Hi, how are you, how about if we follow each other and give each other likes and share my content and I share yours? And so communities or associations of users are formed that support each other and increase their engagement and dissemination on this network. Of course, this is a way to achieve this, but it is not organic, that is, it is not natural, since everything is previously coordinated. Let's start from the simplest, "pod" in English can be understood as "herd" and in short, this is what happens: groups or "herds" of users are formed on Instagram that create groups to support each other and make the algorithm believe that their growth is natural.
what is an Instagram pod group strategy?
We could describe it as a strategy for users to trick (yes, trick) the Instagram algorithm and generate more interaction with their profile. First it is important to know how they work. Groups are created where users commit and "solemnly swear" to interact with the publications of other users. All of this is mutual. Thus, everyone benefits by receiving likes, comments, repost, mentions in comments and also the famous "save to collection". In Instagram pod groups everyone benefits from each other, it is a collaborative effort. And what is it for? To be better positioned before the algorithm, because by having so many interactions, it assumes that the content is relevant and shows it in the top positions in the Explore section.
The Instagram pod group strategy was born in 2016, when the Instagram algorithm began to give priority to the most interesting posts for users and no longer in chronological order. This marked a before and after in the history of Instagram and is when the Instagram pod group strategy was born. If your posts have a good engagement, the algorithm will give you a good positioning, but having a good engagement takes time. These groups help to accelerate this process.
To make this strategy work, it is important that the members of this group interact with the content within the first hour of it being published, and better if it is within the first 20 minutes. Instagram shows updated posts, as this is part of its strategy when prioritising the most relevant content. That is why it is important to get interactions within the first hour of your publication. In addition, the good use of hashtags allows the algorithm to correctly classify the content so that it reaches the possible interested people.
4 advantages of using the pod group Instagram strategy
- creating the feeling that a content is trending encourages other users to interact with it just because it has a lot of likes and comments. Haven't you ever been curious to see a post with thousands of likes or hundreds of comments? Users participate more if they see that a post has a good engagement.
- instagram's algorithm will consider the post to have value and therefore improve its ranking on the "Explore" page. Your images and videos will be visible for longer as they gain popularity.
- improve the positioning of your publications, even if your publications are not so current, the algorithm will position them better according to engagement, compared to others that may be more recent than yours.
- get information about what they are looking for. By belonging to this group, you will be able to get more information about your audience and about the posts that are most interesting to your followers, so you can create tailor-made content.
4 disadvantages of using the Instagram pod group strategy
- wrong image
By engaging with other group members to share and interact with their content, you could be risking your brand's image. Imagine your brand promotes vegan products and you share a post from a hamburger brand. What message are you conveying to your audience? This could cost you a lot of followers and worse, your brand's credibility and reputation.
- time wasted
In a pod there can be 15-20 participants and that means interacting with all these accounts and often you don't just belong to one pod, but three or more. This will take time away from you that could be spent improving your own content and responding to your real audience. If you generate good content and spend time with your audience and your brand, the results will come on their own.
- punish
Instagram could penalise you for any abnormal or unusual behaviour. A suspicious increase in likes or followers will cause the algorithm to look at your account, analyse it and suspend it, so you should ask yourself if it's worth being part of a pod. You could lose a lot of work time for a bad action.
- validity of metrics
Social media analytics reports help us to make future decisions about the strategies to be used in the future, but what use are these reports if by participating in a pod we are altering the results? By doing this we will not know the real reach of our publications or the preferences of our real followers. It is better to have a real report and work based on this than to have a report that will be useless.
is this a good strategy?
Although it brings many advantages, in recent years Instagram and Facebook have detected automated practices generated by pods and have eliminated or suspended several accounts. Everything in excess is bad. You can resort to this practice in specific situations, but not all the time. Otherwise, it will show that your engagement is not real and you can damage your brand.
In short, this strategy is like a lie that must be well done. If you get caught, you're out. Nowadays there are many ways to grow on Instagram, for example, doing reels, interacting daily with your audience, among others. And don't forget that the amount of time you invest in pods, you could invest in your brand.
Now that you know a little more about the pod group Instagram strategy, would you dare to apply it? Do you think it would give you great results?
