What is an Instagram Pod
Perhaps you have seen people talking about Instagram Pods on other Social Media or perhaps you have been asked to a part of one. Ideally, they are meant to work for your account to increase the level of engagement and therefore increase your visibility.
Yes, reports are mixed as to how effective this can be!
Instagram Pods – A group of Instagrammers who have decided that they will consistently engage with each other’s content. You need to have some simple rules and set up two group chats, one for chatting and one for sharing your most recent post.
You also don’t want to go too crazy and then get in trouble with Instagram for trying to rig the system.
As you may know, Facebook owns Instagram, along with that came algorithm changes such as the removal of the chronological order of posts. Everyone hates this change!
The algorithm also only shares your post with a small portion of your followers, just like Facebook. It also gives you a quality score to share or not share your post under the explore tab.
The great thing about using a pod is that your pod delivers the engagement to increase your quality score. You get a guaranteed number of likes and comments in addition to what you would naturally get. This increases your chances of getting discovered in the explore section.
The wonderful and probably most beneficial part of the Instagram pod is that you get to meet and engage with others in the Instagram community.
Pod Types
Yes, there are many many pods, all with different rules, entry requirements and more.
- Niche pods – covering one topic
- Broad – covering a multitude of offerings
- Follower based – you need to already have a minimum level of followers
- Likes and Comments – you are required to like and comment with a minimum number of words on each post shared
- Drops – A list is dropped and you must engage at a specific time of the day, for example during a one-hour time frame from 5 pm.
- Rolling and groups – give you not particular time but you then must engage and like the group comment so people know you are engaging.
- Paid groups – there are very large paid groups that have an entry fee but may have thousands of members too, so you will benefit from engagement.
Where are these elusive pods
You must network with others on Instagram and you may find Instagram pods within Facebook groups too. Search other social media for chats about them or start your own and invite people.
Best Practice
- Give without expectation, it does take time and energy
- Don’t forget that it is a time commitment, don’t join one if you are not committed, the moderators will notice
- Enjoy meeting the others within the group that you may not otherwise have the chance to meet
- Don’t look spammy or Instagram may become unimpressed
- Consider a few different types of pods to see what works
- Play by the rules of the group
- Watch how many hashtags you are using, Instagram is looking at people who are cramming them into each post.
- Look for the Hashtags with 500,000 posts
- Avoid the description, followed by rows of dots then your Hashtag as Instagram is seeing this as a very spammy tactic from users.
- Take the time to write a good description, ask a question, request feedback
- Take the time to leave a thoughtful comment on posts
- Respond to every comment you receive as this works well to increase your quality score
- Don’t become a part of any automation sites, Instagram is very smart and they don’t like it
- You can outsource this as part of your social media plan
- Build honest connections in the pod
- Generally, 1 post per day is enough for the pod
Conclusion
It is pretty simple really – so if you have the time give an Instagram pod a go or create one yourself. Personally, I prefer a smaller group as it gives the opportunity to get to know the members of the group and it is not too overwhelming. 16 is a great number as it gives you 15 accounts to engage with and 15 people to get to know. If you are curious about outsourcing your Social Media, please get in touch.
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