Haste makes waste…, that is, quick ways to get better results in social media.
Quick ways to achieve a goal are always tempting. But most often, they are also a risky undertaking.
Unfortunately, many of us like to take shortcuts. We trust in quickly earned millions, unbelievably attractive prices, Will Smith who is divorcing and needs cash for a ticket, or sudden increases in followers on social media channels achieved with a zero budget.
But beware! In each of these cases, a red light should be flashing within all of us.
The shortest path is often unsafe.
And just like in cases of conversations with Will Smith, which end with a sympathetic lady losing the money she sends for his ticket, artificially inflating followers on Instagram can end badly.
Who Are Instagram Followers and Why Are They So Important?
Followers are necessary. They are the community we build. Our ambassadors who will carry the news about our brand far beyond our reach.
But on one condition.
Followers are only useful to us if they are actually interested in our message. If they engage with the content we publish – by commenting on it, liking it, saving it for later, or sharing it with friends. And Instagram’s algorithm will appreciate that too, because engagement is much more important than the number of followers. That’s why it’s not worth inviting friends to the fanpage who have nothing to do with the topic.
It’s not a high number of followers or their likes that sell our product or service. Therefore, it’s not always worth fighting for their highest possible amount. Much more important is the engagement of Instagram users, which translates into conversion. It helps establishing long-term and valuable relationships with followers who, with a high probability, will become loyal customers of the brand.
Therefore, when running an Instagram profile, it’s worth taking care of content that your followers would like, make them smile and pique their curiousity, provoke them to comment or share the information with friends. The ratio of engagement to the number of recipients will show us the value of all collected Followers.
What do you need to take care of on your Instagram?
Not everyone understands it that way, however. Some brands or emerging influencers try at all costs to increase the numbers that are right next to their profile name. These numbers are of course important! But let’s not follow in their footsteps and not strive to achieve ever bigger numbers on the counter at all costs. Still, let’s keep an eye on them, because:
- The number of posts says how active of a brand we are. If it’s substantial, it assures potential followers that we won’t suddenly leave them without content.
- The number of followers indicates that the content is attractive. That is, what we want to convey must be important and interesting, since so many people follow us to read our posts.
- The number of accounts followed… at first glance seems like an insignificant value. But only at first glance, because for conscious Instagram users, this number allows them to evaluate the brand. What does a large number of accounts followed mean in a brand’s profile? For example, that the brand uses deceitful ways to increase its reach, such as “Follow 4 follow”, “Like 4 like”, or using bots.
The most important reasons for following a profile on Instagram.
There are different reasons why a brand (or we personally) clicks “Follow” on profiles of other brands and people, among others:
- interest in the proposed content,
- curiosity about what a friend or competitor is doing,
- the principle of reciprocity, that is, “Follow 4 follow”.
And it’s this last reason that is a shortcut that many brands use. Unfortunately.
What does the Follow/unfollow method give on Instagram?
The “Follow 4 follow” method (or “Like for like”) consists of the brand mass-following everyone who seems like a potential customers or recipient. Often this action is reinforced by liking the most recent and one of the older photos.
It’s meant to create a sense of genuine interest in their content for the followed person. The notification about being followed appears in the followed person’s alerts. They then pay attention to the brand. The principle of reciprocity makes them feel obligated to return the favor. So they click “Follow” and contribute to the growth of the brand’s follower count.
Unfortunately, the “Follow 4 follow” method also comes with the flip side – the “Unfollow” action, which is used when the goal is achieved. The dishonest brand also takes care to ensure that the last value next to the profile, i.e., “Following”, is not too high, which would expose it to losing the trust of recipients.
Benefits of the Follow/unfollow method
In practice, it looks like this: the brand starts following dozens or even hundreds of profiles daily, of which surely half reciprocate the same. Thanks to this, the brand can click even 300 follow backs weekly with a cost-free action. Is the game worth the risk?
It depends.
It turns out this way can threaten a ban from Instagram. And this ban manifests in several ways. It can be immediate and block activity on the given profile for several hours or even days. It can be irreversible, i.e., delete the account as it being non-compliant with the Terms of Service. But it can also apply a completely different, seemingly imperceptible penalty.
Why is it not worth using the Follow/unfollow method?
Brands using the “Follow/unfollow” method do increase the number of followers, but this does not go hand in hand with increased engagement. At the same time, stopping such intensive actions (refraining from clicking “Follow”) often leads to account stagnation.
What does it mean?
That the brand starts losing engagement and followers. It also disappears from the Explore page. And regular posting of high-quality content won’t help. It’s hard to return to the engagement level that the brand enjoyed before starting “Follow/unfollow” actions.
Why do followers leave?
Losing followers can be painful and sometimes inevitable, even if we honestly build our audience. Every “Unfollow” hurts – especially when we devote a lot of time and energy to building the community.
And what are the reasons why recipients stop following our profile?
- they may use the aforementioned “Follow/unfollow” method to increase followers,
- they are disappointed with the content we offer,
- we disappoint them with a lack of interaction, for example in comments or messages,
- our content style changes,
- too much content is displayed to them and they give up on the least needed ones (that is, us).
The whole truth about the Follow/unfollow method
While using the risky “Follow/unfollow” method, one can use bots. However, no social medium accepts automated and at the same time not very honest actions that use external tools. The risk of getting blocked or banned therefore increases significantly. Is it worth risking the loss of the community created so far for the quick growth of unengaged fans?
How otherwise can you gain reach and build a loyal audience on Instagram?
Instead of testing quick and not necessarily honest methods for developing your brand in social media, it’s better to bet on reliability and regularity of content publication. And content on Instagram is not just posts. It’s also Stories, IGTV, and additionally Reels. Try to be active in every one of these formats.
In building a group of engaged recipients, conducting activities on other channels definitely helps. By creating a consistent brand image in different places (social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, etc.), we will cause natural intertwining of communities that will willingly follow our content.
If we want to increase reach and gain more recipients, we must publish regularly and create a lot of content. Sometimes our activity in social media will have to last even a year or more before it starts to bring the desired effects. Therefore, let’s patiently create and publish our content without focusing on statistics, promotions, or likes.
Such actions will definitely prove to be useful, because:
- regular publications over a longer period allows us to improve content by raising its quality,
- enables testing during which it will turn out what works best for our group, industry, and customers,
- we will develop our own unique style,
- a large number of posts increases the chance that one of them will interest a given recipient,
- we will gain time to build our credibility. A small number of posts, short time of existence on Instagram means limited trust – recipients don’t know if we won’t suddenly stop carrying on. With long and regular activity, they will be sure they are in good and stable company.
Patience in actions on Instagram translates into both recipient engagement (which grows over time) and algorithms. High-quality content that appears regularly will be appreciated by our audience that is actually interested in what we do. And such followers are worth their weight in gold.
Let us know what you think about it.
And if you would like to develop your brand, but in an honest and reliable way, contact us. We effectively build engaged communities around high-quality content. We know Social Media and we don’t take shortcuts, because we believe that QUALITY speaks for itself. That’s what years of experience have taught us.
