We’re all trying to ramp up our Instagram presence from how many people are following us to our engagement. There are lots of tips and tricks that are coming in and out of vogue right now, including the Instagram Pod.

The idea of an Instagram Pod seems awesome on the outside. Fifteen people join a chat (the maximum amount allowed by Instagram), and send a message when they post a new photo. Everyone else in the group then goes and likes the photo and comments on it. It immediately boosts your engagement, especially if your engagement is limited or your following is smaller. In the beginning, this feels awesome and you do see a boost. But in the long term, I would say to just not do it.

Here’s three awesome reasons why.

It’s a time waster.

Instead of spending time every day forcing interaction on the 14 people I have made a commitment to, I could be spending that time engaging with people who are in my niche, and who are more likely to support my business and my account. Don’t get me wrong, all the women in my Instagram pods are amazing, but I don’t believe that this is the best use of my time spent engaging with people. It would be better to spread the love to people who you could further attract to your account.

That engagement isn’t real.

This is totally a question of your preferences, and there isn’t a straightforward answer. I stand firmly on the side that this little group of Instagrammers isn’t totally honest about engagement. You’re essentially pretending that there’s better engagement than there is. Ethically, that’s not awesome. You should be trying to get people to want to comment on your great content, not just commenting because you have some sort of agreement with them.

It makes real engagement harder to recognize.

At the end of the day, we’re looking for followers who want to follow our content. They like what you’re posting and want to see more. That’s not what you’re getting here. It makes it harder to recognize trends and fluctuations in what makes relevant content good. After the initial jump, I didn’t see any good organic growth or “genuine” likes and comments. That’s not helpful in the least, and no

Bottom Line

 I’m not going to tell you what to do. That’s not my thing. I am going to say that it’s important to support each other. This means if you want to be in a pod, that’s fine. But don’t let it be your be all and end all. If you like people’s post, like them and comment. Don’t do it because you’re obligated to. It’s also so blatant to everyone when you are in a comment pod, so don’t think that you’re fooling the algorithm. Instagram hares it when you’re gaming their system. When it comes down to it, make enjoyable content and post it to relevant hashtags and your following will grow. How much growth are you really seeing from your comment pod?

Food for thought.

What do you think about comment pods? I’m curious! If you also want to see my Instagram, you can do so here. I won't ask you to be in a pod though. ;)