All of the strategies and methods discussed in this blog so far have been manual — also referred to as White Hat methods. However, growing your Instagram account can also be achieved through automated methods, which is called Grey Hat methodization. The key to using this type of growth is to perform the same functions (same rate, same amounts, same time periods, etc.) that you would perform manually. 

That way you are still mirroring the same qualities and characteristics of a genuine human Instagram user, just with automation that allows you to save time when growing your account. 

Automated growth is going to be less effective than manual growth because no automated program can use the 2-step strategy of following a user and liking their photos, or post an authentic, unique comment on someone’s post for you. Thus, automation should never fully take the place of manual interaction, but it can be used to supplement your manual labor in order to grow your account even faster. 

Also, an important thing to remember is that using automated programs can put your account at higher risk of being suspended or deleted by Instagram, as automated tasks are against the app’s terms of service. 

Do’s 

1. Simulate the activity of a human. As previously mentioned, this will lower your chances of being suspended or deleted due to using automation programs. So, do not set your automated programs to perform tasks 24 hours a day, as no human would be available and on Instagram a full 24 hours. 

Take breaks, and do not be overly consistent — in other words, following the exact same number of people every day, liking the exact same number of posts, etc. Similarly, do not perform a higher number of tasks in one day than an actual human could, such as following thousands of users or liking thousands of photos for every single popular hashtag. Only automate tasks that you are able to physically do yourself. 

2. “Warm up” your account before using automated programs; do not start off with automated interaction. This is important in order to keep Instagram from detecting a large amount of activity right away and becoming suspicious that you’re simply a bot. According to the author of Gramous, you should take about 10 days to warm up your account before using an automated program. In those ten days, you should follow only small amounts users, be inconsistent with the daily amount of follows, comments, etc. (even more so than usual), and take a day off every few days. 

Don’ts 

1. Spam comments. Spam comments include comments simply telling users to follow your account, such as “Follow my account!”, “Check out my page!” or “Follow for follow?” Not only are these types of comments generally ineffective, but they will make your account look bad and also increase your chances of Instagram marking your page as spam and suspending or deleting it. 
2. Buy fake followers or engagement. It is never a good idea to buy fake followers, comments or likes, as this will make you look suspicious, less reputable, and essentially does not achieve anything beneficial for your brand or business. 
3. Automate large accounts. If your account already has a large presence on Instagram (for example, 50,000 followers or over), automating your account is unnecessary and only puts you at risk of getting your account deleted or suspended, which would be a huge loss if you have a well-established, successful account. 

Automation Programs 

There are a large variety of automation programs available for Instagram users. These will only be available online, not in the Google Play or App Store, as they violate Instagram’s terms of service. FollowLiker and MassPlanner are two of the most popular programs for automation on Instagram and allow you to automate follows, comments, direct messages, likes and even posting images. Neither of these

programs are free; MassPlanner is a monthly subscription service, while FollowLiker simply requires a one-time fee.

Tips and Tricks for 2021 

Finally, we will look at some of the most important tips for succeeding on Instagram, tips for posting higher quality, visually appealing Instagrams, as well as other tips on using the app that save time, give you more control, and enhance your Instagram profile. 

Tips for Succeeding on Instagram 

1. Engage. Simply posting good content without ever interacting with other users will not cause your Instagram account to succeed. In order to grow your presence and impact on Instagram, you have to engage constantly with other users through comments, liking, mentions, and direct messaging. Build connections 
2. Learn from others who have succeeded. Look at the top accounts within your niche, or even outside of your niche, and see what they’re doing and how it is working so that you can employ these strategies for your own account. Of course, you want to be unique, so don’t completely imitate another account, but you can learn a lot about how to succeed simply from studying others who have done it. 
3. Be persistent. As demonstrated throughout this article, growing your Instagram profile and posting consistently takes a ton of effort and time, and will not happen overnight. While it may get exhausting at times, especially in the beginning, it is vital to be persistent and don’t give up or abandon your Instagram account for long periods of time — put in the effort every single day, and your work will pay off down the line. 
4. Don’t take too many shortcuts. As discussed, while automated methods can be a helpful supplement and allow you to grow your account faster, don’t rely on automation — organic, White Hat interaction is much more effective than Grey Hat interaction and is ultimately what will lead to your Instagram’s success. Make sure that your followers can tell that there’s a real human behind your account. 
5. Post consistently, and don’t post too much or too little. Make sure that you are posting every single day, or at least every other day, but make sure that you’re not posting 6 or 7 times a day and clogging your followers’ feeds. Most successful Instagram pages will post 2 or 3 times a day maximum. 
6. Be consistent with your content. You do not necessarily have to follow a strict color scheme, but having a strong, identifiable aesthetic on every single one of your Instagram posts will not only make your page more visually appealing but help you stand out on the platform. 
7. Be original. Never steal content from other accounts; it is very difficult to achieve success by simply posting others’ work. Make sure that all of your content is original unless of course you’re re-gramming or showcasing a customer’s post. 
8. Don’t monetize too early. Attempting to monetize your account straight away by simply pushing products to your followers without having a loyal fan base and great, original content to back it up will cause your account to fail, as your followers won’t gain anything from following your feed and you will likely be written off as a spam account. 

9. Post quality images. Above all, make sure the quality of your content is excellent, and you won’t have to do as much work to gain followers and achieve high engagement — your images will do the work for you. We will discuss tips for this next.