What are the best Instagram bots to get more real followers?
Using Instagram for your own marketing is time-consuming. The account has to be regularly updated with outstanding content and community management also eats up a lot of time. Instagram bots promise a remedy: They should make your work easier and your account grow faster. But what are the bots really good for?
What are Instagram bots?
Instagram bots are programs that act automatically on Instagram on your behalf. For example, bots can independently like and comment on third-party posts, follow or unfollow other accounts, and write direct messages to users.
The goal of Instagram bots is to simulate a high level of engagement on your part and in return get followers and a lot of interaction.
Program Instagram bots yourself or use providers?
If you have members with programming skills on your team, you can program an Instagram bot yourself or have it programmed. Ideally, you should use the Python language for this purpose. There are numerous instructions and tutorials on GitHub .
However, it is easier to use a ready-made bot. The best-known providers include:
Problems with bot likes and comments
A bot offers the chance to generate a lot of followers and a lot of interaction on your channel in a short period of time. However, there are also risks involved: Bots violate Instagram’s usage guidelines. The platform is therefore increasingly taking action against use. In the worst case, an account can even be blocked.
Inappropriate comments can also get your company in a mess. As a rule, you can predefine a few harmless comments with your bot provider, which the program then places under different posts at random.
But what if a user reports in a post about their recently deceased pet and the bot says “Great!” write below? In the corporate environment, the faux pas can become even more unpleasant.
Your new followers can also cause problems. Imagine you have tons of new subscribers, but none of them ever interact with your posts. This will not help your company because such followers are unlikely to buy your products or recommend your company to others.
So a bot is only useful if it brings you followers who correspond to your target group and are genuinely interested in your content.
Can be argued, says Dr. Gorski said that the influencer, through a large number of purchased bots, led the contractual partner (brands, companies) to believe that they had more reach and a higher rate of active followers than is actually true.
Since the number of followers and engagement are two important factors in the business foundation between both parties, this is extremely delicate: If the customer catches the influencer doing this, the entire contract could be void in case of doubt, and the fee must be reimbursed by the influencer. Further claims for damages are also conceivable.
At your own risk: how to use Instagram bots
- Do extensive research to find out what your target group is. What is she interested in? Which accounts is she following? Which hashtags does she use? When is it online? The better you know your target audience, the more precisely you can target your bot to them.
- Use your research results to narrow down the area of application of your bot . Specify exactly what kind of users he should interact with.
- It’s best to only automate likes to start with. This means that you do not run the risk of reacting inappropriately to a post.
- Make sure in the settings of your bot to give preference to new posts. If your account reacts to ancient content, it can quickly appear suspicious to users.
- Analyze your bot regularly and check the results . Do the new followers fit into your target group? If not, make adjustments to the settings.
Take the time to set up your Instagram bot correctly and adjust it from time to time. In this way you minimize the risks that the programs bring and have a good chance of boosting the growth of your account a little. But never rely on the bot alone. Your new followers will not bring you anything without current, high-quality content.
Detect Instagram bots
Not everything on Instagram is what it seems. Because the bots are out there, not every like, comment and follower is real. Users recognize bots by various characteristics:
- Many subscribed channels
Many accounts that use bots automatically subscribe to other users — in the hope that they will then follow them. Channels that follow many other accounts are at least suspicious. - Impersonal Comments
Since bots cannot properly address the content of a post in comments, they spread short standard statements such as “Cool post!”, “Great!” or “Have a look at my account”. Of course, not every user who writes a short comment uses a bot. An accumulation of impersonal communication can, however, be an indication. - Advertising direct messages
Even questionable conversations via direct messages can point to bots. Some of the programs go so far as to write direct messages. The procedure: First they pretend to have a simple question. Then they recommend a product without being asked.
If your account attracts attention through one of the above points, this could arouse suspicion among users. Then why should they still interact with your content?
Instagram bots opportunities and risks
Using Instagram bots to automatically build up reach is tempting. More followers on autopilot and many meaningful reactions to posts — who wouldn’t want that for their company? Unfortunately, the bot method doesn’t work that simple.
The correct configuration of the bot takes time and patience — and there is still no guarantee that the hoped-for results will be achieved. At the same time, its use entails various risks. If your Instagram account is blocked or the bot posts an inappropriate comment, you have done more harm than good to your business quickly. Before using a bot, you should therefore carefully weigh the benefits and risks against each other.
Ultimately, Instagram marketing is and remains a lot of work. If you want to be successful on the platform, you need high-quality content, outstanding images and plenty of personal interaction with your followers. A bot cannot do all of this for you
