Instagram Bots: Should You Use or Avoid Them?

Instagram bots are a topic that refers to a wide range of practices on the social media platform. It can be buying Instagram comments or using automated post-scheduling software. Some bots on Instagram can get your account in trouble and get banned. Whereas other bots can be helpful with automation to help increase organic engagement.

In this article, we’ll share everything you need to know about Instagram bots. This will help you improve the efficiency of your Instagram practices and avoid breaking the rules. Also, read to the end of the article for more help on how you can grow your Instagram. 

What Are Bots on Instagram?

Are you wondering what bots are on the Instagram app? They are computer programs that are designed to perform specific actions on your account. This might be to leave a follow, like, or comment.

The IG bots interact with the social media platforms API (application programming interface). Here is a summary of the actions Instagram bots can take on your account:

• Posting bots: This refers to bots that automatically post content based on a schedule. Instagram scheduling software typically uses these kinds of bots. They are allowed by Instagram and can help you organize your content calendar. 
• Direct message bots: You can use direct message bots to send messages to new followers automatically. This might be a welcome message, and there are tools to add personalization. It’s great for business owners who want to onboard every potential customer. 
• Like bots: These types of bots automatically leave a like on other posts. This is against Instagram’s terms of service. However, some accounts buy Instagram likes to increase their engagement metrics. 
• Follower bots: These types of bots automatically follow other accounts. Services that sell followers use these follower bots, and Instagram does not permit it. Getting caught may lead to a shadowban or an account suspension.

What Are Instagram Bot Followers?

Instagram bot followers usually come from artificial accounts only used to increase the follower count. They bring no more value and are not a good way to increase the growth of your IG account.

Here are some of the top reasons why some users choose to buy bot followers:

• More perceived authority: By increasing your follower count artificially, you’ll be perceived to have a bigger following. This means that your message will have more authority. That’s because people on social media generally give more weight to accounts with more followers. 
• Bigger sponsorship deals: The quality of the sponsorship deals increases as an account gains more followers. This isn’t always true, but it’s a good rule of thumb. That’s because brands want to use bigger IG accounts to advertise their products. The follower count is one of the things they pay attention to. 
• Competitiveness: Instagram content creators can get competitive and decide to increase the follower count. For some people, getting more followers than the next person is the point of the game.

4 Disadvantages of IG Bot Followers

Now, let’s consider the drawbacks of using fake followers for your account. This will help you better understand if it’s worthwhile to use bot providers. Some of these negatives can ruin your IG account, so pay attention. 

Instagram May Catch You

It’s against Instagram’s terms of service to buy fake Instagram followers. The social media platform uses an AI-based algorithm to detect questionable follower growth. If you’re found guilty, then your account may get penalized.

Therefore, you need to weigh up the advantages of gaining bot followers and the negatives of getting caught. Overall, we feel that the reward is not worth the risk. That’s because there are many alternative strategies for growing your account without getting into trouble.

However, there are some things you can do to reduce the chances of getting caught. For example, you can buy them at a slow rate to avoid having a large influx of followers. Also, you can buy followers from reputable vendors that take measures to protect their client’s accounts.

You May Get Shadowbanned

Getting shadowbanned on Instagram means that non-followers cannot see your new posts. Therefore, your account metrics will grind to a halt until the shadowban is removed. It’s frustrating that IG will not directly tell you when you are shadowbanned. 

However, you can contact customer service and ask them to see if there is an issue with your account. They may tell you if there’s something that you can do to fix the problem causing the shadowban. However, most users typically wait a few weeks. Then, the Instagram shadowban is naturally lifted.

Your Audience May Lose Trust

It’s possible that your Instagram audience may discover that you’re buying Instagram followers. Consequently, you may end up losing real Instagram followers if they don’t approve of the practice. They may decide that your account is fake and cannot trust any of the content. 

Overnight, even the biggest of IG accounts can crash and burn. Therefore, you run the risk of losing a large number of IG followers if you buy fake ones. You’ll need to decide if the risk is worthwhile. 

Poor Engagement Metrics

The bots on Instagram that you buy will not interact with your content. They will not watch videos, press the like button, or leave comments. Therefore, you’ll have a lot of followers with low engagement metrics to show for it.

This can have a negative effect on your Instagram account because it appears that your audience is not enjoying your content. The Instagram algorithm may factor this in when deciding how to rank your content. 

How To Get Rid of Bots on Instagram?

Are you interested in learning how to get rid of bots on Instagram? Getting rid of bots that like, follow, and comment on your account may avoid trouble. That’s because the bots will alert Instagram that your account is gaming the system. Even if you don’t pay for these yourself, you may still face penalties from Instagram.

Therefore, Instagram social media managers need to be proactive by getting ahead of the problem. Spend some time and resources to block bots by using the strategies in this article.

Instagram’s Spam Filters

Instagram provides spam filters that can be used by going to “Privacy” and then “Hidden Words.” You can block comments containing specific keywords. Therefore, if you notice that the comment bots always use the same words, consider getting them blocked.

Also, these words might include ones that do not violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines. However, it’s up to you what keywords you don’t want to be associated with the comments section of your account.

You can also use Instagram’s advanced filtering options to customize how comment spam is blocked. For example, you add spam keywords that won’t be triggered by your followers or accounts you follow.

Instagram Comment Bot Moderation Tools

You can take advantage of Instagram comment bot moderation tools like Statusbrew and Smart Moderation. They are services that deploy machine learning artificial intelligence to determine bot comments. This is another layer of protection that Instagram’s spam filter system may not catch.

The cost of these tools may be worth the investment when you consider how much hassle is avoided. Also, by cleaning your comment section, your audience will have a better user experience.

Remove Bot Followers Manually

You have the option to block any follower by going through the list. If you’re after a specific Instagram account, then use the search function. By manually blocking bot follower accounts, you can decrease the overall bot activity. 

However, manually removing bot followers can be time-consuming. That’s especially true if you have over 10,000 followers, and the number is growing daily. You can hire a real person to help you search and remove bot accounts if you have the funds to invest.

Instagram Automation Tools and Strategies

Now, let’s turn our attention to the benefits of using Instagram automation to grow your account. You’ll see that there are many use cases where Instagram bots are valid and within Instagram’s rules.

In fact, once you experience significant Instagram follower growth, it’s a good idea to use automation tools. Let’s start by considering the benefits of automation tools:

• Save time: The automation tools will allow you to save large amounts of time. That’s because there is no need to perform every action manually. When this is applied at scale, you can save hundreds or thousands of hours. 
• Increase growth rate: Automation allows you to increase the growth rate of your Instagram account. Therefore, you can continue to watch your follower number increase. 
• Manage multiple accounts: Did you know you can have multiple Instagram accounts under one username? Managing them all is easier when using automation tools. 
• More sales: Automation tools can help increase the number of sales your business receives. That’s because you can reach more customers by releasing additional posts. Also, it’s easier to follow up with every single lead by using automated direct messages. 
• Target audience: You can use automation tools to find the right Instagram target audience. Therefore, you can sell products at a higher conversion rate and increase your market share. 
• Consistency: You’ll have higher levels of consistency with automation tools. For example, when using post-scheduling software, you can automate content release.

Post Scheduling Software

Post-scheduling software is one of the top automation tools you can use for account growth. Some of the top providers include Hootsuite, Later, Social Pilot, Buffer, and Sendible. Also, you can get paid or free versions. The latter is great if you have a limited marketing budget. 

Here are some of the top automation features of post-scheduling software:

• Post content: You can specify what content is posted at a specific date and time. Therefore, you can line up hundreds of posts in advance. This is great if you want to take a long break from IG without slowing down the account growth. 
• First comment: You can post the first comment under each post. This is great if you want to kick-start a discussion. Also, it may increase the engagement rate with your audience. 
• Watermark: The software can automate the addition of a watermark on each piece of content. This makes it harder for other social media users to steal your content. 
• Hashtags: You can automate the addition of hashtags based on your post content. Good quality software will populate your content with the highest-traffic hashtags.

Follow the Target Audience

You can use Instagram bots to follow your target audience’s IG accounts automatically. Therefore, you can narrow down the scope of your social media marketing efforts for increased conversions. It’s important to identify the people who are most likely to buy your products or interact with your content. 

Also, by following your target audience’s account, they may notice your account and follow you back. Therefore, with this strategy, you may experience a significant increase in genuine followers. It’s a strategy that’s approved by Instagram and can help increase the follower count on a budget.

Breaking It Down: Should You Use Bots?

To conclude, you can use IG bots when they are allowed by the platform. This includes things like post-scheduling software that helps automate various aspects. For example, some software solutions allow you to leave the first comment on a post automatically. Hence, you can kick-start the engagement for those posts.

However, when buying Instagram bots to increase account engagement metrics, you are playing with fire. That’s because your account may get shut down or shadowbanned if Instagram finds out.

Want to avoid questionable bot strategies for account growth? Then, take advantage of the services offered here at Plixi. Use our combination of an in-house AI-based algorithm and Instagram influencer network. It’s ideal for targeting the right IG users for your goals. So what are you waiting for? Start growing and gaining Instagram followers today.