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1. Using bots to like, comment, and boost engagement<br />
Did you know that at least 40% of comments on brand Instagram posts are fake?<br />
Understandably, Instagram doesn’t want the platform to fill up with fake, spammy interactions<br />
from bots (which Instagram is cracking down on – hard!). Using bots to gain followers and grow<br />
your account might seem like an easy way<br />
around the change from the chronological<br />
to the algorithm-based feed, but it’s<br />
definitely not a good idea.<br />
There’s a lot of debate around exact ‘caps’<br />
on activity, and nobody seems to have a<br />
definitive answer, but if you’re following and<br />
unfollowing a large number of accounts per<br />
day, leaving hundreds of comments in a<br />
short space of time, or liking countless posts<br />
per hour, Instagram will recognize this as fake<br />
activity. It can lead not only to your account<br />
being shadowbanned but to it being closed<br />
down completely! And that’s not something<br />
you come back from…<br />
2. Using software that’s against Instagram’s terms of service<br />
This one is along the same lines: using third party scheduling apps such as plangram.io and<br />
plany.io, which post directly to Instagram rather than scheduling and then requiring approval<br />
before posting (which is 100% allowed) is another reason you might be experiencing the<br />
dreaded shadow ban. Yes, it saves time in the short term and allows you to post more content<br />
with less effort, but this is why Instagram doesn’t want you to use these direct posting apps.<br />
The platform is about well thought-out, quality content and not ‘bulk posting’, so avoid them<br />
at all costs! Tools which allow you to schedule posts in advance, such as Iconosquare, Later<br />
and Buffer etc. are approved by Instagram and comply with its terms of service. Iconosquare<br />
is actually an official partner of Instagram, so go ahead and give it a try!<br />
3. Using banned hashtags<br />
There are some hashtags that<br />
you’re probably not going to use on Instagram –<br />
you wouldn’t be surprised to find that there’s a<br />
blanket ban on these, and if you search them<br />
they simply don’t show any associated content.<br />
However, you might be using a totally innocent<br />
hashtag to push your lovely content, such as<br />
#tgif, #boho, and even #dogsofinstagram (!)<br />
only for that particular hashtag to be hijacked by<br />
people promoting ‘less lovely’ content and<br />
ruining things for everyone.<br />
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