It’s true that it’s getting harder to stand out and expand a successful new Instagram business account in this era of ubiquitous social media marketing and glut of competing firms. Many businesses have opted to simply buy followers, but the rest of us have taken the high road and worked to earn our place among Instagram’s genuine devotees.
While the effectiveness of various “bot” or false follower services varies, they generally put many accounts at risk. You may benefit from a friend’s decision to buy Instagram followers for their new business account if, for example, you both actively interact on the platform.
If you aren’t fooled into interacting with these “spammy” accounts, collecting a large number of phoney, inauthentic followers isn’t always a negative thing. This might lead to an increase in the amount of spam on your page. As these identities are routinely removed from the app, you may also see a sudden but significant decline in your follower count.
1. Instagram Accounts with Verified Followers
We know this may seem obvious, but dealing with possible spam threats on Instagram requires extra caution. The quantity of posts from a user you suspect of being a bot is the most telling evidence. That may be all there is to see, as they probably won’t be posting anything else.
2. Evaluate Their Adherents
If it doesn’t help you understand what’s going on, move on to looking into their fan base. They are probably all bots generated by the same service if their followers have similar characteristics to their account (blurry, scandalous profile photo, no posts, following a large number of individuals).
3. Search for Junk Email
Due to their unique goals, some bot accounts will evade the first two tests. Most “spammy” bots, like the ones described above, are built solely to track accounts whose owners pay to have them do so.
In reality, they want your personal information so they may take advantage of you once you sign up for bogus bargains or freebies. Typically, the handle and profile of these accounts will feature a well-known brand, such “2 for 1 Nike Sweepstakes” or “Enter to Win This Gucci Bag!”
4. Try to Get Involved
If an account is suspected of being a bot but fails to meet any of the aforementioned criteria, more research may be required. Assuming they have posted something, you should investigate whether or not they are engaging with other people. Robots aren’t capable of human-like conversation. This is why increasing your Instagram interaction by attracting only genuine followers is so important.
5. Anti-Bot Software
While the Instagram team does a wonderful job of gradually eliminating bots, you may still wish to take additional measures to protect your account from spam. Spam Guard is one such service that can identify and get rid of all of your bot and spammy followers.
Instagram accounts are crucial to the success of numerous companies, whose sales would plummet if their existing reputation were not maintained. Keep an eye out for bots and phoney accounts as you continue your Instagram marketing efforts to protect your brand.