Instagram is no longer new; it is firmly established for personal publicity and product promotion. You might think every promotion tool is known and entrepreneurs or public figures need only follow a sequence of actions to get results. Yet the platform’s clutter of small services gradually reduces promotion effectiveness. Instagram also periodically tightens restrictions so that multiplying hairdressers and manicurists do not overrun the network like Agent Smith in the Matrix…
This article shows current methods for attracting a target audience to your profile and explains how to choose profile settings for Instagram promotion. It is primarily for entrepreneurs using promotion services or planning to. The key is knowing what helps and what only causes harm. BE CAREFUL! Many websites offer Instagram boosting. Always request examples before paying: most are ordinary scammers selling cheap followers or likes.
As always, we will try to explain everything as concisely as possible.
Limits in Instagram from the original article
1.1. You can not subscribe to more than 1000 profiles per day * (it is recommended to subscribe no more than once a minute)
1.2. Do not give more than 3000 likes per day * (leave an interval of 20-30 seconds between likes)
1.3. Do not unfollow more than 3000 profiles per day * (do not unfollow too quickly — no more than one unfollow every 15-20 seconds)
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* — Exceeding the limits may result in a permanent account ban or a request to verify your profile by SMS. You may also have to reset your password through email verification; otherwise, you will not be able to log in.
Additional restrictions
2.1. If the profile was created less than 3 months ago, the rate of all actions should be reduced by a factor of one and a half to two ** … all competent services know this
2.2. You can not often log in to the profile from the IP addresses of proxy servers that are located in different countries ** - Instagram support will never believe that you can teleport
3.3. Do not use several services offering Mass Following or any other Following ** (this also means not using auto-posting tools and similar software)
4.4. NEVER post spam comments. This includes comments such as “Cool!”, “Great photo” and anything similar **
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** — Violating any of these restrictions will sooner or later get your profile blocked. There are many rumours online that profiles are supposedly banned for using the Instagram logo, posting nude photographs and various other things, but these are all myths.
Myths about promotion from the original article
1. “You can follow 3000- 6000 profiles per day without risk” — unfortunately, this is not true… Instagram has introduced internal profile analysis: each profile now has a trust score. If you exceed reasonable limits (see sections 1.1 — 1.3) and, for example, start logging in from different IP addresses (see section 2.2), your profile may be banned… All promotion, including Mass Following, therefore needs to proceed at a reasonable pace… The old rule applies: slow and steady wins the race
2. “Mass following is needed to increase follower numbers” — one of the most common misconceptions… Follower numbers can be increased by any amount much more cheaply and thousands of times faster. Mass following is intended solely to attract a target audience gradually, not to inflate follower counts. Incidentally, around 90% of clients order Mass Following specifically to increase their follower numbers.
3. “The number of likes matters much more than having the right hashtags under every photograph” — incorrect! A well-chosen set of target #hashtags is a large part of success; likes and follower numbers are additional factors. Using targeted hashtags is more worthwhile than hoping a large number of likes will determine the entire effectiveness of promotion. According to statistics, around 40% of Instagram users put no hashtags beneath their posts — a serious mistake!
4. “If you use tags such as «#f4f«, «#l4l» and similar tags, the profile will grow faster” — that is very relative! It all depends on your target audience… If your potential customers are people under 18, like-boosting services, hairdressers and so on (we doubt these are the followers you need), you can use such #hashtags, but not if you need a strictly targeted audience.
How to choose well #hashtags for your photos
3.1. Never use hashtags merely because you think they will be effective… always analyse beforehand the audience that most often uses a particular #hashtag... Only then should it be used.
3.2. To find out whether the hashtag «#крокодилгена» is suitable, enter it in Instagram search and analyse at least a couple of dozen profiles belonging to people who use the same #hashtag. If it turns out that most people with such a hashtag are some drug addicts who see Gena only in their illusions, then do not be surprised that inadequate subscribers will appear in your audience.
3.3. Use only those hashtags that are used by normal people with whom you would like to work and communicate
3.4. Do not use hashtags frequently used by SMM (Social Media Marketing) services, because they will inevitably follow you… which is very annoying. Such tags include «#бизнес«, «#продвижение«, «#деньги«, «#пиар» etc.
The order of actions from the source material
4.1. Use only targeted #hashtags in the comments below your photos, for example, if you are engaged in creating unique recipes, then you do not need to put popular #hashtags such as «#love«, «#f4f«, «#l4l», etc., but you must use #hashtags such as «#новоеблюдо«, «#рецепт«, «#блюдо«, «#ужин»
4.2. Do not break the rules when promoting a profile - see "Limits in Instagram" and "Additional restrictions"
4.3. Publish at least 1-3 photos daily so your audience sees regular activity
4.4. Publish only interesting photographs — this is obvious, because your Instagram followers will unfollow you if your profile contains nothing but advertising “junk”
4.5. Make a high-quality description of photos using #hashtags inside the text, for example, instead of the text
«Gagarin was the first person to fly into space. #гагарин #космос» …write this text… «#Гагарин was the first person to fly to #космос»
4.6. Publish during the day when your audience is awake, rather than at random times
4.7. Keep the right balance between Instagram followers and accounts you follow: the number of people you follow should be at least 3-4 times lower than the number following you. This affects your followers’ trust in your profile: accounts that follow very large numbers of people are clearly using boosting services… which makes some people suspicious
4.8. Choose profile-promotion providers very carefully, because their work can cause harm. For example, do not trust those offering 3000+ follows per day and likes at high speed — it will end badly. To promote an Instagram profile properly, spend more time finding a good service rather than hoping amateurs can somehow help.
We wish you more good photographs, rather than merely attempts to promote your company’s Instagram profile.
To explore social media promotion methods in more detail, we recommend training at the BoS Technologies SMM school. Link: Information about the SMM school.
