Gotta be honest, this new algorithm is a real heart breaker!

Instagram is now showing your content to a meager 10% of your followers.

It’s feeling near impossible to grow. (Yep… even more impossible than it used to be!)

And people everywhere are being “action blocked” by mistake.

If that’s you, I put together a blog of a few things that have helped some of my clients. 

Firstly, why are these blocks happening: 

• You’ve been following or unfollowing too rapidly according to Instagram’s new guidelines.
• You have commented or DM’d the same thing too often.
• You’ve been liking or commenting too fast and made Instagram think you’re not human!
• You’ve been messaging too many accounts so Instagram thinks you’re spamming people.
• You’re using a third-party service to complete certain actions. (Even if it’s just your assistant…)
• Too many people are logging into your account so Instagram thinks you’re using a bot.
• You’ve bought fake likes or followers.

Now, for the record, some of these actions ARE allowed. But it’s more the way you’re doing them. If you’re performing any of these actions at rapid speed, or in a solid hour, or in any way that could be mistaken for “robot behavior” or “automated” behavior, that’s when you can get flagged, particularly in this new algorithm.

So here are some things to try… 

Use Another Device or Switch to Data

[this tip is by Techzillo.com!]

When Instagram blocks you, they don’t block your account, they block your IP address. Since your IP address has been blocked by Instagram, this means that your best bet would be to switch to a different device and use data instead of WIFI.

Every device using the Internet has two IP addresses: a public and a private one.

In your home, your router uses your public IP address—assigned by your ISP to connect to the Internet.

On your mobile device, you have a public IP address.

So, if you use data and switch to a different device, your actions would be unblocked because you’re not associated with the blocked IP addresses anymore.

Stop continuously trying to perform the action.

A mistake I have seen a lot of my clients make is they keep logging onto Instagram to see if they’ve been unblocked instead of accepting the block and waiting for 24 hours (or more).

Instagram is trying to get rid of bots.

Bots don’t understand what messages say, so they just keep trying to perform the action which — to Instagram — confirms their suspicion that your account is using a bot.

So prove to Instagram that you’re not a bot and don’t perform that action for at least 24 hours.  [Or if Instagram has given you a date that the block will be lifted… wait until that date.]

It’s almost like when you have a scab and — you know you shouldn’t — but you keep picking at the scab. Stop picking at the scab! 🙂

Up your security on Instagram. 

Instagram thinks you’re a bot or you’re using a bot, so you have to prove that you’re a genuine person.

For example, it’s annoying, but if you don’t have an assistant or something logging into Instagram a lot, implement 2 factor authentication.

It is very hard to run 3rd party apps on your account with 2 factor authentication so if you have this extra level of security, Instagram will trust your account more.

To implement two-factor authentication…

1. Tap the three line in the top right hand corner.
2. Select “settings”
3. Select “security”
4. Select “Two-Factor Authentication

Link your account to Facebook or Twitter.

Similarly to the above, Instagram thinks you’re a bot or you’re using a bot, so you’ve gotta prove you’re not. If you’re linked to another account, you increase your credibility. 

You can link to another platform in your settings on Instagram.

1. Tap on the 3 lines on your profile in the upper right hand corner.
2. Tap on settings.
3. Scroll down to linked accounts.
4. Select Facebook and sign in.

How to prevent getting blocked:

1. Limit the actions you take at one time. For example, I once got blocked because of how fast I was commenting. I am a NINJA commenter. So it’s true, I was probably commenting a mile a minute. Since moving more slowly and spending more time on each individual comment, I haven’t been blocked again.

2. Don’t copy and paste comments — this is essentially how bots work so, while efficient, it makes you look like a bot. Plus, you’re just saying the same thing again and again…

3. Only give your password to the people who need it. One of my clients was blocked this week because we have 10 people working on her account and — while we haven’t abused any actions — Instagram thought we were acting shady because so many people, from so many different time zones, were logging in and performing actions for at least an hour at a time. Now only 3 or 4 people have the password so that only the actions that are essential to helping the business are being performed on a daily basis.

Have you been blocked? Let me know in the comments.