Stan's Instagram Journey!

Hey BHW, Instagram small fish here looking to become a shark through a lot of dedication and experimentation.

I am currently working on one account focusing on learning as much about the process as possible. Based on the amount of time I am running FL and the work I am putting in my follower/day
goal for the initial stage of this journey is going to be 200 followers/day, which I plan to scale up to 300, 400, and then 500+.

To achieve this I am using a 75/25 mix of automation and manual work.
Info:

• Running FollowLiker for 6hrs/day
• IG linked to a Twitter account to auto tweet each post
• Currently following just over 1,000 users. I am planning on declaring a specific day of the week "Unfollow Day" and unfollow users who have been in the system for 4-5 days that aren't following back

Method:

• Scraping users from massive pages that post the same content.
• Scraping users who follow niche specific pages that have a high amount of followers who would enjoy my content.
• Targeting 3 hashtags and liking photos that contain them.

Roadmap:

1. Hit 5k
2. Ensure healthy engagement rate
3. Hit 7.5k
4. Hit 10k
5. Network and find a group with similar numbers that could mutually benefit eachother
6. Hit 12.5k
7. Shop for shoutouts
8. Hit 20k
9. Start growing a second account/promote via my main.

Stats:
1/3/2016 - 3.3k Followers

Notes:
1/3/2016 - I've hit my goal for today but it was a grind, when I wake up I am immediately going to look into targeting different tags. Also planning on researching an optimal posting time for my time zone
in order to be seen by as many users in the western hemisphere as possible. Like I said, today was a grind, the first 100 wasn't too bad, but I plateaued mid-day and my followback rate dropped to a sickening low.


I'll be posting my stats every night at this time with notes, issues I encounter, and perhaps even some motivation for those who care to follow along.
Constructive criticism is encouraged, that's what I'm here for!

Can I ask a stupid question? Do you post your own pics/content or you just get it from somewhere/someone else?

therealgamer420 said:

Can I ask a stupid question? Do you post your own pics/content or you just get it from somewhere/someone else?

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There's no such thing as a stupid question! Now I am posting content others post, but with the niche I am working in
there is the possibility of user submissions once my account gets enough status to where people would WANT to submit
content to be featured,

I'm doing an IG jorney too, good luck mate !

Stansy said:

There's no such thing as a stupid question! Now I am posting content others post, but with the niche I am working in
there is the possibility of user submissions once my account gets enough status to where people would WANT to submit
content to be featured,

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Is there a BIG risk of getting banned if you do this?

ByIDz said:

I'm doing an IG jorney too, good luck mate !

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Thank you much, best of luck to you too :cheerlead

therealgamer420 said:

Is there a BIG risk of getting banned if you do this?

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I do not believe there to be. Think about all of the luxury supercars and mansions pages, many of those pictures are ripped straight from Tumblr or even larger Instagram accounts.
The risk would come from copying content directly from another user and then having that user see it and report you.

Good luck, keep at it and followers will come fairly quick

Good Luck mate, I'll be following this.

Update for 1/4/2016

Stats: 3.6k (+ 300)

Notes: Today I went a little above and beyond due to the fact that I'll be going back to my 9-5 tomorrow, gaining 300 instead of my goal of 200.
Posting one picture when I woke up, and one pictures 2 hours ago was a smart decision. Both posts gained more natural instant likes.
I also noticed that today I am getting more natural followers (people that follow hours after I've last run FL or used any hashtag methods) which is
a bit of a motivation boost. As of now many of my followers are people from the other side of the world, using different languages, with nasty follower/following ratios.
Tomorrow will be an experiment to see if I can obtain 20% more English speaking followers. I plan on being a bit more specific with my tags and precisely liking at the
maximum hourly rate to increase the chance of getting that.

Today was my day off so I used that and invested some time into re-awakening some older twitter accounts that I own. I have a vague plan to optimize and eventually monetize these
after I achieve the desired amount of growth. After cleaning up the bios, changing the headers and avatars I was able to start manually targeting popular tweets and gain some quick follows off
of the users who were already fav'ing/RT'ing said tweets. My twitter growth stats for today are:
Account 1: (+230)
Account 2: (+70)

All in all, it was a good day of growth. However tomorrow might be shaky due to less time to run FL and be at my phone.
Again, I'll update in around 24hrs with my stats :biggthump

Update for 1/5/2016

Stats: 3.76k (+160)

Notes: As expected, I did not reach goal today. Working at my regular job took it all out of me. I know there are a lot of big guys on this forum making bank but me, well, I work in shipping and logistics.
The work isn't great, hell it isn't even good, but it's money in the bank. When I'm at work freezing my ass off + hands going numb and turning purple + getting bossed around by some 30yr old lower management guy it's just fuel, fuel to my fire. I savor that feeling because soon it will all be a memory. Seriously guys, try to take it all in, wherever you are in life if you aren't completely happy with it just bust your ass and work to get the hell out of there. Might get some laugh since this thread is base on me working on a 3k instagram account but I've opened up communication and started networking in two other big areas I am looking to cash in on. Don't let anyone boss you around. If that's your current situation (like it is mine) use it to motivate you and propel you to heights you never thought possible /RANT

Back to account notes: Today I basically just ran FL for 5 hours after getting home and I am fine tuning the settings to better match my needs. I had a number of good english speaking NA followers added today. The type of users who would tag a friend in the comments. Whatever gets my posts in front of more people works for me. Also a number of new followers who went through all my posts and left likes. Great day despite not hitting goal.

I didn't have time to even fuck with Twitter, apologies for including that in my previous update, I'll only update my twitter statistics if I hit massive numbers in a day or something.
As for my other two prospective projects, now I am in the learning and research phase. With no distractions I may be able to make a test run within a week (fingers crossed) I will update
with information as that progresses as well.

Going to bed ready to smash my goal tomorrow, best of luck to you all doing the same

Update for 1/6/2016

Stats: 3.94k (+180)

Notes: Good growth again, a much more efficient day. Today I was running FL less and gaining equal or slightly less followers. More and more users following and liking top 6 pictures, more engagement again! Engagement has a long way to go though. Planning on posting 3 images tomorrow and aiming for 50+ likes within first hour. Are those numbers atrocious? I'm not sure, but improvement is a step in the right direction. I am getting closer and closer to the level where I hope to see a snowball effect, users mentioning other users in the comments/easier growth/higher followers per day numbers.

200 followers a day might be a little generous ( I typed that when I was using more spammy methods)
Instead I will try a future goal of 4,500 by Sunday.

I've been experimenting more and more with FL to the point where I'm ready to try some more advanced scrape/like/follow combinations. I am hoping these strategies will bring a boost to my page.
4,500 by Sunday seems more than do able!

Let's go guys! I know you weren't expecting another nooby Instagram journey where OP craps out in 2 days
Persistence is what keeps EVERYONE and their mother from doing this. Best of luck on all of your journeys for tomorrow as well!

Stansy said:

Update for 1/6/2016

Stats: 3.94k (+180)

Notes: Good growth again, a much more efficient day. Today I was running FL less and gaining equal or slightly less followers. More and more users following and liking top 6 pictures, more engagement again! Engagement has a long way to go though. Planning on posting 3 images tomorrow and aiming for 50+ likes within first hour. Are those numbers atrocious? I'm not sure, but improvement is a step in the right direction. I am getting closer and closer to the level where I hope to see a snowball effect, users mentioning other users in the comments/easier growth/higher followers per day numbers.

200 followers a day might be a little generous ( I typed that when I was using more spammy methods)
Instead I will try a future goal of 4,500 by Sunday.

I've been experimenting more and more with FL to the point where I'm ready to try some more advanced scrape/like/follow combinations. I am hoping these strategies will bring a boost to my page.
4,500 by Sunday seems more than do able!

Let's go guys! I know you weren't expecting another nooby Instagram journey where OP craps out in 2 days
Persistence is what keeps EVERYONE and their mother from doing this. Best of luck on all of your journeys for tomorrow as well!

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Good job !
My journey is persistent too haha Good Luck and never give up !

Been a while since my last update (not really, but I wanted this thread to be so up to date) so here's where I'm at and what I am thinking right now.

Instagram has been a slow hustle, 2 days in the last week I've skipped using FL and tried for a more organic approach. Through this I dialed in a better strategy to use on FL (ironic) and I am happy to announce that today was the first day I implemented it and the followers came flooding in It's so much fun opening up the app every 10 minutes or so and seeing that orange update pop up. This time last week I was getting around 120/day and they were all scattered out so rarely would I get big notifications but through my new strat I am crushing it.

Today I gained 362 followers (new record) and it was just such a good day. For the first time my account is finally starting to feel like a living breathing organisim. A lot of interaction, comments, likes, tags. It's just been a great day. Within minutes of posting a pic I'm getting 30+ likes and more as time progresses taking each pic to almost 100. On this path I am going to try to implement the strategy everyday until it diminishes and then retool it to keep going at pace. I've hit this milestone where 10k doesn't seem so far off anymore and that's a lot of fun! My account is starting to feel and function like a large IG account even though im not large at all. This is exactly what I needed to motivate me to the next level.

On a sidenote I am organizing all of my social media accounts into a large notepad file and I am thinking the next step is to get several proxies and scale up, BUT, I am going to wait a bit longer. Jumping in all the way this fast seems foolish but in reality I am getting to the point where I'll be 100% prepared to blow this thing up when the time is right.

Everyday is another chance guys, if something doesn't work today try again tomorrow. Keep trying and keep trying and it WILL work!

yes bro that is very nice , i will also try this

emhow said:

yes bro that is very nice , i will also try this

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Thanks for following, don't ever stop on your journey because if you do you'll never know how close you were to really getting there!


Update for 1/15/2016: My main has reached 5k and I am very happy about that. More and more organic activity is taking place and things are doing well. I have decided though that it is time to push harder.
For this I will use 2 other instagram accounts (400 followers) and (1,200) followers to promote my main as often as possible and for something to do once I hit my daily limits but still want to grow. I've tested this new idea twice so far (today and yesterday) and the results were decent enough. Reaching out to people on the explore page, commenting on top posts, and other methods of indirect activity will help me grow a little faster. I'm still waiting for my first 500+ day on this account but I can feel that it's right around the corner.

One final note. Things are going to get rolling here real soon so I plan on just updating this thread on milestone numbers. 10k, 15k, 20k, etc. If you don't hear from me in a while it's because I'm grinding for followers and pushing Instagram to its' limits

Good luck to everyone else doing the same! Don't stop!!!

There's a tool called MassPlanner.. does automation for all tasks on IG, FB (both fan pages and groups), Pinterest (my fav) and twitter..
Amazing piece of art in this software..

Good luck and thanks for sharing your journey

Stansy said:

Thanks for following, don't ever stop on your journey because if you do you'll never know how close you were to really getting there!


Update for 1/15/2016: My main has reached 5k and I am very happy about that. More and more organic activity is taking place and things are doing well. I have decided though that it is time to push harder.
For this I will use 2 other instagram accounts (400 followers) and (1,200) followers to promote my main as often as possible and for something to do once I hit my daily limits but still want to grow. I've tested this new idea twice so far (today and yesterday) and the results were decent enough. Reaching out to people on the explore page, commenting on top posts, and other methods of indirect activity will help me grow a little faster. I'm still waiting for my first 500+ day on this account but I can feel that it's right around the corner.

One final note. Things are going to get rolling here real soon so I plan on just updating this thread on milestone numbers. 10k, 15k, 20k, etc. If you don't hear from me in a while it's because I'm grinding for followers and pushing Instagram to its' limits

Good luck to everyone else doing the same! Don't stop!!!

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What do you mean by reaching out to people on the explore page? And great Journey so far! I like the great information you provide. I just recently came back to Instagram. I was on and off for probably a year because lack of motivation and now my engagement has dropped so much (23k followers). I was getting 500-1k likes many months ago and now only 200. I have also started another account in hopes of creating dat IG EMPIRE. Keep us updated, this gives me motivation to keep going. I won't quit this time.

buddieluv said:

There's a tool called MassPlanner.. does automation for all tasks on IG, FB (both fan pages and groups), Pinterest (my fav) and twitter..
Amazing piece of art in this software..

Good luck and thanks for sharing your journey

Click to expand...

I'm looking to start using MP as soon as I scale up my number of accounts (pretty soon)

thenewb said:

What do you mean by reaching out to people on the explore page? And great Journey so far! I like the great information you provide. I just recently came back to Instagram. I was on and off for probably a year because lack of motivation and now my engagement has dropped so much (23k followers). I was getting 500-1k likes many months ago and now only 200. I have also started another account in hopes of creating dat IG EMPIRE. Keep us updated, this gives me motivation to keep going. I won't quit this time.

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Just liking random pictures, leave a random comment every so often and seeing the results. Stay motivated my friend, we'll have big accounts VERY soon

Update:
Today I hit 6k and I'm feeling the most comfortable as I ever have using FollowLiker. Engagement is growing to a respectable level. Every time I open the app on my phone I have 20+ new follower notifications. Like I said in an earlier post, that is great for motivation. Once the ball gets rolling fast enough it's hard to slow down!

The past week I've been drawing out plans and doing the math on what it would take in terms of $$ and hours of work to scale up my social media presence and the results are very positive.
I'm early enough in my journey but feeling ready to expand a bit. As soon as I finalize some plans and get a full strategy in place I'll be ramping up both IG and Twitter.

My initial goal is going to be something like this.

5 IG accounts: 2k each minimum
5 Twitter accounts: 3k each minimum
5 Tumblr accounts: 1k each minimum.

I'll update again when I have all of those set up and ready to roll. If managing several accounts doesn't drive me insane after a month or two I'll continue adding at a set rate.

Don't give up guys, winners are just losers who kept trying :tee:

Good Luck OP keep us updated!

Account #1: 10.7k
Account #2: 1.1k


Making great progress with my main. Utilized a s4s as well as briefly pushing the limits a bit. Saw 2 days of 1k followers on my main which is amazing.
Still a long way to go but this is getting easier. People are really enjoying my posts and that is a bit rewarding, I actually look forward to posting my morning photo when I wake up

Plans to scale have been put on hold. I told myself I'd first want to do this for a few more weeks until I have it down to a science and THEN move forward with scaling.
I'll keep this update very brief but I am toying around with the idea throwing a link in my bio and referring users there to submit their own photos, I plan to collect their email addresses from that
and start a small email list. After 4 days of "DM to submit picture" in my bio I have been inundated with submissions. In my niche people really want to have their photos shared
so I think if I did end up putting a link and doing that side-method I would be able to collect a decent amount of niche-related email addresses I could use for affiliate offers further down the road.

All the best, keep pushing on your journeys!