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Is there anything wrong with using the follow/unfollow method for Instagram? It’s a controversial–but effective–method to grow your social media accounts.
Like I wrote a few weeks ago, I use the follow/unfollow method to grow Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. With about 16,100 Instagram followers, over 3,000 Twitter followers, and over 2,000 Pinterest followers, I would say it’s working as a social media strategy.
But plenty of people hate the follow/unfollow method. These are all criticisms I have come across, and my response to them.
Follow/Unfollow is Inauthentic
Okay.
Let’s assume that it’s inauthentic. So is photo-editing. And only showing the highlights of your life, not the messy parts. And talking about a product or service because that brand sent you something for free or paid you.
The vast majority of my friends IRL use Instagram just for fun. They use a handful of hashtags. They post photos with bad lighting. My friends don’t think about the best time of day to post. The vast majority of them have less than 500 followers. But their accounts are authentic!
To be clear, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to use Instagram for funsies. I did for years. I would post multiple times a day for awhile and then go months without posting. But about 18 months ago, I started taking Instagram seriously, as a way to grow my blog audience.
Being serious about Instagram means thinking about my audience before I post anything. I still strive to be authentic, absolutely. But my pink and happy photos are calculated.
For example, I LOVE pink flowers. Pink flowers have been a theme in my Instagram feed for months. But back in May, I decided that every fourth photo should be flowers, with an emphasis on pink flowers. By having every fourth photo be similar, I create a diagonal pattern in my feed.
As the popularity of my floral photos grew, I decided to post even more. Now, every other photo I post is of flowers, mostly pink flowers. This is absolutely a true reflection of my personality and my interests. But it’s also a calculated reflection. Otherwise I would post more photos of books or my laptop or wine or food. But those interests usually don’t match my aesthetic, nor would they help me attract likes and comments.
While most people focus on criticizing follow/unfollow on Instagram, the same principles apply to Twitter and to Pinterest. Are you strategically retweeting or repinning? That’s inauthentic. Are you sharing the same blog links multiple times? Inauthentic. I’ve had Twitter since 2009. I’ve absolutely changed how I use it since starting my blog. I’m not sure when I first signed up for Pinterest, but I’ve completely changed my boards and my pins over the last two years.
Feel free to call the follow/unfollow method “inauthentic.” But then don’t pretend that using social media for your blog is 100% “authentic.”
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Follow/Unfollow is Spam
Some people are really bad at using the follow/unfollow method. They follow and unfollow the same users multiple times. I admit this is spammy.
But how is following someone once, and later unfollowing them, spam?
I googled the word “spam” so we could discuss it.
Noun: irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of recipients
Verb: send the same message indiscriminately to (large numbers of recipients) on the Internet
Following someone on social media does exactly one thing: notify that person of a new follower.
That’s it.
That’s not an irrelevant or inappropriate message.
Furthermore, properly using the follow/unfollow method (as described in Guide 05 of Instagram Decoded!) does not include “indiscriminately” following people. It involves market research to follow only targeted accounts, people who would be most interested in whatever content you offer.
If you want to criticize people using follow/unfollow poorly, feel free. But if their actions condemn the entire methodology, by the same logic, their actions should condemn anyone using social media marketing. The only moral marketing is my marketing, amirite?
Follow/Unfollow is Selfish/Greedy/Insensitive/Mean
- I can only control my actions. I cannot control your actions.
- When I follow an account, that person receives a notification. Nothing else–that’s it. That person can follow me back from the Notifications page. That person can look at my profile and decide to follow me back or not. Or that person can ignore the notification completely. Hell, that person can even block me.
- If you choose to follow me, that is your prerogative. If you choose to unfollow me, that is your prerogative too.
- I am too busy to worry about your actions. Your decision to follow or unfollow me does not affect me personally. It (usually) does not hurt my feelings.
- So why are you freaking out so much about what I do? Do you not have better things to do? No one is obliged to follow anyone else. No one is obliged to keep following anyone else.
If I go to your blog, read one blog post, leave a thoughtful comment in hopes that you’ll check out my blog, and then never read your blog again, that is “follow/unfollow.” I know bloggers do this based on how many one-off comments I receive!
If I go into your store, browse your merchandise, and then leave without buying, that is “follow/unfollow.”
Business relationships are not 100% reciprocal. I might not be making lots of money now, but my writing is my job. As a solopreneur, marketing is my job too. If you genuinely enjoy my content, whether that be my blog posts, my Instagram posts, or something else, I’m providing you something of value for free. I don’t need to also follow you on Instagram to be “sensitive” or “nice.”
You Don’t Get Real Followers from Follow/Unfollow
According to whom? According to what metric?
Marketing experts for years have advocated a form of follow/unfollow for Twitter. Just this week I received an email from SumoMe promoting an epic guide of how to build your Instagram account. They also tout follow/unfollow as a growth strategy.
Based on my own engagement, a targeted follow/unfollow strategy results in real followers. My posts reach 2-3% engagement within 24 hours. They usually reach 4%, sometimes even 5%, within a week.
How do I know those numbers are good?
One case study of top brands on Instagram shows engagement rates between 1.4% and 5.4%. Another survey of Instagram influencers show that as followers increase, engagement rates decrease. Users with 10,000 to 100,000 followers have an average 2.4% like rate (just likes, not likes + comments, which calculates the engagement rate).
And all of those stats were calculated by looking at a longer window of time than just a week, although neither article states their exact research methods. Hitting similar engagement in a shorter span is even better.
Again, if you’re doing follow/unfollow poorly, you won’t have good results. But if you do it well, as outlined in Guide 5 of the Instagram Decoded bundle, you do gain real followers.
Follow/unfollow isn’t for everyone. That’s okay. I don’t post multiple times per day. I found out the hard way that I have moral objections to how most Instagrammers choose the winner on loop giveaways. I’m pretty sure I will never buy or sell a shoutout on my account. Not everyone wants to use the same strategies to grow their Instagram. In fact, depending on your goals for Instagram growth, not every strategy will work for you!
But I kinda think some people need to get off their moral high horse. You can whine about follow/unfollow all you want, but it’s a tried-and-true strategy that works. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
All right, your turn to share! How do you feel about the follow/unfollow strategy? Do you use it or other methods to grow your social media?
P.S. I am working on a case-study regarding Insagram growth without follow/unfollow! It will take me several more months to complete, so stay tuned. Edit 05/10/2018: I actually turned my case study into a two-year experiment. Details coming soon.
Even though I don’t like this method, I feel like it’s the only way to get likes/noticed/followed without having to pay to be featured on a timeline, now that IG changed everything. I plan on implementing it at some point.
It’s really the only proven method to gain followers without spending money. With all the changes on Instagram, it’s so much harder for anyone to see your posts. Luckily you’re starting with a strong following already! There’s definitely a snowball effect. Since you already have great pictures and a good number of followers, you should have a high followback rate whenever you do try follow/unfollow.
Look at you go! I really appreciated reading all of your clearly well thought out responses!
Thank you! Instagram is this weird mash of Facebook and Twitter when it comes to building followers, and I think people just don’t fully consider how it’s different.
Like on Twitter, you usually just unfollow anyone who doesn’t followback, but that’s because Twitter’s limit on following is tied to your followers. Instagram has a hard limit.
Facebook pages are not reciprocal at all–you like a page, but they don’t like you back. Personal profiles are primarily reciprocal. Instagram is totally different in how it operates, and people just don’t think that through when throwing a hissy fit about follow/unfollow.
Everything you said in the Follow/Unfollow is Selfish/Greedy/Insensitive/Mean is exactly how I feel about the one person who wrote me a super long PM when I unfollowed her back when I was trying to get to 1000 followers on IG. I was so surprised that she even noticed I unfollowed her let alone took the time to call me out and write a long message. And when I said she posted several times in one day and I just didn’t want to follow that she said “Who the hell are you to have an expectation on when I post.” I didn’t say anything to that but I wanted to say “Who the hell are you to have an expectation on who I follow and unfollow” ugh. Anyway, sorry for the rant. haha And just btw, I used to not like the f/uf method but it’s growing on me. I recently bought all the guides but I haven’t been able to even look at them yet. When I get mass planner, I’ll be sure to use your link.
I totally manually unfollow people for posting ugly photos or spamming my TL with too many pictures in one day. (I also routinely add people with fabulous accounts to my whitelist in MassPlanner so it doesn’t unfollow them). The hypocrisy was strong with that one!
I’ve been doing follow/unfollow for about 10 months, and so far only 3 people have called me out. And based on their own comments (you seem like a really great person who I would love to follow but you unfollowed me), they’re clearly playing their own games on IG. I follow 100s of accounts who don’t follow me back because they’re amazing. Some of them I found because the followed and unfollowed me!
My only issue with it is I find it discouraging when I get a notification of a new follower then realize that they’re mostly likely using the follow/unfollow method. I’m still at that stage where each new follower is exciting and I hope that they’re someone who genuinely wants to interact with me. But other than that I have no issues with it. To each their own.
I don’t think of it that way. I see each new follower as an opportunity. Either they’re interested in my content, or they think I might be interested in their content. Like I told Charlene, I’ve found some incredible accounts to follow because they followed and unfollowed me. I’m grateful they did because of how much I love their content!
If it turns out neither of us are interested in the other, that’s okay too. I just move on to the next opportunity.
Well your way of looking at it is definitely better than mine! 🙂 And I do follow back some people who I know are using this method. It’s usually if they have a grear bio. It’s hard to resist a catchy one!
I’m neutral. It’s kind of necessary these days anyway since social media is a numbers game. The real test is engagement. If someone has a huge following but little interaction, pass.
I only do it with Twitter occasionally because I’m lazy and picky (and my other social media accounts are purely personal). The downside of following random people, for me, is….following random people. I mean, sure, sometimes you find someone really cool, but since I’m on Twitter mostly for current and socio-cultural news/commentary, I end up muting most of the follow-for-follow inanity, honestly.
It’s pretty much always been a numbers game to a certain extent. But until the last year or two, bloggers have had other means of building followers and site traffic. I think my experience in digital marketing just gives me a different perspective than the average blogger.
Twitter lists make a huge difference. I need to update mine. I have one for feminists and one for bloggers. Then I don’t get too overwhelmed.
I think social media, even the specific use of it as a promotional tool, needs to be social. And for me the follow/unfollow method will always be like pretending to be someone’s friend so you can use their pool then not talking to them in winter.
But yes, it works, so people use it. Each to their own. It just doesn’t sit right with me and I have on more than one occasion inboxed people to advise them that their ‘strategy’ isn’t welcome on my page/s. Brands mostly, big brands who use it and like you said, repeatedly use it on the same accounts. That drives me INSANE. That’s the risk you take, I guess, alienating and annoying a potential customer/client/reader.
I am still social on social media, even while using follow/unfollow.
I comment on 100+ posts per day. I often write comments that are several sentences long, although not all posts are the kind that encourage long comments. A gorgeous photo of nature with a one-word caption will get Beautiful! or some synonym. And periodically I end up replying to other comments on a post, when that account has inspired a really good conversation.
I like 1000+ posts per day, from accounts I follow, from accounts that follow me, from posts I find through hashtags or locations.
Considering I’ve used follow/unfollow for almost a year now, and only about six people have said anything to me, it’s been a reasonable risk to take. At this time last year I had less than 500 followers. Today I have over 17,000. 6 comments on my follow/unfollow actions are a drop in the ocean.
Well maybe only 6 people have actually said anything to you but there are hundreds or thousands like me who after you follow/unfollow them (after taking THEIR time to look at your account and follow you back) that brand you forever as inauthentic or worse and your following as improperly obtained. Follow/Unfollow is using people, plain and simple. Drop the follow/unfollow and instead ONLY actually engage with people–even if that effects your follow/unfollow ratio–and your success will go through the roof. As will your good karma.
I use the “you” here not directed at you Brita but at all who use the follow/unfollow method.
I have also had good friends who have left Instagram forever due to the constant follow/unfollowing and bots. Creative people with good content. Follow/Unfollow harms the platform overall which harms all of us on Instagram. And it truly harms and chases off the new Instagrammers that we all need to continue to grow our brands.
Instagram has over 500 million users, according to Instagram’s own press release of June this year. 300 million of those users get on Instagram daily. I don’t really see follow/unfollow hurting the platform overall. Otherwise Instagram wouldn’t continue to be so insanely popular.
About a month ago, I tightened up my settings on MassPlanner which resulted in me only following about 125 people per day. I was still liking well over 1,000 posts daily and commenting on 100ish posts daily. My growth stagnated. Instead of getting 2,000 to 3,000 new followers in a month, I barely gained 1,000.
I’m also working on a test account, to see what I can do with a very niche account, great content, great hashtags, etc., but without follow/unfollow. A HUGE account (200k) reposted one of my photos recently. It did not affect my following or engagement at all.
While these examples are far from conclusive, so far the evidence indicates that no, quitting follow/unfollow will not improve my success.
Simply matters how you define success. I am simply letting you and other Lifestyle bloggers out there that use this method know that there IS a widespread perception that follow/unfollow is a bait and switch and REALLY turns off many Instagrammers that could be your most engaged followers. It”s a method of getting fake celebrity that actually hurts people. I won”t use it.
Considering I wrote a blog post addressing the primary criticisms, I’m already aware that not everyone approves of follow/unfollow.
If Instagrammers care more about follow/unfollow than my content, then they’re not my target audience. My account is not for all people, and that’s okay! I don’t have time to chase after people who unfollow me. I have other Instagram goals to prioritize.
I totally agree
I’m still not sure how I feel about the follow unfollow method, but it looks like there are 2 variations of it. One where you follow a bunch of people, then only unfollow the ones that didn’t follow you back, or the other where you unfollow them all, regardless of whether or not they followed you back. I’ve tried the first variation on a small scale and it’s worked quite well, but I’m curious which method variation are you referencing in your post? Thanks!
I’m referring to any follow/unfollow strategy, since people actually create sub-variations under the two versions you describe. Instagram, for example, limits you to following only 7,500 people. You literally cannot keep following everyone who follows you back unless you’re happy with less than 10k followers.
On Twitter, however, how many people you can follow is related to how many followers you have. I’m usually following about 500 more people on Twitter than followers I have, since I only unfollow people who follow me back. I also give people on Twitter more time, about a week, since I don’t have to worry about following too many people.
Hi I know I’m super late to the party here! But
Ok
I don’t think just going into a store means you’re obligated to buy something. (Visiting a profile/page) But if you go there act all nice waste their time and buy something just to return it right away, I think we can all agree that’s just really mean to the salesperson. (F/uf)
IMO f/uf is one sure way to annoy people. Why not just like their photos or tweets if the goal is give them a notification to link them to your page? Far nicer interactions and the few people who follow are likely to be genuine and fans for the longrun.
I spend some time each day liking photos of accounts with similar interests.
I’ve been running my fitness IG for almost 3 weeks. I gained about 20 followers/day for the first week 50/day for the 2nd week and 100/day for the last 3 days. I spend some time each liking pics on fitness related accounts and a few of these people end up following me. (Tedious, but I think u can get a bot for this)
I also don’t plan on paying for any shoutouts or reposts. But I do plan on getting them!
/perhaps this is easier in the fitness community but I have gotten 2 users with far greater followings than myself to repost my video on their pages. The video being of myself doing my own version of their workout moves which I posted and tagged them with the caption “🐒 imitating @soandso and @soandso”.
I don’t know for sure but there are probably many like me that consider follow/unfollow to be spam (doing the same thing to lots of people online) and report it as so. TBH instagram has resolved at least 5 of my spam reports (out of probably 50-80 reports) they notify me when removed the account. So I do know that accounts can been removed for spamy behaviour.
People are so focused on followers and likes they forget that what really matters is delivering consistent quality content.
I am very curious to know if you have completed your study! Tell me your username I’ll follow you on IG!
Xoxo
Sarah
Hi Sarah! I just got back from vacation, so that’s why this comment is late. Always feel free to comment on my blog posts, even the old ones!
MassPlanner likes over 2000 posts per day for me. I manually like another 100 to 1000 each day. I comment on 20 to 200. (The low numbers are my “days off” from Instagram).
Engaging with other users simply isn’t enough to grow followers. When Instagram was less saturated, before the algorithm changed a dozen times, engagement was enough. But that was then. This is now.
I do deliver consistent quality content. You can check out my account @belle_brita if you’d like. Multiple posts have over 1000 likes.
I have not completed my case study yet. Illness has caused me to cut back on my blog and Instagram. However, I can tell you an account with over 200,000 followers reposted me. Their repost had over 4,000 likes after less than 24 hours. I received 0 followers from that repost. A few of my posts have over 100 likes, which is impressive with less than 100 followers. But so far, consistent, quality photos with targeted hashtags and consistent engagement has not gained me many followers.
Hi Brita! Thanks for taking the time to reply to me! I’m sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well! I hope you recover quickly!
I feel like I was overly optimistic about gaining traction through engagement. And I will agree with you that getting shout outs or reposts are not a very easy or frequent thing and it doesn’t yield much results.
My growth rate has dropped due to a higher unfollow rate recently and I’m growing at about 50/day down from the 100-day, that must have been an anomaly peak week.
I will definitely look into this mass planner! thanks for sharing! I’m @sweatywife on IG I’ll jump on and follow you 😉
Just remember: she is not going to follow you back.
Instagram only allows you to follow 7,500 people. Once you have over 7,500 followers, it’s impossible to follow everyone back.
I’m sorry but it’s an unfair practice, I instantly unfollow those who unfollow me after i follow back, if it’s a company it gives me a bad opinion about them, the same if it’s a blogger
As result personally I don’t follow back anymore anyone
Brita, I love your post and I think you are right. Many people says “I want to many followers but coming followers are not quality.
Secret is quality. YES QUALITY! Every social media platform wants quality. And I think every user must want quality.
Againg thanks your post.
That was some nonsense justification. Nevertheless, you have many valid points. The bottom line is that your decision to follow is for the very impersonal sake of building your “follower” base, and not because you enjoy the person’s posts. So as long as you’re honest with yourself and everyone that you use scheming tactics that build up your numbers because of schemes and not because your material is worth it, then all is well.
But her content may well be worth it, it may well be the reason that a lot of these users have stuck around, and it may well be the reason that Brita continues to get such high engagement in her posts. She is simply using it as a marketing strategy to send a social signal to notify another user of her page. Many of the worlds greatest social media marketers use this method.
Thank you, Pink Sparkle, you nailed it!
No matter how you justify it, it’s still rude. I personally unfollow people right back.
I have to wonder how many of your 16k followers only followed you back to be polite, and would unfollow you if Instagram made it easier to see who is doing this without third party apps. Considering your relatively low ratio of likes to followers, I’d wager it’s most of them.
I encourage people to unfollow me if my content doesn’t suit them. If the fact that I use f/u is more important to you than what I post, that’s totally your prerogative. Most likely you’re not my target audience anyway.
I’ve also openly talked on Instagram about using f/u. Unlike pretty much every other blogger who uses it, I’m completely honest about it. So even if my followers can’t easily “track” my actions, I’ve already told them I’m doing it. I still have over 28,500 followers, so at least some of them don’t seem to mind.
I just realized that “f u” is a pretty appropriate name for the methodology. Nothing says “f u” like being followed and unfollowed.
Sure people don’t speak out, but the message gets sent regardless.
The follow/unfollow method is effective and it works to gain numbers.
The people who mind it, are the ones interested in growing their account (thats why they notice it), but dont use this method themselves.
But I can bet it would piss most of your followers if they relaised it.
Its not a moral thing for me. Its very simple, it made me feel like crap so I wont do it to people.
It is dishonest, in the way it uses the follow function.
“Follow” means I am interested in you or what you are posting.
At least thats what you are communicating to the person, but with the follow/unfollow method you’re clearly not interested in them beyond adding a follower to your account.
But, to each his own and whatever you decide to do, all the best!
Not a single valid point was made. Not one!
lol
Thanks for writing this. People whining about “nope, unfollow for unfollow” probably post selfies day after day and have 400 followers. I promote cannabis products, live in a top tourist destination and post professionally captured photos. I feel like people don’t understand basic marketing, and even more so, when did I become obligated to continuing following your content, or lack there of…….. best of luck on your blogging/instagramming journey. Maybe I’ll have to try out this program.
Haha, once I notice that they are no longer following me. I just leave the emoji waving goodbye and block them. I can’t stand these Instagram snobs.
What’s wrong with you guys. You people are insecure. I like watches, when watch account follows me, I will take a look at their profile and decide whether to follow back or not for more content that I might be interested in. I don’t care if they unfollow me, the fact that they follow me and presents great feed is enough for enjoyment ( or even open up a new opportunity to buy watch that I like for a good price that I don’t know before ).
Think of it logically. Why would brands follow (not SPAMMING) you? It’s a marketing techniques, if you don’t like it just ignore it. What do you expect from a brand following you? So you can show off to people that you are being followed. Come on
Nope not insecure, just find the technique annoying. And many of the users that do it are not brands….., they are “wannabe” brands. They want to come off as something they are not. I follow many people (that I genuinely enjoy) and don’t expect a follow back, but please don’t follow me just to get a follow in return. I find the practice to be very disingenuous.
I think chasing a big number for no other reason than having a big number is insecure personally… I’d rather an engaged, interactive audience that haven’t been tricked into anything.
Nasty practice that violates the sincerity of an online community.
I realize times are hard but way too many people selling stuff on Instagram and are doing it in the most graceless way. Do they actually get sales from this?
All these marketing tips and all that. Wtf? Just vile. Ick,
Honestly, you can tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night…tell yourself that basically everything is inauthentic so you can feel better about what you’re doing.
But in my opinion, it’s a shitty way to treat other people. It’s also something I’ve seen accounts with crappy posts/photos do. They get followers because of more exposure, not because they are talented or deserving. But whatever helps you get ahead, right?
I was following you, but I just unfollowed. Not that you care.
I encourage people to report them as SPAM.
follow / unfollow meet IG guideline of spam. (it didn’t directly say that it is spam) Artificially incress like and follow is spam in the guideline.
report them will also blog them from coming back to your account.