7 Social Media Myths You Should Stop Believing

Improving your social media game can be tricky, especially when there are so many contradictory rules about what you should and should not do to improve your social. Today, we are breaking down some of the most widespread myths or pieces of outdated information to help you in your journey to master your social content.

Myth #1: Hashtags are tacky. Don’t use them!

Truth: We’ve all seen that post, spammed with generic hashtags such as #LikeForLike or #Blessed. The abuse and overuse of hashtags brought about a general negative view of hashtags as a whole. Hashtags exist for a reason though; they help make posts discoverable to fellow social media users. If you are trying to grow your following, hashtags are an integral part of reaching new audiences.

The key is to use hashtags strategically. You can add up to 30 hashtags to a post, but we recommend adding 5-10 strong keywords per post (as a comment, so they don’t muddle up your caption content).

When adding a new hashtag, you’ll be able to see how many posts appear when you search a tag. Ideally, you want to add tags that have enough posts that it’s a tag people are searching, but not so many that your content will get buried. For example, #ootd has 296 million tagged posts (!!!) but #whattowear only has 2 million. In this case, #whattowear hits that sweet spot that will help your post get discovered.

Myth #2: You should post in the feed every single day, maybe even more.

Truth: Back before the introduction of stories, this used to be the case. Now influencers can get away posting every few days to the feed while using stories to more regularly update audiences. Save your absolute highlights for the feed.

To keep engagement rates up, we do recommend posting to stories every day. The good thing is that story content should be off-the-cuff and unfiltered, showcasing your daily life.

Myth #3: Keep your business and professional life separate on social media.

Truth: When social media platforms first emerged, one of the biggest rules was to keep personal and business matters separate. Who wanted to see an entrepreneur eating a sandwich alongside them trying to sell a product!?

These days, however, we’ve seen the incredible successes of influencer clothing lines and how strongly audiences respond to marketing when they know the story—and the people—behind the business. It is completely acceptable to showcase the people behind your business and bring followers behind the scenes of your company. Have a recurring series where you can answer customer and fan questions about your business. Ask for feedback and customer input on upcoming launches. Take followers through the process of launching a collection.

In a world run by technology, customers want to know that there are real people behind their favorite brands, so don’t be afraid to get a little personal!

Myth #4: Keep your captions short and sweet. People don’t want to read on Instagram!

Truth: To this we say, “To each their own!” Everyone has a personal brand on social media, and that includes how you write captions. At the end of the day, your captions should be true to who you are; if you’re sharp and witty, go for it with the short, sassy caption! If you like to get personal, share in-depth advice, or use your social media as a micro-blog, go ahead and caption away (well, up to 2200 characters).

Myth #5: Instagram is all that matters.

Truth: You know we love Instagram, but it’s not the only platform out there! Facebook may not be as cool as it used to be, but it’s still an important channel to connect with your diehard fans. We also love using Pinterest as a way to promote blog posts and other inspirational content.

There is a world beyond Instagram, and while you don’t have to overextend yourself to all the platforms, we recommend making 2-3 social media platforms a priority for your overall social strategy.

Myth #6: Instagram “shadow bans” certain posts and accounts based off of XYZ.

Truth: Ever since Instagram updated their algorithm to prioritize relevant posts instead of just sharing posts on your feed in chronological order, influencers have spread intense rumors about Instagram “shadow banning” certain posts and accounts for mysterious reasons. While it would be great to blame a poor-performing post on a larger conspiracy, the truth of the matter is that not every single post can be a viral sensation.

Some posts are going to perform better than others, and that is 100% okay. The next time a post doesn’t perform well, instead of blaming the “shadow ban” or “the algorithm”, investigate your post’s analytics and look at the why behind the post’s performance. The data will provide concrete answers that can help you moving forward.

Myth #7: Your content will only perform well if posted during an extremely specific timeframe.

Truth: Because of the aforementioned algorithm change, followers could see your post the second it is posted, or they might see it a day or two later. That means followers will engage with the content for several days, not just the instant that it goes live.

Check your analytics to see when your followers are most active and try to post in those times, but don’t sweat it if you miss that window. As long as followers are generally engaging with your content, they’ll see your latest post.