Reaching 100K followers on Instagram is a huge milestone.
People ask me countless times how to get more followers on Instagram, so today, I’m going to share my story and everything I’ve learned, along with a bonus section on Instagram automation and my experience using SocialMeep.
My background
Since I first started on Instagram, a lot has changed. In the early days, the trend was to post inspiring photos with colorful filters and quirky captions.
Over time, influencers arrived on the platform. They started to change how people used Instagram and who received the most attention. Ever since then, it’s been a competitive space where people are trying everything to gain traction with their accounts.
My Instagram Story
I’ve been an early adopter on Instagram. I was classmates with one of the first engineers and have had my account since Instagram was called Burbn. From the beginning, I used Instagram to share travel photos and DIY projects.
I only became serious on Instagram a few months ago when I started a business and wanted to use my account to drive traffic to the website. Through popular growth hacking methods such as hashtag optimization, content collaborations, and content strategy, I was able to get my account to 5k followers, but that’s where growth stalled.
Please keep reading to see how I overcame this hurdle.
What I did
I used Instagram as a creative outlet.
I’ve always enjoyed using Instagram. It’s been a great way to share content and connect with new people.
I focused on content, not numbers.
Too many people are focused on hitting specific follower or engagement metrics. While it’s essential to make sure your goals, your content plays a big part in achieving them.
I changed my posting schedule.
I started posting multiple times per day and used the stories feature extensively.
I collaborated with influencers.
I’m not a fan of what Influencers have done to the Instagram community. They’ve turned Instagram into a competition for attention. That said, it’s worthwhile to partner with a well-known influencer in your space if you’re looking for authentic exposure.
I got featured by other accounts.
Instagram features are useful; you need to get featured by the right ones in your niche. It’s a great way to reach a wider audience and gives your account credibility.
I used Instagram Automation Tools
Arguably, using automation tools has created the most significant growth impact on my page and allowed me to hit the 100k mark. Keep reading to learn more about automation and how I used SocialMeep to grow my followers.
What I didn’t do.
I never stopped posting.
It’s challenging to post new and engaging content each day, but this is a must if you want to grow your account.
I never bought followers.
Buying followers is a guaranteed way to hurt your accounts’ reputation significantly. Instagram will flag you for having fake followers: your growth will stall, and you can potentially get shadowbanned. The “fake it till you make it” doesn’t work when it comes to Instagram.
I never did giveaways.
Popular Instagram Personalities always say that giveaways are the only way to achieve organic growth — it’s not true. Unless you are a celebrity, it will negatively impact your ranking on Instagram.
I never bought Ads.
Sponsored posts and running ads cost a lot of money if you want good results, and it’s something I don’t have the budget for. If you have thousands of dollars to experiment with, it’s worth a shot, but there are much better tools out there that can get better results at a fraction of the cost.
How I used SocialMeep to automate my Instagram growth.
Before getting into Social Meep, let’s go over the basics of what Instagram automation is and how it works.
Instagram automation leverages third-party tools to manage your account or perform interactions on your account without human intervention.
There are two forms of Instagram Bot Tools.
- Growth Services take control of your account and automate engagements such as likes, follows, comments, story views, etc.
- Tools that schedule and automatically post content to Instagram for you.
Since SocialMeep falls under the first category, let’s take a closer look.
There’s a good chance that you’ve engaged with an Instagram bot. New followers and story viewers are most likely the results of automated activity.
If you think that using Instagram automation is risky, the answer is Yes and No.
Over the past few years, Instagram has aggressively cracked down on artificial forms of activity. This can be from buying followers to using automation tools. Instagram has even taken proactive measures to shut down companies that they feel violate their terms of service.’
While Instagram automation sometimes gets a bad reputation, not all tools are spammy or unsafe.
One tool that stands out is SocialMeep. Later in this article, we’ll discuss why I think it’s the future of Instagram Bots.
What actions can be automated on Instagram?
Follows/Unfollows
The concept of following users in hopes that they will follow you back has been around as long as Instagram has existed. Automation tools help you scale and target the number of people you can follow in a given period.
Likes
Likes are arguably the safest interaction that can be automated on Instagram. Automating Likes allows you to increase awareness of your account and ultimately gain more followers. Likes are light-weight and won’t result in any adverse action from Instagram.
Comments
Automating comments on Instagram is risky. From spammy looking comments to interacting with irrelevant accounts, automated comments are the textbook definition of spam. If you use a service that allows auto-commenting, I suggest a tool that will enable you to define the content.
Story Views
Similar to “Likes,” Instagram Story Views is a light-weight interaction that doesn’t affect other users much. Story Views can also be performed thousands of times per day without Instagram noticing since it’s a low-effort interaction.
What are the pros and cons of using SocialMeep for Instagram growth?
In my experience using SocialMeep, the Pros of using an Instagram Bot far outweigh any of the downsides.
Pro: Save time and money.
There is a lot of upside to using automation tools. You save hundreds of hours each month while not having to spend money on ads. This allows you to focus on the essential aspects of your business or put more effort into creating content.
Pro: Get analytics into your account.
SocialMeep offers a lot of insightful analytics into your account which you can’t get anywhere else. See where your followers are coming from, how they’re discovering your page, and get improvements to boost your profile.
Pro: Grow your followers fast
The ultimate goal of using automation is to grow your followers and engagements without much effort.
That said, it’s vital that these followers are interested in your content or products, and that’s where targeting comes into play. A sophisticated Instagram bot, like SocialMeep, will allow you to drill down into specific audience targeting such as interests, gender, location, and more.
Pro: Boost overall engagement
Since your followers are following you because they’re interested in your page, your top level engagement metrics will go up. Story Views, comments, and posts engagements will grow along with your followers.
Pro: Discover new audience insights
With all of the data that bots collect about your target audience, these tools can provide you unique insights into how to most effectively reach new people. That’s a big plus that generic analytics tools don’t have access to.
Con: Spend less time with your followers
Automating your Instagram account means that you’re most likely spending less time interacting with your early followers. It’s hard to provide a personalized service with a fully automated account.
In many cases, it’s best to supplement automation with human interaction – it’s something that you can’t replace.
What are the best Instagram automation tools for 2021?
Let’s look at two products that achieve different automation goals.
SproutSocial: This tool is great for automating your posting activity on Instagram, including both regular feed posts or Instagram stories.
SocialMeep: SocialMeep is a must-use tool for automating your Instagram followers growth. They have a comprehensive set of features and industry-leading safety protocols.
Keys for Instagram Success
Don’t compare yourself with others
I used to get easily discouraged, seeing competitors fly past 100k and 1m followers effortlessly. Set your own goals, and make sure that you focus on achieving them.
Organic Growth Trumps All
Having a bunch of Instagram followers doesn’t help if they don’t engage with your content. Organic growth, by hand, takes significant time. If you’re looking for fast growth and don’t have much time to manage your account each day, automation tools like SocialMeep are a great solution.
Have Fun
Getting to 100k followers in 45 days is a roller coaster ride, so enjoy the highs while they last and always keep learning along the way!