If your post doesn’t get enough engagement, delete it and post it again
This is something I suspect was started by teenagers put out because their post didn’t get as much attention as they expected but it has been picked up by Influencers…who I guess are closer to teenagers than I am.
Basically, the theory goes that when a photo doesn’t get the quick, instant gratification likes you expect, you pull it and try again later.

But let’s stop for a minute and consider that a bunch of your audience will have already seen this content (and they will notice the re-post), and some may have even engaged… and now the post is back, wasting their time, minus their comments. It’s a bit rude….you’re sending the message to your audience that their engagement with you wasn’t good enough the first time around and it’s like to just piss them off.

So yeah this is dumb, don’t do it. If you want to know why your post didn’t perform, start looking into your insights because it could be so many things.

2.Instagram reduces reach for business profiles

This is a bit of a case of correlation rather than causation. Many Instagram users began life on a personal profile as business profiles weren’t a thing in the early days of the ‘gram and when their business grew, or they made the switch to a business profile, they started to post “like a business” which really means they posted tonnes of sales posts and dropped all the other interesting topics they used to post about prior to becoming business like online. And what do you know, the engagement took a backslide.

Also, keep in mind that as your account grows, you are more likely to attract casual and inconsistent Instagram users who don’t log in each day whereas smaller accounts are more likely to have highly engaged followers who are on the ‘gram multiple times a day - leading to great engagement for the accounts that they follow.

So no. Instagram is not trying to force you to pay for ads. They just don’t want you posting boring business content all the time.

3. The first hour after posting is critical for Instagram likes & engagement

Nope. It’s not.

This is where the horrible idea of comment or engagement pods came from. The idea that you need as many comments or likes as quick as possible on a post to “beat the algorithm” has led to inauthentic engagement practices like getting a bunch of other businesses primed ready to like your posts as soon as you press publish.

Given the fact that the algorithm already knows where it will place your posts in the feed BEFORE you press publish, this myth needs to get in the bin.

If my super engaged follower Brenda likes all of my content on a regular basis then I’m always going to rank in her feed when she logs into Instagram. It doesn’t matter if Brenda logs in now or in two days, Instagram will show her my content as a priority and has determined this BEFORE I posted it.

4. You shouldn’t edit your caption after posting

There is no reason not to edit or update or correct spelling errors in your captions after posting. This has no bearing on the algorithm at all. Instagram is not going to punish you for correcting errors in your posts - correcting an error is a good thing so that would be weird.

So what should you do improve your reach on Instagram?

Create content that people will respond to, ask your followers to answer a question or for their feedback, ask them to post an emoji in a this or that type question - it’s a conversation!
Reply to everyone who comments on your content to build relationships and increase the likelihood of the algorithm identifying that this user wants to see your content in their feed regularly, and if their account is public go be social over there too
Keep those sales posts under control - only around 20% of your posts should be about your product
Check your insights and figure out what has been working based on reach, likes and impressions