Influencers Are Using ‘Instagram Pods’ to Get More Followers
Have you ever wondered how your blogger friend gets so many comments on her photos of boring shit?
Like, seriously, if you posted a basic photo of your black loafers, you’d get maybe one comment from your BFF for support and potentially another comment from one of those “freefollower” accounts telling you to check out their page (cuz your Instagram clearly needs help).
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But when a blogger/influencer posts the same boring shot, she gets a zillion comments. And they’re not just one worded comments or heart-eyed emojis, but actually long comments with people professing their love for the shoes, recounting similar passions for ballet flats, and overall being engaging af.
You probably just figured it’s because she has fans or whatever, but it could actually just be a secret technique that bloggers use to try to look more popular than they actually are.
Racked, who did a deep dive on these engagement groups, dubbed this technique “Instagram pods.” What they are is a private group of bloggers who agree to like and comment each others’ posts at all times. If you’re a part of a group like this, you send over your post to the group (via your DMs) to ensure that they all see it and comment on it. On top of this, many of these groups have a word minimum, so if you are constantly just commenting one-worded answers like “cool!” you’ll probs get kicked out.
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The social media strategists that Racked spoke to don’t know if these pods are really helping aspiring influencers get more followers or views, but one way they could help is that they make their pages look like they get more engagement, which could help them get more paid promotion deals with brands. After all, anyone with thousands of followers and barely any commenters is suspected of having fake followers.
For more about the truth about Instagram pods, read Racked’s original story, and always look at your fave bloggers with a grain of salt.
