Review: What is Archie? And Can It Grow My Instagram Following?
(Update: As of 6/17/2017 new subscribers to the service are being told that they cannot sign up due to an order from Instagram for Archie to cease their service. At the moment, it doesn't look like they will be back online anytime soon.)
As the blogging environment gets more congested, many are turning to Instagram as a way to earn money, grow their brand, and improve their social reach. I love Instagram, and I find it to be a fun way to learn about others and discover new trends!
Growing followers on Instagram can take much time, however, and there aren't too many tools out there for automated actions that you can set and forget. One such tool, however, is Archie, one that I stumbled upon in an online forum. But what is Archie? And can it help or harm my IG influence?
What is Archie?
Archie.co is the web address for this "dashboard" and they surprisingly share very little information about the service. You can set up your Instagram account, then start selecting the tags you want to use on the platform. Then you sit back and watch your followers grow.
How Does It Work?
I had to take a test drive to even understand what it does. There is little information on how it helps you get new followers, and there are no reviews on line at the moment, but it's essentially this:
1. Set up the tags you want Archie to find on Instagram from people who don't already follow you.
2. You can specify additional restrictions, such as people you don't want Archie to interact with.
3. Archie starts to schedule all the posts it will "like", which you can view, but can not edit.
4. You start to get new followers from people whose photos you like.
How Much Does Archie Cost?
Should You Use Archie?
I have gotten new followers from Archie, so all-in-all, it does work. In fact, I saw an increase of about 200 followers in a week with no effort, and increased my overall like count from 20 to 50 per update.
However, I would not use Archie for a client's Instagram account, only for my own. Even with checking the "no explicit content" filter box, I have found several photos liked that were a little embarrassing. Half nude women using hashtags for school or food or kids, for example. You have to trust that Archie -- which is basically a machine -- can discern between good content to like and bad. I would be very embarrassed to have Archie like women in bikinis for a Christian living community I handle content for, as one example.
For now, I'll continue to use Archie to get to the next following level in my account. I still think it is no substitution for personal interaction with Instagram. You may be better off, if on a budget, to just pick 5 hashtags to follow each day and like photos manually -- it really only takes seconds. Using the same strategy as Archie's automation, you could grow you followers in a safe way, and not have to pay for it.
Note: Archie also handles Twitter and SoundCloud accounts. I have not tried either.
I am new to Instagram Bots, just registered Archie now and integrated my account, I selected my keywords and selected country as Colombia though I quickly realized Archies is liking photos directly from American and European accounts (USA, France etc.). Its going for the right keywords but country defiantly is not working, I also entered some local Colombian targeted Instagram accounts so the system can target their followers but so far Archie couldn't find anyone from Colombia and keeps targeting USA and other countries.
ReplyDeleteAnother weird thing is for almost 2 hours I didn't like anything and just kept loading without any sign of activity then burst mode liked 10 or so photos and then stopped and stuck again. After 10 likes its stuck loading again. So bit confusing for me. just to note during this 2 hour timeframe connection to Instagram dropped 3 times, I had to authorize Archies after every time it dropped.
I am not really convinced Archies is accurate so far, even though I am targeting Colombia system is looking for outside resources. Also I think it work in short sprints where it likes in burst waits for a while and bursts again.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I did see a difference between the paid business and personal accounts, which are labeled as having different speeds. Maybe the lag you were experiencing was due to this? I have found that the service rarely stops when it is in the business paid mode.
DeleteThe 2 hour breaks, and short bursts of likes, are to stop instagram from flagging/blocking your account for inactivity.
ReplyDeleteIt can safely do more, and does for the paid account.
Thanks for that, Kotis.
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