Growing IG in 2018 [without F/U method]

Hi guys,

I know we have touched on this in the past and talked about different ways of growing on instagram without the follow/unfollow method. With instagram constantly changing, how are you guys growing your accounts right now and what methods do you have that work without doing the follow / unfollow method?

I wanted to start a bit of open discussion on it.
I thought I should start with a few techniques and have a look at what I thought on them.

The Shoutout Viral method

Now, this looks awesome, and with videos like the ones we have seen on youtube with people like High on Life, they have to be the sexiest looking ones, with these guys growing accounts by 25k overnight.
Sounds too good to be true? In some ways it is, unless you are in the right situation.

Have a look at this video, you will get an Instagram boner at the growth rate but will probably end with the same questions that I have.

Now my instant thoughts on this are:

• You gotta have a huge network of multiple 500k - 1M+ accounts to shout out your ad
• You could, alternatively, spend some serious $$$ on getting shoutouts on 1M+ accounts

They did follow up with a video on how you can get featured on these kinda accounts but...



Don't be playing those games with me son.


The almost follow/unfollow but not quite

Okay, this is a method I have been trying, but when compared alongside the follow / unfollow & enagage method it isn't that good.

• Like 3-5 photos of niche related hashtag users
• Don't follow them
• Hope that they follow you

The problem with this is: people just aren't as generous with those follows in 2018



So those of you who have tried this: what settings are you using? Let others know how you're doing this.


The $1.80 strategy (GaryVee)

The dollar 80 strategy is a term coined by Gary Vee. Basically, his idea is to add your 02 cents on the top 9 posts of one of your niche related hashtags. Doing this 10 times a day (each time a different tag).
(0.2 * 9) * 10 = 1.80

The key to success?
Not just posting spam or BS, but actually giving long insightful comments.
After you leave your insightful comment, go even further by liking and commenting on other peoples comments, answering their questions.

Now honestly, this truly is a great strategy. The big problem is, its super time consuming and doesn't reap huge rewards. You are never going to grow a huge following with this technique. You will, however, become noticed in your niche and grow a small following of people who are super into your niche and see you as a thought leader on the subject.

If you want to see a video he did on the subject, watch this:

So those are a few that are a bit fresh on my mind.

Guys let me know what you've been doing and what works.

Sorry for the long post (without any real gold)
But honestly, I hope the value comes in the convo that follows.

Follow/Unfollow is still the cheapest and best method to start the initial heat in a account.

I've started commenting personal messages to recent hashtag pictures in my niche, usually addressing their post content rather just a generic automated reply. It's a tedious task but i've seen engagement on almost every comment. Even if they dont follow me they have liked the comment which tbh can be quite demoralising after taking the time to do it but it shows thats what people are responding to. Im still going to use follow/unfollow to gain atm even though its pretty shit

Easy:
- If you niche is potentially viral, you want a VIRAL ACCOUNT, then make or copy viral content and try to reach the most amount of people possible.

- If you want to build a PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNT, the way is the Gary Vee Strategy, that way you can show everyone how much you know. You monetize with less followers so you want to build quality, not quantity.

-If you want to build a LOCAL BUSINESS ACCOUNT, follow/unfollow by location.

If your case doesn't apply to any of the above you have the shout out strategy which works with everyone, look for a similar account and get a shout.

And as @Cyber devil said, F/UF still is the best method to begin with.

How to find Viral content? Any sites, tools?

IGJavier said:

Easy:
- If you niche is potentially viral, you want a VIRAL ACCOUNT, then make or copy viral content and try to reach the most amount of people possible.

- If you want to build a PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNT, the way is the Gary Vee Strategy, that way you can show everyone how much you know. You monetize with less followers so you want to build quality, not quantity.

-If you want to build a LOCAL BUSINESS ACCOUNT, follow/unfollow by location.

If your case doesn't apply to any of the above you have the shout out strategy which works with everyone, look for a similar account and get a shout.

And as @Cyber devil said, F/UF still is the best method to begin with.

Click to expand...

With your viral account, how do you reach those people?
Through shoutouts on bigger accounts?

SAWASDEEKUB said:

With your viral account, how do you reach those people?
Through shoutouts on bigger accounts?

Click to expand...

No, you have to reach in every post the most people possible so you get in the Explore page and Snowball. You can do it in different ways, but the main rule is to post and get the most amount of people liking and commenting in the shortest time. So post at the perfect time, with the perfect caption, with a call to action to comment and like, do engagement groups or powerlikes.

So for example if you are in USA, don't post at 3 am, a simple photo with no caption. Post a video or a slide of images with a caption asking for their opinion at 6pm, etc.

I wonder why so many of this journey threads stop posting so soon...

Good info. From my journey so far, The follow/unfollow method with Spyntax comments are the best. I have been able to get over 1k followers without the likes.
Gonna try to figure out now how to enable likes with what i have already to improve my ratio.

I also started F/U 100 followers per day