Do This & Gain Hundreds Of Instagram Followers ASAP
I’m going to preface this by saying, this is just my personal opinion, & as such, you can of course choose to take it or leave it
Screenshots below
I received a DM over the weekend from an account I don’t follow (and she doesn't follow me) & it honestly made me angry. It was not a bot account, it was a ‘real’ account. The girl is a ‘content creator’ and has just over 20,000 followers on Instagram but after reading her message, it made me wonder how many of her followers are actually real and how many she’s ‘purchased’ through these scammy paid ‘loop’ giveaways.
There are a lot of you newbie accounts out there, who have just started businesses or (like me) are trying to grow as a content creator. I know it might be TEMPTING to some of you to take part in something like this so that’s why I felt compelled to write this blog.
Here’s why they generally don’t help you in the long run:
The followers you gain from the giveaway are just following you to win the prize and often most of them will unfollow you once the winner is announced
Giveaways like this also attract bot accounts to follow you and ‘duplicate’ copy accounts. They can then hack yours/your followers accounts. Read this article by inews for more on that.
It can harm your overall engagement to rapidly increase your followers like this and have very little genuine engagement to show for it.
If you don’t know the account/brand you’re collaborating with for a giveaway then how can you trust that they will actually follow through with it? Guess what, if they don’t… that reflects badly on you and angers your followers.
Anyone else catch the giveaway that Aussie model (her trademark is her lips’ hint hint) announced with giveaways.co (or whatever the account was)? The prizes were actually photoshopped on a bed with her superimposed on it. She obviously was paid or promised a lot of followers in return for running the giveaway on her page but she later had to issue a statement apologising and saying she was no longer affiliated with it. This was all during covid so she explained away the photoshopping of the prizes on the bed she was sitting on by saying that’s the way they had to do it during lockdowns. It was really icky & I unfollowed her.
Sadly, a few businesses I follow have had to apologise for their involvement in similar giveaways and subsequent harassment from bot accounts.
Think of this as a ‘what not to do’
Don’t believe me? Read Dan’s experience with buying into a loop giveaway here.
As he writes:
“If you don’t know what a loop giveaway is, it is when you team up with a bunch of other bloggers and in order for the contestants to win the prize you are giving away, they need to follow every Instagram account.
I got a couple of thousand followers from doing this and I can tell you: the lack of research I put into this loop giveaway was such a big mistake and ruined my engagement.”
A giveaway in general is a FANTASTIC way to reward your followers and gain access to a new audience. But, this should be done with caution and only with accounts you know, like and trust.
I recently took part in a giveaway with an American clothing label who I had a relationship with and had worked with (content creation) previously. I gained 150 new followers from this giveaway and most of them stayed with me. Yay! When the competition was over, the brand got in touch with one of my followers who won and sent her the prize, as planned. This is the type of giveaway I encourage, NOT with accounts you don’t know anything about, offering a random prize of an iPhone or cash money etc
Bottom line? Buying your followers is a bit icky, guys. So are paid giveaways like this one. They’re both really disingenuous ways to grow your account. You don’t need them and I think you’ll get much further by simply being yourself, showing up, putting the hard work in and being honest :)
What adds a layer of complexity is when accounts like this go on to work with brands and charge money, accepting free product, with their fake/inflated profile.
If you have a look at the message she’s sent me, there are several ways you can buy into the giveaway. You shouldn’t have to pay full stop. And then there are secret ghost spots. A ‘ghost’ spot is when you pay extra to not have to advertise the giveaway on your instagram feed at all. You’re still an account that anyone entering the giveaway would have to follow, but you don’t have to post on your feed that you’re doing the giveaway. Super sneaky.
I’ve blurred out the details of this persons account so as not to ‘pick on her’ personally but to just share and educate.
Only collaborate with brands & accounts that you know, trust and follow.
Honesty really is the best policy, guys
There’s nothing wrong with growing your account slowly
WHAT TO DO IF YOU ALREADY JOINED -
Already locked yourself in? Regret it? That’s okay, we live and we learn. Here’s what you could do:
Slowly delete the un-engaged or irrelevant accounts that followed you through the giveaway. Chip away at this over a few days or a few weeks depending on how many you have. There are rules and guidelines about how many ‘actions’ you can make in a day on Instagram and bulk deleting accounts is something that is regulated. If you were to delete 100 followers each day for example, this may raise suspicion.
Avoid taking part in another giveaway for quite a few months. Instagram may see the spike in your followers as suspicious and limit your account temporarily
Optional extra - if something went wrong with this giveaway or you just feel icky about it, just be honest and apologise to your followers! Say you made a mistake and you hope they will forgive you!
As always, hope this has been helpful and my inbox is always open should you think of something you want to ask me
x Bec