The Instagram Automation Test – Four Weeks of Self-Experimentation

There was a huge outcry when, a few months ago, numerous Instagram profiles seemingly vanished overnight. Such deletion waves are not new, but they usually affect fake or ghost users who have long been inactive. On one hand, this aims to prevent so-called influencer fraud (i.e., fraud by advertisers on Instagram); on the other, it frees up profile names that have been unused for a long time. This time, however, profiles of real users also appeared to be affected initially. The next day, all (real) user profiles were visible again. Instagram itself attributed the bug to a display error.

As a social media agency, we have often dealt with the topics of influencer fraud and automation in the course of various influencer research projects. There will be a separate blog article on the former soon, where we will tell you how to recognise if an account has had a little 'help'. Today, however, we will focus on bots.

Experiment: Four Weeks with Instagram Bots

A necessary trait of any marketer is curiosity. Therefore, despite all my scepticism and outright rejection, the topic of Instagram bots did not let me go. Why do so many influencers resort to this method? There must be something to it. So, I tried it. I tried them all, the bots. Except Jarvee, as that is only available for Windows. I configured and tested various bots for a week each. The results were similar for each, so I will not go into the differences in detail. The trick seems to be simple: to generate a healthy amount of engagement. Several myths surround Instagram bots, and I would like to dispel them briefly here:

AUTOMATION CAN BE TRACED BACK

That might have been true in the past, but it is no longer the case today. Of course, it always depends on the user – blindly activating anything does not achieve results in any marketing measure. The tool must be well configured. The art here is also to make the bot look as human as possible. Then, you will not see steep increases in Socialblade and similar tools that could be misinterpreted, but rather almost linear growth. Only rapid growth (e.g., buying followers) can be traced, but even here, one must differentiate and consider relationships. A few hundred more followers overnight will leave traces on a small account, but under certain circumstances, they could also be caused by a viral post or a shoutout.

BOTS ATTRACT BOTS

That is not entirely true. In fact, everyone attracts bots. Especially by using generic and large hashtags. This leads to an accumulation of spam comments under posts. However, this is not directly due to the bots themselves, but as mentioned above, to their configuration or a lack of research.

INSTAGRAM DETECTS BOTS AND COULD BAN THE USER

When I started writing this blog post, I would have commented on this thesis with "Yes and no." However, a lot has changed in the app since then, and as mentioned a year ago, Instagram is declaring war on bots. Many bots are now on Instagram's blacklist. This means that if you use one of these bots, Instagram detects it (because you share your login data with the bot) and can ban you. This also happened to me when I used like automation. For some time now, such pure like bots are no longer available, as they can no longer access the Instagram API.

Instagram also bans (real) users who interact too much. Yes, that happens too. So, if too many likes or follows – whether automated or not – are given in one day, the platform may classify the respective user as a spamer. This also applies, by the way, to too many posts on one's own page in a day. Therefore, one should under no circumstances overdo it, with any activities whatsoever.

If an account is banned, the following helps:

1. Be patient. It is usually reactivated after a few days.
2. Exercise even more patience. For two or three days after reactivation, nothing should be posted or interacted with.
3. Start slowly again. After this phase, liking and commenting can slowly resume. Do not send more than one post per day!
4. After approximately two weeks, the platform should have regained trust in your account. Still, do not immediately overdo it again, but gradually increase your activities back to the usual level.

Conclusion: The path is not always the goal. The goal is the goal.

Although I used to be rather sceptical of bots, my opinion has changed. Sometimes it is not about having a smooth, uniform solution, but one that leads you to where you want to go. Bots can be a great help in this and can show you a shortcut or two. However, you should always make sure that your bot appears as "human" as possible, otherwise your profile might well be banned.