Instagram followers limit and the Follow/Unfollow Strategy
The follow/unfollow strategy is recognizable for those who use Instagram Management Services. It works by following users that might be interested in your content, wait a few days, then unfollow them if they do not follow back. Very simple idea, and sometimes can be extremely effective. But, be careful of Instagram followers limit. More on this later in this article.
We have been using Instagram automation for years with plenty of success. We have proven that the follow/unfollow strategy is one of the most effective ways to gain Instagram followers. For example, one client that we help manage grew to their account to 110k+ followers in just under a year with this method. Now of course this is all following Instagram followers limit as well.
What we found is that the method only works well with a proven Instagram Management Service. When we first started using Instagram, we would manually try to follow users and like their posts every hour.
What you might have found out is its incredibly time consuming. Most often you end up hitting action restrictions because we lost count how many users we followed in an hour. Frankly, back then we didn’t know anything about Instagram followers limit.
Now we have trained professional account managers that are focused for your success. They take every account in as if it was their own to help grow its best potential.
The Instagram followers limit can be tricky. No one really knows the definite answer of how many you can follow and unfollow at a certain time. There are rumors that this number can and does change periodically.
If that is the case, and no body knows what the Instagram followers limit is, then how do we keep our accounts safe? Well it is pretty simple. Let our experienced account managers that deal with this question daily manage your account.
15%-40% Of Accounts Will Follow Your Account Back
We have been helping over 1000+ clients manage their Instagram accounts. The only way for us to optimize our clients Instagram growth, is to track and ensure we meet their goals. One thing we measure, and track is the follow-back rate.
We do this by tracking every account that our tools have engaged with, then measuring the percentage of users end up following back our client.
The percentage will vary significantly depending on the effectiveness of whom you choose to follow. This is why we ask during sign up what niches you are closely related to, as well as hashtags that relate to your goals.
With Instagram management services, you have dozens of filters to make sure you are engaging with users that are likely to engage back. This also keeps you safe under Instagram followers limit.
Can Follow/Unfollow Method with Automation Cause Issues With Instagram Followers Limit?
We found that using the follow/unfollow method with automation is unlikely to achieve this result. In our study, we auto followed 1,000 users in a span of a week that was active in a fitness niche. We also compared it to the same account using our Instagram management services following the same number of users per day.
The difference was astonishing. The automatic method only achieved a 12% follow-back rate versus the managed approach achieved on average a 31% follow back rate. Pretty incredible!
Overall, the manual managed way is more times then not more effective than automated software’s.
What happens when you start unfollowing? Can it Affect the Instagram Followers Limit?
There’s a myth that if you unfollow a user, it is likely that the user will unfollow you back. The statement is true if the user finds out. Instagram does a fantastic job showing only positive engagements such as users who comment and like your photos, and those who follow you.
On the other hand, Instagram omits negative notifications such as users unfollowing you or unliking your posts. In the way the app is designed, users are unlikely to see that you have unfollowed them.
The only time unfollowing can hurt you is when you go over the Instagram followers limit and unfollow limit. Also, when you don’t give that account enough time to follow you back before you end up unfollowing.
For instance, when you follow an account in the morning, that same user might not login to Instagram until after work. What the user will end up experiencing is a notification that you have followed. When he/she clicks on the notification and view your profile, he/she will have noticed you will have already unfollowed and is unlikely to follow you.
What we found is that on average, users will take three days to follow you back. Therefore, when setting up your automation settings wait at least 4-5 days before clicking that unfollow button. This also includes manually following and unfollowing as well without automation.
When done correctly, we noticed a 5%-8% churn of the users we unfollowed.
That means for every ten users you follow, on average only one will unfollow you back. Therefore, the follow/unfollow method is proven to provide you with tremendous growth. This can be done with little to no work with the use of our Instagram management services.
Instagram Followers Limit and Terms of Service
You might say to yourself, oh if the more people I follow, the more followers I’ll get, why not follow thousands of users a day. The problem is with Instagram followers limit and terms of service.
For one, it’s very time- consuming to manually follow/unfollow more than a hundred followers a day. The only option for the follow/unfollow method to be effective is with the use of an Instagram management service company.
The risk you face with automation is that it is against Instagram’s Terms of Service as stated here:
“You must not create accounts with the Service through unauthorized means, including but not limited to, by using an automated device, script, bot, spider, crawler or scraper.”
When detected, you will usually be slapped with a temporary action block. Although, in some more serious cases even a permanent ban (though we have never seen that happen).
Lastly, Instagram puts strict limits on how many people you can follow/unfollow in an hour. Another, one of the Instagram followers limit is how fast you can follow/unfollow users. As we mentioned before though, these limits tend to change often. Hence why we keep mentioning that an Instagram management service is your best bet to keep your account safe from Instagram followers limit.
Follow/Unfollow Instagram Followers Limit
According to Instagram, to help reduce spam, Instagram does not allow anyone to follow more than 7,500 people.
Regarding hourly limits, we find that with new accounts that only been active for a few months, you can only follow/unfollow about 20 users an hour, and a maximum of 100-200 users in a day.
For accounts that have been active for years, the limits will increase to about 50 follows/unfollows an hour, and a maximum of 300-400 users in a day. These are estimates. You are more than happy to follow these limits, but you risk getting to close to Instagram followers limit.
In closing, we have done the research and can safely conclude that the follow/unfollow can in fact accelerate your Instagram growth. Although, you must make sure it is being used by proven Instagram management service companies. If you’re looking to learn more about Instagram this then check out our services.
Author Chris Costello
Chris Costello: Chris is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder at SpectSocial. Find him on Facebook @chris.costello.92