Why You Shouldn’t Do the Follow/Unfollow Gimmick on Instagram

How are all these entrepreneurs growing their Instagram accounts? This is a question that pops up in your head when comparing your social media marketing efforts and brand presence to other entrepreneurs.

Any business owner who cares about their brand knows that doing that whole ‘follow tons of random people just to unfollow them later’ rarely works. Creating a sustainable business and Instagram profile is about building high-quality connections which doesn’t happen when you use odd things like the follow/unfollow gimmick.

Although bloggers and some influencers have built their following this way you’ll find that when people do this their audience is not as engaged and doesn’t buy from them since random profiles are following them instead of their ideal audience. Many of these followers may have only clicked that follow button to get a follow back in return.

There are a multitude of ways to build your audience organically, strategically and with high-quality relationships in mind. Before we get into that you need to understand the top reason you shouldn’t be following people just to unfollow them later that week.

Honestly, It’s Tacky for Any Business to Get Caught Doing This

Not to be rude, but using strange ways of getting followers like buying likes and comments and of course following a whole bunch of people, just isn’t a social media marketing strategy.

Now, this isn’t to say that you can’t follow people in your niche and find potential customers or clients. What this does mean is that you cannot be spammy and random with what you’re doing.

Your audience knows if you’ve used one of these gimmicks to grow your Instagram business page because it will be as clear as day when you post content with barely any engagement and find that your followers are people with no profile pictures and sketchy accounts.

In case you didn’t know it’s also against Instagram’s rules for you to interact with other accounts in a spammy, non-sincere way. Instagram can and will actually block you from following people if you follow too many accounts at one time.

As a rule of thumb, avoid following more than 30 people per day.

So, How Do I Grow My Following The Right Way?

Simply start by following Instagram’s code of conduct. I know this may sound cliche and boring but doing things the right way and using Instagram the way it’s intended for use is the absolute best way to go.

This way you won’t be blocked or flagged by Instagram for some kind of weird account who does risky behavior on the platform.

Here are my top tips for growing your Instagram the correct way:

• Make meaningful relationships
• Use location whenever posting to your profile and stories
• Post on Instagram stories daily
• Create a consistent posting schedule
• Follow relevant people
• Produce high-quality content with lots of value

You should also avoid 3rd party apps and bots all together since the platform is making huge strides to prevent this type of usage. Just remember to be sincere with all interactions, help your audience to learn more about your industry and become more connected with your business.

Soon you’ll have people flocking to your business account because they’re actually interested in what you have to offer versus just getting a quick follow back with no long term connection.