Instagram bots, are they really worth your money?

There is one trend that is still around and we would like to go into the subject of Instagram bots.

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What are Instagram bots?

An Instagram bot is a software some companies use to grow their client’s accounts that will comment and like posts on their behalf.

In theory, this would increase that account’s engagement and reach, which sounds great, but the downside is that they will usually perform those actions constantly and comments are generic.

Why you shouldn’t use Instagram bots

The engagement boost is not real

Bots cannot perform human interaction. They can definitely try to replicate it, but think of how many times you checked the comments on a post and you knew right away which comments were real or not.

Would you interact with a comment that has no real thought behind it? Probably not, and this is why the engagement from bots is a lie.

Bots will cause awkward situations

I mentioned above that there is no real human touch to the comments left by bots, and the software that runs bots will often leave comments that are rude, insensitive, or complete nonsense.

For example, they don’t take into consideration the captions or context of the post, comments are done based on the hashtags used in that post.

If you use bots, people will see your account leaving comments that beg for follows or provide wrong information about your content, and this is definitely not good.

Always think if you would interact with an account posting this, and if the answer is no, you know other people wouldn’t as well.

Instagram has action limits

We don’t really know the exact numbers as this is not shared by Instagram.

What we know is that this number varies from one account to another based on how old the account is, your number of followers, and your activity.

Based on the data available, we know that the average account can perform roughly 500 daily actions, this includes comments, likes, and follow/unfollow. However, if your account suddenly starts spamming actions, Instagram will notice.

This is what bots do, they will reach your action limit in only a few hours, and then go away for the rest of the day. This is what Instagram is actively looking for in spam accounts.

You have great alternatives and you should use them

You can do it yourself

I know you need time to do this, and sometimes we really don’t have enough, but if you find a good content strategy you will be able to make things easier.

If you don’t have the money to hire a social media manager or a virtual assistant, take 20 minutes of your time to engage with your audience daily.

While it may not seem like much, this makes a huge difference. You need to be active, and your followers surely enjoy it when you reply to their comments or like their content.

You simply won’t have any real connection with your audience if you use bots, and this is definitely something you need to have a successful page.

Hire someone to manage your page

Now, if you do have the budget you should definitely consider hiring someone experienced to grow your account. They will have plenty of strategies to work with.

They will dedicate their time to engage with your community using your brand identity, so you won’t have a problem with them leaving comments that are inappropriate and getting your account flagged.

Run Instagram ads

Instagram ads are great, and you can use them to target the correct audience in your niche, boosting your reach and sales if you are running a store or providing services.

The good thing about ads is that they are not as expensive as hiring someone to manage your page and if you know how to do it right the results are amazing.

Bots don’t focus on quality, you should

In conclusion, if you take the points above into consideration and apply any of them to your strategy, the quality of your engagement will be great.

After you match that with quality content, the next stop is the moon because your page will surely skyrocket in numbers.

We have a great article on how using Instagram templates will help you establish your brand identity and create aesthetically consistent content, check it out, and get that good content rolling.

Tools that are actually successful growing your account

SocialFollow

Social Follow is a great service where you can buy followers, but the awesome thing is that the followers are real people, and they even provide a free version.

You can get real Instagram followers instantly from their friendly networks. You can get free followers from it by adding your Instagram handle and email to the homepage.

There are no surveys and you don’t have to provide your password!

HashtagsForLikes

This tool helps you find the best hashtags to use in your content. You can analyze the data on each one of them and save them for later on your account.

You can track your profile to check your account analytics and see what is not working and why.

Hashtag research is a big part of managing your brand and this makes your life easier.

If you think your hashtags are not working, you should also check out our article on hashtag optimization.

Nitreo

We recommend Nitreo to users who are looking for a tool that provides organic growth free of risk and effectively.

Nitreo puts your Instagram on autopilot, helping you get more Instagram followers. With a 97% customer satisfaction rate and multiple awards won – we guarantee you’ll be a happy Nitreo user.

Once you’ve categorized your account and synced your Instagram profile, you’re prompted to add at least 5 hashtags and 5 accounts that are similar to yours. Nitreo engages with hashtags you’ve added.

You also have access to other features:

• Target the right hashtags and users for you
• Use gender targeting to filter your audience
• Make suggestions and improvements over time
• Accurately log performance of each target
• Let your account manager jump in to refine your settings

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