Let’s take a look at the bots of Instagram
While every brand, marketer and advertiser is rushing to Instagram to get all the juicy benefits from this platform, there are a few traps to be careful of while you make your way to the top. One of these traps are fake Instagram accounts.
Security researchers have arrived to the conclusion that at least eight percent of Instagram accounts are run by computer, otherwise known as ’bots’. And not to blame it all on Instagram, last year, this social platform has purged itself from more than a million fake accounts in order to give their users a better experience. This was especially important for business and marketers, who keep track of their growth and numbers overall.
READ: What to post on your salon Instagram account
Today, we’re going to focus on identifying these fake accounts, because distinguishing living and breathing users, from fake accounts has been a social networking problem for quite some time.
Follower vs. following ratio
Spam or bot accounts usually follow more users than the average account. For example, for each follower they follow another 50 accounts or so. While, not all accounts are necessarily bots because of the amount of the users they are following, most likely are.
Number of posts
As you might presume, these fake accounts aren’t really active on Instagram, and on average they don’t put out more than ten images on their accounts. Each of these bots don’t participate in the community actively, and may not even log into the service for over a month. While, real accounts build up their network, they are more likely to post more than just ten.
Followed by “BUYFANS” account
These accounts offer free likes and followers, and they usually follow potential buyers or are followed by them. Sometimes the names of these services are too obvious, while others are more successful at covering up their tracks.
No profile photo
Fake followers and accounts sometimes don’t have any profile photo at all. Or posts for that matter. They might have many followers, and they might follow a lot of other accounts. But, think about it. Even if you wanted to use Instagram just for following others, wouldn’t you at least make a personal account and upload a photo of a cute cat or something?
Even if it seems tempting, and it can, especially in the beginning, don’t fall into the trap of buying fake likes, comment or followers. These accounts may only diminish the worth of your brand, and in the end, they won’t benefit your sales or popularity.
