Update: We recently ran a campaign that saw our client's Instagram follow count rise by 6000 in just two weeks. Resist the urge to skip to the end, but when you do get there, you'll find out how to get a copy of our free guide and case study.
We need a way to attract real, interest-based people to your account but we don't want this to be an arduous task - we're going to completely automate it. But before we talk about the process of gaining these follows, we need to set down a few ground rules.
Before we talk about how to use Instagress, I must make you aware that Instagram aren't too fond of these tactics and they aren't afraid of deleting accounts that exploit the system. Do so at your own risk. Consider starting a new account to avoid risking your established accounts.
Ifyou've started a new Instagram account, make sure you've got something for people to look at. You need at least 3, but ideally 9 photos or videos to start - andmake sure they're the most exciting, inspiring or interestingposts you can dream up. These postsneed to inspirepeople so much that they absolutely have to follow you. Even if you've been posting for years, it doesn't hurt to scroll through your old submissionsand repost your 9 most popular images so that your best posts are the first new visitors will see. After this, post regularly - once a day at least.
If your Instagram account is primarily used for business, don't post pictures of your spaghetti bolognese and definitely don't post pictures of your baby. Seriously.
It took me too long to realise this, but people on the internet don't like faceless companies or brands that they can't connect with on a personal level. Don't be stiff and formal in your wording unless your business requires it; let your personality shinethrough, crack some jokes, encourage interaction and reply to your commenters.
I'm glad you asked. This is where the magic happens, but first I need to explain what we're going to do.So you've probably noticed that when you add a millionhashtags to your posts, you get a shed-load of likes and comments; comments that are so generic, they'd make sense on any image. Comments like 'wow', 'nice shot' and 'awesome'.You've probably often then clicked through to that person's profile to see who they are.Here's the secret: these profilesbelong toreal people and businesses, but they've got tools to automate their commenting and liking activity. Their automation softwaresearches for images with certain hashtags and then comments on your post or follows your account with the sole aim of getting you to check (and ultimatelyfollow) their account.We're going to do the same, but better.
This is the tool that will let us automate the entire process. You get 72 hours of automationfor free, but after that, it costs £6.50 for an entire month of activity (720 hours to be used over any period of time). Follow the setup process, connect your Instagram account and then move onto the next step.
You've probably worked out the most popular hashtags in your field over your years on Instagram, so just go ahead and input some hashtags on the lower half of the configuration page. Ensure you don't cram inirrelevantkeywords; you'll attract the wrong type of followers and these people absolutely will not convert. In my experiment, I've used hashtags that will attract other web designers.
These are the comments that Instagress will post on images that match your hashtag criteria. How you configure yourcommentswill depend on your line of business and who you're trying to attract. The software has a number of defaults, but you can tailor these to your field. If you're in the field offitness and you're targeting #abs, create comments like 'nice abs!'. This might only work if you're targeting one hashtag at a time, so if you're targeting a number of different hashtags, make the comments even more generic.
If you're lucky, like me, your business isn't constrained to one geographical location and you can target the entire planet. In which case, leave this field be. However, if you're tied down to one area, it's pointless targetingpeople from other lands. Select your city or county and target people who've left appropriate location data on their posts.
For the first few days, you'll need to start on the 'slow' setting. If you go in all guns blazing, Instagram mayget suspicious and ban your account - we don't want that. On day 4, ramp it up to 'normal' and after a week, try 'fast'.
Instagress can automate a few actions; likes, comments, follows and unfollows. Follows seems to be the most effective, where 1 in 5 accounts I followed resulted in a follow back. Switch on 'likes', 'comments' and 'follows' and click the giant red 'start' button.
You should start seeing your follows increase fairly rapidly. Withinthe first day I had around 60 followers on the 'slow' setting and got 150+ for each day on 'fast'. Your results will vary considerably depending on your Instagress configuration and business' field.
Instagress is going to follow hundreds of accounts per day. You should regularly purge these by using the 'unfollow' setting on Instagress. After a few months, try and keep your 'followers' and 'following' numbers at a similar level.It doesn't look good if you've got 500followers but follow 10,000 other accounts. During periods that you unfollow accounts, you'll see the rate in which people follow you back drop dramatically.This is unavoidable, but necessary.
Instagram know where you're posting from, so if your account has activity fromtwo locations or devices at once, they may get suspicious.If you personally post a new image, like some pictures orleave some genuine comments, ensure you pause Instagress first.
I've already said, but Instagram have been known to ban accounts that use tools like this.Many companies have had great success with these tactics, and many have made great fortunes from marketing through their Instagram accounts. You use Instagress or similar servicesat your own risk - if you've spent years growing a following, use a new, totally separate account.
We recently managed a huge Instagress campaign for a client and saw their follower count grow by 6000 in just two weeks. If you'd like a free copy of our super-in-depth case study, complete with step-by-step instructions on the advanced techniques we implemented, send a blank email with the subject "Instagress" to hello@plume.co.uk.
