About 7-8 percent accounts on Instagram are not managed by humans. Instead they are managed by a computer program and thus can give you a leverage of growing your account at a lightning speed. Commonly known as bots, they fall under the black hat marketing tools.
Today we will discuss with you, what are Instagram bots and how do they work? Later We will discuss its disadvantages and the alternatives for people looking to fast track Instagram account growth.
What Are Instagram Bots?
For a great many in the Instagram eco-system, Instagram Bots are essentially one dirty trick to feign growth on the platform. These are fake accounts managed by computer programs that comment, like or view on the behalf of the operators.
The fact that they are managed by a computer and not human empowers their managers to use them to boost their Instagram account’s at an enormous scale.
Also, the like and comment automation services used to increase the engagement of Instagram accounts falls under the Instagram bots label.
Do Instagram Bots Still Work in 2020?
Are they effective in 2020? The short answer is, Yes. But keep in mind quality bot services are a little hard to find these days. With each passing month Instagram is tightening the noose on such practices.
The most effective of them use bots that comment or like on the posts of the most relevant user accounts. The activity feed would then lead those users to your account, and if they find it interesting, you would get a new convert.
Here is the catch. The bot work is only considered done if it gets the right match. What good is a wrong match who discovered your username through an automated like in the activity feed, tapped through and left with a like, comment or follow? If the users are not relevant, no matter how many of them follow your account, you would get nothing in the end.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Instagram Bots?
The advantages of using a bot can be many, and some we have listed below, but the most painful of them is negative marketing. To get an account banned is less painful than people start hating your brand.
Your Account Might Get Banned:
As the bots usage is discouraged by the Company as it is against their terms and conditions, abusing them would get you a banned account for a week or more. But there is still hope. You would get a fair degree of warnings before instagram ultimately bans your account.
Can Waste Time:
Your news feed will be bombarded by notification and it will take a while before you get accustomed to it. To mix using instagram bots services with genuine outreach can turn out to be a huge waste of time, as you would have to scroll through hundreds of irrelevant notifications to get to the desired alerts.
Can Damage Reputation:
Bots are not yet sophisticated enough to pull off imperceptible human interaction. The job they do, generic comment posting, can put you sometimes in very awkward situations. And in the worst case scenario, they could ruin the reputation of your brand within minutes which might have taken you years to build.
For instance, suppose you have assigned a bot to smily react on specific types of post. Instagram hashtags are your sole parameter to decide where to comment. Since bots are not smart enough to decide, what reaction would you get if the bots post a smiley reaction on someone’s death news?
You Can Get Yourself Shadow Banned:
The way you can get yourself banned on Instagram, by passing hourly or daily limits, you can also get shadow banned. By the way, you must not go over 60 followers, 150 Instagram likes, and 60 comments every hour.
The thing about shadow banned is that you feel like that everything is normal in your account, and in reality it isn’t. You can reach out to your followers, interact with them, but your posts won’t get traction from new users.
Alternative To Fast Track Instagram Account Growth?
The best alternative is to get organic reach for your account or, if you have the money, to harness Facebook advertisement to fast track your Instagram account growth.
Also, there are sites that can get you likes, story views, comments and followers from real accounts for pennies. The difference between these services and automation services is the real humans that do your bidding for the right money.
For instance, there are sites like Leoboost that can help you grow instagram likes by getting real people to do the job. In return, they charge their customers a marginal price. However, using such services alone won’t get you anywhere unless you have something valuable to offer to your organic visitors.
Conclusion:
In a nutshell, Instagram bots are here to stay as the platform hasn’t found a way yet to completely get rid of them. Relying solely on them won’t get you the desired results. Instead you should focus on steady yet reliable growth.