Instagram marketing is in such high demand nowadays that marketers are always looking for Instagram tips and tricks to help them grow their audience and, by extension, their revenue.

This means marketers, businesses, and anyone trying to build a brand seek a legitimate tool to grow their Instagram accounts.

According to Statista report, Instagram has a larger share of users earning high income than any other social media platform

If you want to automate your Instagram, this guide is specially curated for Instagram account owners like you. Let’s dive in.

What Is Instagram Automation?

Instagram automation manages an Instagram account using third-party software, allowing you to sit back and relax as it handles social interactions.

Such as likes and shares or behind-the-scenes work, scheduling Instagram posts, or gathering data for your analytics.

Instagram automation tools are little bots that interact with your audience.

They can be programmed to do X tasks after Y triggers, including automating comments, automating likes, and others, allowing the account owner to do more important things.

Since Instagram is such a popular platform, I’m sure you think using automation tools is logical and expected.

But this is not precisely the case. You see, much like Email Service Providers (ESPs) don’t like spam emails, Instagram doesn’t like non-human interaction. And it does try to contain it—or, in some cases, eliminate it.

And you’ve probably seen it, too; you just need to pay more attention.

However, it is essential to understand that Instagram bots and automation tools have a fragile line of difference.

Let’s look at another name for Instagram’s automated functioning.

What Is An Instagram Bot?

An Instagram bot helps businesses and enterprises to automate their interactions across the platform.

Considering the advancement of the internet and its rapid use among the audience, Instagram has become the first choice platform for online brands to interact with their targeted audience.

The use of different bots depends on the type of business for which you are using the automated tool.

These bots are empowered with advanced programming techniques, based on which they can like posts, make comments, answer polls, create direct messages, and follow new profiles on your behalf.

In a nutshell, Instagram bots take the burden off your shoulders of maintaining social business accounts.

Generally, these Instagram chatbots are designed with the automation factor as the prime attribute for digital brands.

Since Instagram has become a highly used social media tool to interact with the audience, business owners must not neglect the importance of Instagram bots and automation tools.

Tying up the audience with content and engaging them in the best experience—Instagram bots and automation tools are designed keenly to demonstrate these features from the frontline.

These bots can do all Instagram-related activities. Executing engagement tactics throughout your targeted audience via Instagram bots is impressive.

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The Different Types of Instagram Bots

Incorporating automated actions for audience engagement has become an everyday business action. Instagram bots and automation tools can bring you closer to enhanced audience interaction.

Companies using these bots usually compile them into groups according to the division of the bot’s tasks.

Below is a breakdown explaining different types of Instagram bots based on their functions. Have a look;

• Automated following of other people: This bot is designed with the idea that if you follow someone in the same industry, they are more likely to follow you with the return. This would help your friends see your page, resulting in more followers.
• Likes and comments on others’ posts: This type of Instagram bot comments and likes the posts of influencers in your industry. This is another effective way to collaborate with your industry’s people, and the brand looks more active with such activity.
• Comments and likes: This bot comments and likes your business posts to trigger people to engage with the content. This strategic way of garnering the audience’s attention is called crowd mentality, where it is easy to gather people for rapid execution of engaging content.

Instagram Automation and Bots – Yay or Nay?

Using Instagram automation is risky because it’s different.

Other automation tools and platforms, such as email marketing or autoresponder tools, still have much work to do.

Your audience uses something you’ve set as a trigger, your platform delivers a message as an email newsletter, and you’re all set and done and unlikely to suffer losses.

However, automating Instagram interactions means that some of your social media marketing efforts won’t be “authentic.” More than most Instagram influencers have demonized that.

Still, this doesn’t mean that there are no actions to automate or that automation tools for Instagram are a work of the devil and will get you and your brand banned from the platform.

Actions to Be Automated on Instagram

When talking about Instagram automation tools, we’ve got two categories: the frontend automation tools and the backend automation tools:

• The frontend automation tools boost user interaction by leaving comments, likes, viewing stories, and interacting with your audience. This can build a fanbase and make Instagram advertising very profitable, or it can get suspicious fast, as it could be considered “inauthentic activity,” which goes against Instagram’s Terms and Conditions.
• Marketers use backend automation tools for hashtags, reporting, and analytics, and similar actions.

While it seems that Instagram should ban all front-end Instagram automation tools and marketers should get on with their lives, this is not the case.

Many workarounds and legitimate tactics don’t go against Instagram’s best practices that fall under either category. Let’s see what those are:

• Reporting and analytics: These are among the most innocent tasks marketers automate, and automating them doesn’t go against Instagram’s best practices. It lets you make better predictions about your content and your audience’s actions.
• Upping your follower count: Through Instagram automation, you can find audiences similar to your target audience to engage and entice without buying followers.
• Scheduling posts: If this action couldn’t be automated, Instagram automation would be unable to perform “non-spammy” actions. Use Instagram automation to find when your audience is active and schedule accordingly.
• Instagram follows: You’re covered if you use Instagram automation for a fundamental follow/unfollow level. However, this could be considered spammy if you’re following 20,000 people and only 500 follow you back.
• Likes, comments, stories: This is where things get a little hazy. You can automate likes as a task, and since it’s not a “spammy” type of interaction and won’t increase your traffic overnight, it could work.
• The dreaded DMs: This can go from zero to ultra-spam very fast. Never automate your DMs without personalizing them first. In any other case, your DM could end up in the “Message Requests” tab, and users will ignore it at best or flag your account as spam at worst.

Now that we’ve outlined the actions, let’s examine the pros and cons of using Instagram bots.

Pros and Cons of Using Instagram Bots

This is a no-brainer that technology and widespread use of social media has boosted automation tools’ incorporation into businesses.

As Instagram continues to be the most successful social media platform, digital brands are highly recommended to consider Instagram bots to generate engaged audiences.

Have a look at the described pros and cons of the tested Instagram bots so you can understand what to expect from these bots.

Pros of Instagram Bots

First, these tested bots would efficiently engage with the targeted audience.

This is one obvious fact that improving these bots would simplify the entire cycle of connecting with the audience.

Since bots are programmed with primary technical attributes, it is much easier for them to consider more data than humans.

Using the learning algorithms and machine learning, the bots can interpret more data with specific text-recognizing patterns.

Furthermore, these powerful bots can send sensible direct messages to the person that positively impact his buying decision.

These affordable and personalized Instagram bots can read the photo’s caption and leave appropriate comments on the posts.

Cons of Instagram Bots

But these automated Instagram bots are not all rainbows and sunshine.

There are some adverse side effects of using Instagram bots, and we will walk through them.

How the bot is programmed directly impacts the commenting it does across Instagram.

For example, if you have personalized the bot to comment with a smiley face on posts, it will do the same under every post, even if it is sad.

In this way, it is clear that the bot’s programming cannot result in genuine commenting, potentially destroying your brand.

Also, these errors would go unnoticed until and unless someone would notify you through DMS or notifications.

The debate about whether these bots generate unauthentic engagement or authentic ones is quite vague. A robot’s work is not absolute and cannot attract new followers.

Instagram does not allow bots, which work by illegally accessing the APIs. These bots can also get you shadowbanned for exceeding Instagram’s hourly and daily limits, so be careful!

The Legitimate Ways to Automate Your Instagram

Instagram cares more about user experience and legitimate engagement and less about photography and account growth.

This is why it encourages people to report suspicious activity and keeps a close-knit community despite billions of users.

Hashtags and UGC

You can automate your Instagram actions by using tools to analyze your content and account and uncover relevant hashtags, followers, or even underused customer segments that you may still need to consider.

Use these hashtags to discover prospects, nurture existing leads through relevant content, and find User-Generated Content (UGC).

UGC is content that users have created for you and your brand by snapping photos, making videos, and creating other types of content that you could use as marketing material.

Instagram automation will allow you to discover such content. Then, you will be responsible for asking if you can use it.

Social Listening and Scheduling Content

Automating social listening will allow you to discover all the topics—and hashtags—your audience loves to discuss.

It could be anything, from keywords to testimonial videos to infographics—the list goes on.

Could you pay close attention to what your audience discusses regarding you or your competitors?

This will help you find out what they love in terms of content and how they interact with the different types of content they come across.

Of course, the Instagram automation tool will help you schedule your next Instagram post by showing you when your audience is more active and engaged.

The Right Way to Automate DMs

Instagram automation can be fatal for comments and DMs if one believes that generic, spammy answers can fly under the radar.

However, if you can do it right, there is nothing wrong with automating your DMs and comments.

DMs and comments are essential tools for PR planning. This is why you need to dive deeply into your data and determine the patterns of your comments and DMs.

Is there a frequently asked question? Use Instagram automation to create a canned response for that.

The same goes for most of your DMs, more or less. But there’s a little twist to it: Your tabs.

A business account allows users to use tabs in their DMs and categorize them into Primary and General.

Instagram automation will help you make the most out of those categories and leave every DM unanswered.

Pros and Cons of Instagram Automation

Instagram automation, like any other automation tool, could be improved. But what are the pros and cons of using it?

• It’s a Time-Saver

  This is the main reason any automation is developed in the first place.

  Marketers need to save time and resources, and it’s more challenging to create a strategy that will help you increase engagement and lead generation than targeting each user manually.

• But It Can Be Spammy

  Instagram doesn’t exactly love automated messages, and audiences are far too wary of bots not to be able to tell them apart from simple people and report them for suspicious activity.

  So, automating your comments can come at a price, mainly if you use powerful words in your content.

  Power words can look pretty spammy and frame you for inauthentic engagement.

  Instagram hates that and limits this activity by banning such brands and accounts from its platform.

• It Can Give You Insight

  Instagram automation can help you uncover your audience’s “hidden secrets, ” which could give you better insight into what they need from your Instagram posts and brand.

  After all, bots can distinguish patterns that the human eye can’t, and this goes from interaction patterns to hashtags and preferences.

  Understanding even the slightest one-on-one interaction will help you personalize your message, grow your follower count, and attract more interested leads.

• But You May Pay the Price

  Sometimes, some interactions are better or more crucial for a bot to notice and handle. Just ask any chatbot user; they’ll verify this statement. The same goes for Instagram automation.

  This is why you must automate your Instagram marketing at a specific scale.

  As a marketer, you must spend time with your audience and interact with them. Otherwise, you won’t get to know them in-depth.

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10 Instagram Automation Tools You Need

Now that we’ve covered all the pros, cons, and legitimate ways to use Instagram automation and Instagram bots that can help you increase your follower count, let’s see what kinds of social media management tools can help you play the field in a safe, acceptable, and Insta-friendly way.

1. Social Champ

   

   This social media automation tool was built to help marketers increase engagement, automate procedures, and save time and resources.

   Social Champ enables marketers to schedule posts, track and analyze audience engagement, and even respond to customer queries in a way that may be automated but won’t be spammy.

2. Later

   

   Later is a popular social media management tool with having Instagram post’s post-scheduling feature.

   It is an Instagram automation tool that can be used on many social media platforms.

   It enables marketers to schedule posts, repost the highest-quality posts in their niche, and automate follow-ups.

   What is more, it includes a social media inbox, allowing marketers to reply to the comments.

3. Keyhole

   

   Keyhole is your go-to Instagram automation if you are willing to schedule posts, want to know how your campaigns perform, or want to know your most popular content types.

   Moreover, you can create reports with follower growth and engagement metrics.

   Under the Optimization tab, you can even optimize your profile using detailed insights. How cool is that?

4. Hashtags for Likes

   

   This one is particular, as it automates how businesses grow their Instagram following through popular hashtags targeting a large and valuable chunk of their ideal audience.

   Using this tool, you can look up high-performing competitor hashtags, use analytics, and measure results based on the hashtags you already use.

   Hashtagsforlikes is a tool on par with Instagram’s Terms and Conditions.

5. Inflact

   

   Inflact is an Instagram tool that enables you to create and send direct messages in bulk.

   This tool allows people to auto-follow and unfollow, including the auto-like option for posts.

   With the help of this tool, you can generate suitable hashtags and schedule the posts.

   Inflact also enables you to build loyal audiences, and with its personalized targeting filters, you can gain more engagement on your posts.

6. Kicksta

   

   Kicksta is powered by artificial intelligence and can be used as an Instagram growth tool.

   It can create meaningful and authentic connections with enhanced engagement.

   Kicksta offers two pricing plans: premium and standard. After choosing one plan, you can customize the dashboard according to your competition, audience, and brand.

   However, Kicksta’s results are pretty slow and time-consuming.

7. Upleap

   

   Upleap is your automation tool if you want to grow your account organically.

   This Instagram growth account would allow your business account to boost organically without manually increasing in number. The service’s trial period is ten days.

   Upleap is empowered with algorithms that enable the business to retarget and narrow its target audience effectively.

8. SocialPilot

   

   Another Instagram automation tool on the list is SocialPilot.

   It specializes in Instagram automation and analytics features, helping you to automate interactions with the targeted audience and track their performance.

   SocialPilot allows you to plan, schedule, and post reels, posts, and stories to your connected Instagram accounts.

   Moreover, it gives detailed progress reports to track what’s working and what’s not.

9. PageBolt

   

   Another Instagram automation tool is PageBolt, previously Gramto.

   This tool enables you to post to several Instagram accounts and save the captions as drafts for future use.

   PageBolt offers auto-like, follow/unfollow, direct message, and comment options.

   Tracking features and product tagging are further integrated with the cloud platforms for advanced targeting capabilities.

10. Tailwind

    

    Last on the list is Tailwind, a popular tool for automating Instagram.

    Tailwind also supports Facebook and Pinterest and has exceptional in-built design capabilities for creatingengaging posts.

    These designs are entirely optimized for the demands of social media platforms. A personalized drag-and-drop grid is also designed for easy and manual scheduling.

How Can You Automate Instagram Through Social Champ?

Social Champ offers an Instagram management tool for direct scheduling from the dashboard on all business profiles.

You can connect your Instagram business account with Social Champ and schedule up to 25 direct posts daily!

After scheduling, you can view all published and scheduled posts in the Social Media Calendar. From there, you can drag and drop posts to reschedule them to your preferred dates.

With Social Champ, you can also track analytics with Instagram-specific metrics. The tool generates reports with beautiful charts and graphs that you can download.

Make Your Instagram Automation Easier Today!

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All in All

Automating your Instagram marketing is simple, and using Instagram automation tools makes sense as long as you don’t just set it and forget it, as most marketers do.

Users are keen on spotting the bots, and Instagram maintains a safe, humane community. So, hack your Instagram growth through automation, but never allow bots to take the reins.

Frequently Asked Questions