Autopilot programs for Instagram: yes or no?

Last week I was asked what was my opinion about using Jatch and other autopilot programs for Instagram that bring you leads. Should people use them to gain followers faster or just do it the slow and steady way?

It all depends on what you’re selling and what’s your target audience.

For example: let’s say you’re just working as an affiliate, recommending products of others in exchange for a commission.

In general, you’ll have an affiliate link that once clicked will redirect the visitor to the website of the seller, which contains all the infrastructure needed to make the sale happen, like a sales letter, shopping cart, and billing system.

If the visitor purchases the product, you will be identified as the affiliate who sent the customer there (thanks to your affiliate link) and the seller will pay you a commission.

So you basically just need to get your visitors to click on your affiliate link. There’s no real need for real life interaction. The more automated your marketing strategy is, the better.

Now, if you want to build something for yourself, you probably won’t work to sell to anyone. You’ll be interested in knowing people before doing business with them.

In this situation, Instagram automation is not the best approach.

One of the main features of Instagram automation tools is to automatically post comments in other people’s posts. But here’s the thing: automated comments on Instagram are obvious.

Pretty much 90% or more of the comments and DM’s I get on Instagram are from robots, and I never interact with them, neither do I follow back. Sometimes, I even block the profile.

Robots will work to interact with other robots and people who act impulsively (which is pretty much the same thing). So you should use robots if you want to sell stuff that people can buy impulsively without causing too many problems later.

Some examples of products that can be bought by impulse include subscription services, like Netflix (if you regret, you just cancel your subscription), food (if you regret, you’re gonna eat it or just throw it away), books, clothes and shoes (worst case scenario a small percentage of buyers will return the item, not a big deal).

One good example of a product that can’t be bought by impulse is personalized services. In my case, I design personalized websites. My customers and I need to come to an agreement before we close a deal, and this requires interaction. A fully automated Marketing strategy wouldn’t work for me.

So, it’s all a matter of understanding what is your ultimate goal: redirecting visitors to an automated sales process or connecting with them?

If you want to connect, you need to give something, whatever it is

On Instagram for example, just a genuine comment or DM is something, because most comments and DM’s people receive nowadays are fake or automated. So, when you get a genuine message, it feels damn good.

Every relationship we value is because we can get something out of it. If you want people to want to be close to you, you need to think what you can give to them, because of the principle of reciprocity, which makes us feel obligated to repay whatever another person provides to us and dislike people who never gives anything.

To give is to have power. Because you can only give what you have. If you give a lot, people will see you as someone who has a lot, and they’ll be attracted to you.

But that’s not how you make people get attached to you.

We tend to believe that, if we give enough to people, then they will love us back. However, that’s not true.

In reality, what makes us get attached to something or someone is not what we get from them, but how much we give.

The more time and effort you spend taking care of something or someone, the more you’ll love that thing or person. So, when you spend time giving stuff to others, you will create in yourself love for your customers and your work.

That’s why you can’t “do what you love”, but only “love what you do”. The more time and effort you dedicate to your work, the more you’ll love it.

The same is true for your audience. Every now and then, allow them to give something to you, by suggesting or asking your audience to do something for you. It can be something as simple as an opinion, just like I did in this post, asking my audience what they thought about a laptop I wanted to buy:

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This post got one of the best engagement rates for that week, and it led me to start an email conversation with one of the real people who posted genuine comments. A great result!

So, in short, the formula is this: give to have people around you and allow them to give back to make them stay.