Instagram Pods ineffective for local businesses
Instagram Pods have been in social media news this week. We even talked a little about it in a Facebook Live. If you’re not familiar with what a Pod is, it’s when Instagram users join groups that synthetically boost post popularity in order to increase reach. Meaning that when a member of the pod publishes a new post on Instagram, all of the members of the group would then be informed and they would then proceed by liking and commenting on the post.
Facebook reported that it was going to take a stand against Instagram Pod Groups this week.
Hello Social’s take on the whole ordeal is that by trying to trick the algorithm, your post is virtually ineffective — especially when it comes to locally focused businesses. Not to mention, Facebook has been on top of suspending many large groups “for helping hundreds of thousands of people trick Instagram’s algorithm into showing their posts to more people,” according to Buzz Feed.
While having the numbers might look good to an outsider looking in, you are not helping your business by maintaining insincere contacts. You should be focusing on getting followers and engagement from the people that matter to your business — the ones that are going to walk in your door.
If you do feel that your audience is small, focus on nurturing the relationship with the followers you already have and more will follow.
Author: Katey Crean, Hello Social Co.
Tags: Facebook, Instagram, instagram pods, Marketing, Social Media