Growing your Instagram account, strategy and discussion

[rowz]

When I find an influencer/celebrity who will probably love my product, I'll make a photoshopped pic with them using my product, and send it to them in a DM. I'm no photoshop pro, so it just ends up looking really silly. I might get a response like "haha that's hilarious", and then the door is wide open for me to talk shop.

That is SUCH a good idea. Thank you!

We post product photos/videos at least once every single day, but we've seen the best results with some sort of engagement (liking posts, following accounts, messaging), especially since we're just starting out and trying to grow quickly. At the height of our growth we saw over 500 new followers per week and 100+ increase on average likes per post.

 

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[Xeon]

@UPDATE

Everliker really works in gaining me new followers!
Big shoutout to @jon.M for suggesting this to save my **c*! Here's the stats:

As you can see, from 16 Feb to 22 Feb, I was losing followers. Been like this since Sep 2017.
I did gain a few here and there but overall it was a futile fight. After using everliker on 23 Feb, things took a turn!

To further boost results, I set it to like hashtags that are adjacently related, either directly or indirectly, to my sub-niche's hashtags.

E.g: if you're selling pillows and the hashtags you're telling everliker to like are #pillows #instagrampillows......you should also set it to like #blankets #beds #pillowcovers #couch #homepainting #homedecor.....and then expand further to #bedroomdesign #livingroom......
(because folks who're interested in pillows might also have a chance to be interested in other home decor stuff)

This is light years better than the time-and-cash-consuming giveaway contest which gave me only 10 followers.

But there's one drawback of everliker. I checked the "Posts I've Liked" on my IG and it shows that everliker liked those raunchy sexy photos as well! Not good for my brand if people sees it lol
I'll see if I can filter posts out by blocking words like "sexy, hot" etc.

Also, I tried out Fuelgram's Power Likes today. Bought 1 Power Like for 5 Euros for 600 guaranteed likes.
I posted a video as a test, and the Power likes sprang into action within 3 seconds, and flooded the video with 600 likes within 5 - 7 mins.

Most of these Fuelgram accounts that liked my video post seem to be real accounts.
They have above 20K followers, in fact, many had >100K followers and were quite active (most even had active comments sections).
These accounts are all fitness, sexy girls, celebs, cars and those viral content type of accounts.

I didn't get to the Explore page, not even close. The video has 57 Views but 654 Likes as at this time of writing.
I believe the actual view count is higher, but IG counts each view only if the whole video has been fully viewed to the end.
Kinda expecting it to go viral as the content itself is pretty good, but no....maybe IG has a different algo.
Another account which post the same exact video has way more insane views/likes than me.

I will test again on Wed using a photo. My photos always have much higher engagement than videos for some reason. Will update again later this week.

 

[Xeon]

Further updates.

If it continues like this through 2018, I should be able to hit 10K before end of Dec!

Also, regarding Fuelgram's powerlikes (@Blake C ), I tried it for the 2nd time today, buying another Power Like.

I can say it doesn't work, UNLESS your content matches the type that those power accounts that like you (> 50K - 100K followers) happen to belong to the same niche.

E.g: I've an IG account about frogs and those power accounts are about fitness and chicks......it doesn't get me to the Explore page, and it has no effect whatsoever in getting any additional likes.

Will stop using them.

 

[Elijah]

Further updates.

If it continues like this through 2018, I should be able to hit 10K before end of Dec!

Also, regarding Fuelgram's powerlikes (@Blake C ), I tried it for the 2nd time today, buying another Power Like.

I can say it doesn't work, UNLESS your content matches the type that those power accounts that like you (> 50K - 100K followers) happen to belong to the same niche.

E.g: I've an IG account about frogs and those power accounts are about fitness and chicks......it doesn't get me to the Explore page, and it has no effect whatsoever in getting any additional likes.

Will stop using them.

Do you use the standard or pro version? Plus how many likes are you giving per day? 1400 seems quite a lot to me, I do not want to get banned.

 

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[Xeon]

Do you use the standard or pro version? Plus how many likes are you giving per day? 1400 seems quite a lot to me, I do not want to get banned.

I used the Standard and was happy that it works, so I switched to the Pro.
I started with 700 first, then increase by 50 - 100 daily. If you set it too high, Everliker will warn you.

I set it to Like by hashtags (700 Likes), Like my own feed (25 Likes) and Like Users' followers (400 Likes). I'll slowly bump it up to like 1400 Likes per day.
Everliker sleeps very often to emulate human behavior (sleep 3 mins, wake up to like X amt, then sleep 7 mins, then wake up to like X amt, sleeps 3 hours.....)

You can also use Display Purposes | Photo Hashtags for the Modern Trollop to discover what hashtags to use. Switch to graph mode, it's very helpful.

 

[jon.M]

Regarding Everliker, they've got a few safety recommendations on their site. Good to be aware of them:

1. Increase overall speed gradually, by 50-100 likes a day, until you reach 1400 likes.
2. Do not run multiple bots or multiple Everliker instances over the same Instagram account at the same time.
3. Avoid liking, following or posting anything on Instagram while Everliker is working. Stop Everliker before doing so.
4. Do not use Everliker for accounts that are less than 21 days old or have no recovery phone number listed.
5. Use as many relevant hashtags to like by as possible and post good fresh content regularly.

Link --> Everliker | Your Like Assistant

Of course no automation tool is 100% secure.

@Elijah

 

[Elijah]

Thank you both for your answers!

 

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[Xeon]

Just got 30 - 40 more followers today in addition to the ones I got from Everliker.
Maybe even more. 50 - 60 I think! It's a field day today.

Here's how. Go to getmorepopular.com.
Enter your IG account name then click Submit.
After that, you'll see another page asking for your email address.
Use a throw-away or fake email if you want. It's all free.

Anyway, they say 300 followers, but in reality, it's a lot lesser (I got 1/5 of that).
I checked the new follower accounts, they're all real accounts based on their follower-likes-comments ratio (and also the comments on their posts are all by friends), just that they're all from Brazil lol

I think how they do it is to expose your IG account to their network (probably Brazilians who want to make a quick buck) and if those guys like your IG account, they follow you.

Interesting concept of gaining followers instead of using everliker or that spammy follow-unfollow stupid method!

 

[jon.M]

Here's a fun way to get reposted by "thought leaders" who are active on other platforms such as Youtube, LinkedIn etc. but also have a notable Instagram account:

1. Go to their Youtube channel, latest LinkedIn posts or whatever.

2. Consume their latest content until you come upon something they say that's memorable, interesting and could be turned into a good quote. (1-3 sentences)

3. Take that quote, go to Canva or the app of your choice, and turn it into an instagram pic. Put some love into it, add a picture of them and make it look really nice.

4. Post on your Insta and tag the person.

5. They'll love it, as it's flattering to be quoted by other people. And it makes them appear more authorative.

6. Expect at least a like and a comment. Hope for a repost (= exposure to their followers, which COULD be great if they're your target audience)

Works best for "smaller" guys. Don't do this for Gary Vee or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Go for someone who's actually likely to see your post.

 

[JordanS]

In my opinion the best way to gain Instagram right now is buying L/C rounds from larger accounts. This helps you hit explore and makes your posts go viral.

Heres one of my newer accounts, its about 2.5 months old

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I've been having fun posting on IG lately and it's pretty interesting the games that are played over there.

The bot comments are hilarious because they never match what was actually posted.

Then you have the person who follows you and the very next day they unfollow you.

When someone follows you who has a skewed count (12,000 followers / follows 200) you know they're just working the algo so you can follow them, and then you're unfollowed quickly.

Here's a fun way to get reposted by "thought leaders" who are active on other platforms such as Youtube, LinkedIn etc. but also have a notable Instagram account:

1. Go to their Youtube channel, latest LinkedIn posts or whatever.

2. Consume their latest content until you come upon something they say that's memorable, interesting and could be turned into a good quote. (1-3 sentences)

3. Take that quote, go to Canva or the app of your choice, and turn it into an instagram pic. Put some love into it, add a picture of them and make it look really nice.

4. Post on your Insta and tag the person.

5. They'll love it, as it's flattering to be quoted by other people. And it makes them appear more authorative.

6. Expect at least a like and a comment. Hope for a repost (= exposure to their followers, which COULD be great if they're your target audience)

Great idea, thanks.

 

[Xeon]

Here's a fun way to get reposted by "thought leaders" who are active on other platforms such as Youtube, LinkedIn etc. but also have a notable Instagram account:

1. Go to their Youtube channel, latest LinkedIn posts or whatever.

2. Consume their latest content until you come upon something they say that's memorable, interesting and could be turned into a good quote. (1-3 sentences)

3. Take that quote, go to Canva or the app of your choice, and turn it into an instagram pic. Put some love into it, add a picture of them and make it look really nice.

4. Post on your Insta and tag the person.

5. They'll love it, as it's flattering to be quoted by other people. And it makes them appear more authorative.

6. Expect at least a like and a comment. Hope for a repost (= exposure to their followers, which COULD be great if they're your target audience)

Works best for "smaller" guys. Don't do this for Gary Vee or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Go for someone who's actually likely to see your post.

Brilliant Jon! Gonna suss some out and try this.

In my opinion the best way to gain Instagram right now is buying L/C rounds from larger accounts. This helps you hit explore and makes your posts go viral.

Heres one of my newer accounts, its about 2.5 months old

Very impressive stats that I can only fantasize about.

Do you buy L/C rounds from multiple large accounts, or go through a service? I assume it'll be very expensive to say, buy L/Cs from 15 large accounts, since some of them are charging....hundreds?

If you don't mind, maybe you can give more details on the process.
Your method seems to be like a cross between IG telegram pods and shoutouts?

I've been having fun posting on IG lately and it's pretty interesting the games that are played over there.

Always thought you were allergic to Mark Zuckerberg's business and platforms like FB & IG lol

The bot comments are hilarious because they never match what was actually posted.

Imagine a sombre funeral ceremony and the bots comment "Exciting, wish I was there!" and "Awesome, can't get better than this!"

---------------------

I just have a new idea to make our IG pages look highly "engaged" and active. Fake it till you make it.

Usually, the comments section of active IG accounts with high engagement tend to look like this:

There's a lot of mentions and tags instead of actual text comments.

I found this service called Redsocial, where you can buy real human IG comments, then instruct each of those commentors to mention and tag someone else.

This will give the impression of your posts looking very active, as if everyone is talking to their friends about it.

I'll be trying this next Tue for my next post and update here.

It probably needs to be done in the long-run for each post so that you burn this "reputation" into the mind of your real actual followers, that you're an active and highly social popular kid lol

 

[Jmad97]

I’ve been trying out everliker for the past day and so far I like it. I’ve gained about 12 followers. I have my likes set to 500 in my particular hashtags. I’m going to add more hashtags tomorrow and up the like count to 600.

 

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[PetePreneur]

I used the Standard and was happy that it works, so I switched to the Pro.
I started with 700 first, then increase by 50 - 100 daily. If you set it too high, Everliker will warn you.

I set it to Like by hashtags (700 Likes), Like my own feed (25 Likes) and Like Users' followers (400 Likes). I'll slowly bump it up to like 1400 Likes per day.
Everliker sleeps very often to emulate human behavior (sleep 3 mins, wake up to like X amt, then sleep 7 mins, then wake up to like X amt, sleeps 3 hours.....)

You can also use Display Purposes | Photo Hashtags for the Modern Trollop to discover what hashtags to use. Switch to graph mode, it's very helpful.

Won't this just get you flagged by Instagram as a spam account and you'll get less reach on your posts? I don't see how this is any different to follow unfollow really. It's still probably classed as spam by Instagram because you're still notifying users and annoying them.

Let us know how you get on though. Have you seen a drop in engagement since you've started doing it?

 

[Xeon]

Won't this just get you flagged by Instagram as a spam account and you'll get less reach on your posts? I don't see how this is any different to follow unfollow really. It's still probably classed as spam by Instagram because you're still notifying users and annoying them.

Let us know how you get on though. Have you seen a drop in engagement since you've started doing it?

No, my engagement didn't drop at all, in fact, I got more comments recently.
Usually (before using everliker), it would be 0 - 1 comments. These couple of posts last week and this week got 7 - 12. It could be because the posts are more interesting? I dunno, but in any case, I haven't encounter any issue so far.

Everliker is basically like Instagress. Not sure if you've heard of that.
Only difference is, it works in your browser and not accessed from the company's website.
It's different from the spammy Unfollow/Follow thing, because Unfollow/Follow will mess up your feed totally (you can't see clearly the posts you want to see from real followings), and it messes up people. I mean, you follow them, they're happy, and then you unfollow? WTF?

Everliker is basically just liking posts on your behalf so you can concentrate your efforts on your hustle.
The people whom everliker likes, well, some of them with less than 500 followers, they're happy about it cos' they finally get some attention compared to just posting post after post in the vacuum. I know how it feels.
Some folks have nice photos yet only 8 Likes.

And when Instagram notifies people that "xxx has liked your post" etc, it's not annoying. It's good news to them.
Don't you want to wake up one morning and open Instagram, and see "78 Likes 24 Followers" in the app's tab bar area?

I used to think I should just grow my account "organically", but I realize that's stupid and naive. Everyone is gaming IG nowadays trying to get around the algo, and if you don't, you lose out.

Speaking of IG's algo, it's like the stock market. When the wind is behind you, everything goes. When the wind stops or comes towards you suddenly, don't be surprised if you see tens or hundreds of folks unfollowing you.

I've been using socialblade.com to track some of my niche's popular accounts.
Some of them are losing anywhere from 40 - 150 followers daily, even though their content is still the same good quality.

 

[cwalto12]

Been using Insta for about 2 weeks now.

Use a Chrome plugin called Everliker. An automation tool to like posts in certain hashtags or areas. You can also like someone's followers. Cheap stuff (with a free version) and works decent.

@Xeon tipped me about using Telegram liking & comment pods. Tried it a few times and it leads to about 100 additional likes and 10 more comments on a post. I'll be looking for more niche specific groups in the future, since likes and comments from entirely unrelated accounts probably won't make a real difference in quality followers.

Time consuming though, but could be a nice tool in your toolbox.

My go-to strategy is to simply go to a related account that's popular, and set my Everliker bot to like their followers. This leads to, in my experience, more REAL, consuming followers.

I've never used follow/unfollow or automated comments.

Only real & genuine comments on other people's posts, and replying when people comment on my posts.

I like to think of Instagram as two different groups:
Consumers & Producers

Consumers are the ones I want to interact with...

Man this is great stuff. Everliker is legit. Bought the PRO version after about an hour. Keep it coming!

 

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[amp0193]

Won't this just get you flagged by Instagram as a spam account and you'll get less reach on your posts? I don't see how this is any different to follow unfollow really. It's still probably classed as spam by Instagram because you're still notifying users and annoying them.

I don't see how this is not the end result. If not now, then in a future algo change.

 

[JordanS]

Brilliant Jon! Gonna suss some out and try this.

Very impressive stats that I can only fantasize about.

Do you buy L/C rounds from multiple large accounts, or go through a service? I assume it'll be very expensive to say, buy L/Cs from 15 large accounts, since some of them are charging....hundreds?

If you don't mind, maybe you can give more details on the process.
Your method seems to be like a cross between IG telegram pods and shoutouts?

To start I contact large accounts who I notice do L/C with other large pages and ask them to either drop me into their groups, or add me into their mass DM that they send out. This usually costs me from $3-10 per post depending on the size of the page, and how much L/C they do.

Then once your page starts to grow you can just do L/C yourself with smaller pages, and only buy the larger L/C when you have a really good post that you know can go more viral.

Here is an example post I posted yesterday, this account had 350 followers when I posted. At almost 800 now from this post. All those views are from hitting explore page.

 

[Xeon]

To start I contact large accounts who I notice do L/C with other large pages and ask them to either drop me into their groups, or add me into their mass DM that they send out. This usually costs me from $3-10 per post depending on the size of the page, and how much L/C they do.

Then once your page starts to grow you can just do L/C yourself with smaller pages, and only buy the larger L/C when you have a really good post that you know can go more viral.

Here is an example post I posted yesterday, this account had 350 followers when I posted. At almost 800 now from this post. All those views are from hitting explore page.

Thanks but how do you detect which IG account do L/C rounds? Are they usually those large repost accounts with an email address listed in their bio?

 

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[JordanS]

Thanks but how do you detect which IG account do L/C rounds? Are they usually those large repost accounts with an email address listed in their bio?

I look at the comments. You can tell they do L/C because they will have alot of comments from other large pages minutes after they post. Then you can DM the first account + everyone who you see engage with them asking if they will do L/C for money.

 

[Xeon]

I look at the comments. You can tell they do L/C because they will have alot of comments from other large pages minutes after they post. Then you can DM the first account + everyone who you see engage with them asking if they will do L/C for money.

Thanks will try it!

 

[Striver]

That kinda works, but it's really time intensive. I did some of it getting started though, but quit when I saw what the return on my time was.

I have a macro running on a spare laptop, as I type this. No time involved! Seems to get me a couple hundred followers a day. This is also on a personal photography page, though, which has great content... so maybe it wouldnt get the same results if I was pushing a product.

 

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[PetePreneur]

Anybody tried this $1.80 Strategy that Gary Vee talks about? Without trying it, I feel that it will be extremely time consuming leaving 90 comments a day- Plus all the replies you’ll get. I mean, surely you’ll be sitting typing for like 3 hours a day?

 

[JordanS]

Anybody tried this $1.80 Strategy that Gary Vee talks about? Without trying it, I feel that it will be extremely time consuming leaving 90 comments a day- Plus all the replies you’ll get. I mean, surely you’ll be sitting typing for like 3 hours a day?

I've tried it myself, and have had multiple friends test it. The small amount of extra followers is not really worth the amount of time you need to spend commenting.

However, it is good if you are trying to get your username recognized by the larger people in your space. If you continually comment on their posts they will notice you, and reply more often. This may help you get access to them if you want to collab, get better rates on promos, etc. I use a similar approach on twitter and it has worked as a great networking tool.

 

[PetePreneur]

I've tried it myself, and have had multiple friends test it. The small amount of extra followers is not really worth the amount of time you need to spend commenting.

However, it is good if you are trying to get your username recognized by the larger people in your space. If you continually comment on their posts they will notice you, and reply more often. This may help you get access to them if you want to collab, get better rates on promos, etc. I use a similar approach on twitter and it has worked as a great networking tool.

Ah right, I sort of suspected that. He goes on about it like it’s some genius idea, but seems like it’s not that great.

 

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[Bearcorp]

I don't see how this is not the end result. If not now, then in a future algo change.

This is my concern as well, I've seen too many accounts get banned out to risk doing anything other than posting regular content!

 

[Bearcorp]

Here's a fun way to get reposted by "thought leaders" who are active on other platforms such as Youtube, LinkedIn etc. but also have a notable Instagram account:

1. Go to their Youtube channel, latest LinkedIn posts or whatever.

2. Consume their latest content until you come upon something they say that's memorable, interesting and could be turned into a good quote. (1-3 sentences)

3. Take that quote, go to Canva or the app of your choice, and turn it into an instagram pic. Put some love into it, add a picture of them and make it look really nice.

4. Post on your Insta and tag the person.

5. They'll love it, as it's flattering to be quoted by other people. And it makes them appear more authorative.

6. Expect at least a like and a comment. Hope for a repost (= exposure to their followers, which COULD be great if they're your target audience)

Works best for "smaller" guys. Don't do this for Gary Vee or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Go for someone who's actually likely to see your post.

This is excellent advice, especially the last part. Smaller guys spend all their time hunting pages and comments relating to them, across all social media platforms that they have accounts. Its win win, you have good content, they get exposure, and it helps build relationships with them.

 

[cwalto12]

I have grown my online business exponentially on Instagram recently. Have never gotten more followers than when I started using Everliker. I do about 1000 likes a day - nothing has gone wrong YET. Went from 1 or no comments to about 4-5 on average per post and easily doubled my everyday followers.

I am by no means an expert BUT here are some things I have learned and how I approach it:

1) Everliker PRO is worth it. I do not work for them but I am completely fascinated by it and the results are there.

2) Emojis are key. ALWAYS put an emoji with every caption and every bullet point or whatever you have in your bio should have an emoji.

3) Put hashtags in your bio that people can use to tag you with so that you can use THEIR content instead of scouring the internet for your own everyday (you can always schedule them too using an app). Always give them credit for the picture and tag them because it opens you up to their followers and also could lead to creator becoming a happy customer. Example: if you are on online business selling kitchen knives, put in your bio something like, "Tag us using #mykitchenknives for the chance to be featured!"

4) If your business offers a brand rep program (it should) then put that in your bio as well and put a money emoji next to it. I have gotten multiple inquiries on it without doing anything except having it in my bio. This has opened our page up to thousands and thousands of potential followers and customers.

5) When putting hashtags on your pictures, do NOT put them in the caption. It looks unprofessional, IMO. Post your picture and then post the hashtags in the comments below. I have 3 sets of 20-25 hashtags for my niche saved in my notes that I alternate through because Instagram will demote you if they think you are just spamming the same hashtags everyday.

6) Ask your followers questions in the post. "Couldn't you see yourself saving 15 minutes a day with our product? Your time is precious!" Tell them to tag someone that NEEDS this product. Even if it doesn't work at first, engagement will go up eventually. I told people to tag people and asked questions to followers for about 30 straight days and nobody responded, but they did eventually and now they ALWAYS respond.

Hope this helps anyone trying to grow their Instagram! You all have been beyond helpful to me in this thread.

 

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[amp0193]

5) When putting hashtags on your pictures, do NOT put them in the caption. It looks unprofessional, IMO. Post your picture and then post the hashtags in the comments below. I have 3 sets of 20-25 hashtags for my niche saved in my notes that I alternate through because Instagram will demote you if they think you are just spamming the same hashtags everyday.

I think you're going to get burned doing this. You are just spamming the same hashtags, you just have 3 sets. If you didn't think it was spam, you wouldn't be hiding it in a comment.

I did something similar in the fall, and got shadow banned for a month or two. Just a word of caution.

 

[cwalto12]

I think you're going to get burned doing this. You are just spamming the same hashtags, you just have 3 sets. If you didn't think it was spam, you wouldn't be hiding it in a comment.

I did something similar in the fall, and got shadow banned for a month or two. Just a word of caution.

You may be right. I need to continually switch hashtags in each set. The problem I have with Instagram in general is that if you are running a niche business, then you are going to repeat the same hashtags, whether you mean to or not. I think it is inevitable. Hashtags are going to be seen as somewhat spammy regardless, aren't they?

How do you structure your hashtags?