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Consumer behavior is influenced by social media now more than ever. And if you’re a small business, you’re likely to utilize this platform to boost your business’s online visibility and brand. And of these platforms include Instagram.
As of 2021, Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users. More so, it’s also considered to be one of the most preferred social media apps by the online community. As such, Instagram can do a lot for your business’ growth. It can be the perfect social platform to feature your products and services, engage with your customers and expand your client base. You can even utilize an Instagram growth service to boost your following and audience reach.
However, in recent years, there were Instagram users that have reported the occurrence of a shadowban, which has affected their content’s visibility and audience reach. They’ve experienced a drop in their following, and some of their posts are not showing up.
So, if you’re wondering how shadowban happens, how to test, and prevent it from happening, then this article is for you.
What is A Shadowban?
Essentially, shadowban refers to posted content being hidden or blocked, often without the account owner knowing of it since there’s no official notification about it. So, when you get shadowbanned, your posts, comments, or activities on the social media platform may be instantaneously hidden or obscured. And in some cases, you may also not appear in searches.
And when this happens, your engagement rate is likely to drop since your followers can’t see you and your content in their feeds. Eventually, this can impact your digital presence, affecting your sales and ruining the schedule of content posts you carefully planned for.
However, there are various growth companies that can help you grow your following while ensuring that you aren’t violating any of Instagram’s terms and conditions. Some companies even claim they aren’t utilizing bots to boost your online visibility. Here’s a Flock Social coupon to know more and get you started.
How To Test If You Are Shadowbanned?
There are ways to test whether your Instagram account is shadowbanned. You can try the following approaches:
- Manually Check Hashtag Pages
In this approach, find someone with an Instagram account that hasn’t followed you yet. Post on your feed as you would typically do with the hashtag you regularly use. Then ask the person to check if your account shows up on the hashtag feed.
Your account is not shadowbanned if the content you just posted shows up on the person’s hashtag feed. On the other hand, if it doesn’t show up, chances are, you are shadowbanned. However, if you’re using a popular hashtag, it may take a while for your account to appear on the feed, so refresh the page and try searching again.
- Check Your Instagram Insights
Another way to check whether you have been shadowbanned is by checking Instagram Insights to know about your account’s performance. If there’s a drop in the percentage of profile visits and impressions, your account may be shadowbanned.
How To Prevent Instagram Shadowban?
You can prevent your account from getting shadowbanned by following these simple rules:
- Comply with Instagram Community Guidelines
Community guidelines are created for a reason. It’s to ensure the contents posted are appropriate and to create a safe digital environment for all users. In general, this includes the restriction of sharing posts or content that contain violence, are sexually suggestive, promote misinformation, contain hate speech, and more.
- Don’t Use Inappropriate Software
Instagram’s terms of service explicitly state that using unauthorized software and third-party apps may result in restriction and even termination of your account.
- Avoid Using Banned Hashtags
Hashtags are such an essential feature of Instagram that people have become too creative that their use has somehow become excessive and unacceptable. If you’re wondering what they are, you may search for a list of banned hashtags online.
Instagram also disapproves of using hashtags with a sudden surge of activity, so consider skipping popular hashtags just because of the trend.
- Avoid Spam-like Activity
Spammy activities can be a lot of different things. For instance, using too many hashtags in one post, posting multiple contents in a given time, and even commenting and following too many account users in a short period.
So, working on your account for a straight hour just liking, commenting, and following hundreds of people hoping that they will reciprocate is considered a spammy activity. Make your social behavior meaningful and authentic so you won’t get flagged as a bot.
Final Words
Instagram marketing can be a great way to strengthen your brand. Posting organic and authentic content on your feed does not only help grow your following but also helps prevent being flagged as a bot and getting shadowbanned. Furthermore, this article has outlined ways to test and avoid this from happening.