that are far from business, subscribers begin to forget what they actually subscribed to your account for. You mustn’t disguise yourself as a personal page, your followers should understand who they are subscribing to. If at least every two posts you don’t talk about your business, it’s time to completely revise your content plan.
- Publications are designed in a similar style? If you often change the authors, it’s important to make sure that the texts are designed in a familiar style. This is especially true for personal pages because subscribers believe that you are the one who prepares all the publications. But frequent changes in the business page are also not desirable. If you understand that published texts are very different, correct them.
- Is your content diverse enough? There are a lot of types of tests for social networks. In order not to bore subscribers, try to touch on a maximum of various formats.
Formatting deserves special attention. Pay attention to the ease of text readability, and the presence of spaces. On Instagram, you can always edit a previously published text. Be sure to use this opportunity to make it pleasant for new subscribers to read publications.
Step #5: Visual Content Analysis
It’s a very difficult part of auditing. There are no uniform standards for photos. If we generalize, then ideally they should:
- have a good quality (without pixelation and defocus);
- be kept at identical temperature: only warm or only cold shades of filters;
- A complete, harmonious picture has been created, but the pictures may be different.
The requirements for the visual are constantly changing. If in 2017 trends included the most fabulous pictures, then this year the emphasis is on natural photos.
You can maintain a single style, or you can maintain a dynamic live profile. This remains to the taste of a page owner, so the rating here is more about the quality of the content.
Step #6: Calculating the Engagement Rate
This is one of the clearest and most visual stages of verification. If in other points a biased assessment is possible due to banal tastes and preferences (first of all, this concerns the analysis of the visual concept), then engagement rates are quite specific figures.
You can find out the real percentage of subscriber engagement using specialized Internet services that can also hack Instagram followers if it’s necessary.
Step #7: Activity Analysis
It is very difficult to evaluate this item independently. A professional will determine it in just an hour:
- Do you publish posts often enough?
- Do you respond quickly to comments?
- Do you support dialogs in comments or not?
- Do you respond to responses and mentions?
- Do you use all available promotion methods?
- Are you working specifically for your target audience?
- Do you invest enough in promotion?
The answers to these questions will help you understand what else you can do to grow your Instagram blog and develop it.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to say that the profile analysis should be carried out at least once every six months. Or even better – every three months, to validate that that account is correct. We recommend subscribing to an automatic monitoring service that will assist with that, like the Spam Guard App, feel free to check it out.
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