How to grow an Instagram account today if you are a small blogger or a brand
Loops appeared not long ago and the original idea of loops were a giveaway where you had a small chance of winning and huge obligations to follow everybody in that giveaway list.
After a couple of years the game has changed, you can get followers there with or without paying for them. But still there are so many pitfalls which you have to know.
- What is a loop? How do you join it?
- What is a ghost spot in a loop? How does the loop actually work?
- What should you expect after the loop finishes?
What is a loop on Instagram?
A loop is a kind of giveaway but without a prize or reward but also with an opportunity to get real people on your account. It is a way to get real followers who are ready to follow each other in a looping day.
Loop pages are easy to find through hashtags or names: loop, social, tribe, gain and so on. They usually have cover photos with text or drawings but there are never personal pictures on them.
In Bio you can get all the details for whom this page can be interesting: mothers, creators, influencers, small businesses and so on.
Almost all these loop accounts have a kind of head account, which a number of smaller loop-pages belong to. For example you may find a loop account with 1k or 5k followers which may belong to the head account with 10k or 30k followers. This you can find out in their bio or during the loop.
How do you join a loop event?
Joining a loop event is super easy, you need to follow a loop account and leave a comment on their last post about the ongoing event (loop event). Usually it looks like this pic.
When you leave a comment, they add you to the chat where you need to follow other rules. This is the most confusing part. They send a message to the chat about what the first step is: (pic).
They don’t let people talk in the chat just because they add new people who have to read the rules easily without other distracting messages. So don’t be surprised if they delete your message in the chat. But you can ask your question to their DM.
How does the loop actually work?
The loop is quite weird but effective you need to follow everyone that a loop account follows plus ghosts/admins. When you follow everyone you have to go back to the chat and send an icon which they ask you to send (usually it is a heart or a star or a smile icon) to confirm that you’ve completed the requirement.
After that they ask you to follow everyone on another loop-account and then another and another. From one looping day you may follow 300 people which is quite difficult because you can’t follow them in one click, you have to wait 90 seconds between each follow otherwise Instagram blocks your account temporarily for that weird activity. The looping day lasts 24 hours to let you follow everyone in that event.
From my experience, Instagram blocked my account for 6 hours and then I could follow and like again. But 90 sec is what they recommend to leave between follows.
What is the benefit for you? People who you follow have to follow you back too, except ghosts or admins who don’t have to follow back. Because they pay for that.
How do you leave the chat?
If you don’t want to participate in the event or someone has added you to the chat you can easily leave by clicking on to the chat name then scroll down to where the members are and click on the LEAVE CHAT button.
What is a ghost spot in a loop?
A ghost spot is an opportunity to be followed without following back. You pay for this loop but it has different options.
The price is different, you can pay for 1 or 3 loops or even 10 in one day. The difference is the number of people following you.
From my own experience a ghost spot of one loop brought me about 70 – 100 people, who I didn’t need to follow back.
What should you expect after the loop finishes?
So this part is the most important and interesting for those who participate for free by following each other and those who pay. In both cases you get real people as followers but they unfollow you the next day.
That is an inevitable process if you were a ghost or admin and didn’t follow the other group members back, or if you chose the wrong page, in which participants’ interests are completely different from what your account provides.
But in a free (follow everyone) option it is a much better situation. When you follow other people they don’t tend to unfollow you so quickly and massively because they don’t want to lose you as a follower.
Another pitfall is if a looping account has a specific audience such as mom blogs or baby blogs, so they aren’t interested in following you if you are a travel or fashion blogger.
I got a dramatic mass unfollow, almost 90% unfollowed me the next day when I chose a loop completely different from my content audience.
RECAP: Lopping is a good way to get real followers but on the following conditions:
- you have similar content or useful/interesting information for the people who follow you
- you follow other people back and like or comment on their posts regularly
- you buy a ghost spot on a right page, so these people will stay with you because they need or like information on your account
I don’t recommend this way of gaining followers; it is better to follow those accounts that have similar content, audience, followers number and will follow you back to support each other with likes and comments.
I’ll write about this method in my next article.
