What is up everyone?
Welcome back to my channel.
In today's video, I'm gonna be talking all about engagement groups, engagement pods,
DM groups, telegram groups, however you wanna call it.
And the reason why I'm doing this video is because in last weeks video, I asked you guys
if you guys would be interested.
And a handful of you guys said, "yes".
So if you wanna learn more, then keep on watching.
Now before I begin this video, today is Sunday, so if you're watching this video the moment
that it's uploaded, you don't want to miss out on the free Instagram masterclasses that
I'm going to be hosting the first week of April, which is literally this coming week.
So if you don't wanna miss out, make sure you check out the link in my comments section
and in the description section below.
Now with that PSA out of the way, let's talk about engagement groups.
Now there's different ways that you can call it, engagement groups, engagement pods, DM
groups, telegram groups, and we'll talk about telegram later, but what it basically is is
that it is a group of Instagram users who are committed to liking each other's photos,
commenting on each other's photos, basically engaging in each other's photos, in hopes
to crack the algorithm and also get more engagement.
And what exactly I mean by cracking the algorithm, it's basically the idea that within the first
30 minutes of posting, Instagram really monitors the amount of activity happening within that
time frame.
And if your photos are producing a lot of engagement, meaning that there's a lot of
comments, a lot of likes, a lot of shares, then it will increase the chances of your
posts showing up on the news feed, and also showing up in the explore page as well.
And this is where engagement groups come into play.
If I'm in an engagement group or a DM group, and let's say there's about 10 people in it.
Every time that I'm gonna post a new piece of content, I'm going to notify the members
of that group and tell them.
Then what's gonna happen is all those members in that group are going to visit my page and
start commenting, start liking, start producing all this engagement so that it looks like
a lot of activity is happening within those first 30 minutes.
Now, unlike buying comments or buying likes, one of the biggest pros of using engagement
groups is that these people are real.
They aren't fake.
These are real accounts that are giving you real engagement.
However, there are a lot of cons that you need to be aware of when you are considering
joining an engagement group.
Now, to be completely transparent with you guys, I used to use DM groups and engagement
pods.
Back then, when I was in the beauty niche, and yes, I know a lot of you guys probably
didn't know this, and if you want a video on how to switch niches, then let me know
by liking this video and just commenting below.
But anyways yes, I used to be in engagement groups.
And there were actually a lot of cons that came with being a part of that group.
And I'm going to explain to you exactly why.
Now, the first thing that you wanna be aware of, especially if you're considering joining
these DM groups, is that Instagram is really starting to crack down on this behavior.
Two to three years ago, DM groups were definitely the hot topic.
And it was actually a very super useful tactic and effective tactic to get more engagement
and rank higher on the algorithm.
However, over time, Instagram has really caught on to this type of behavior.
And now Instagram really knows where your engagement is coming from.
So let's say you share your post to a certain group.
Well what you don't know is that when you share that post, within the link of the post
that you're sharing, there is a referral link that's going to tell Instagram where that
traffic is coming from.
So if Instagram can see that periodically the same person is coming to your post from
the same DM group, they're gonna really know that you are indeed using an engagement pod,
and cheating the system.
And very similar to buying likes, buying engagement, and all that stuff, if you're trying to cheat
the system, and Instagram finds out, you risk lowering the reach of your account because
Instagram will punish you for that.
Now to work around this problem, a lot of people thought that well okay, if I'm doing
a DM group in Instagram, then obviously Instagram will find out.
So that's why a lot of people have moved to other platforms, like Telegram, What's App,
or any other external platform in order to create these engagement pods.
Not only are people moving to apps like Telegram or What's App because of the whole tracking
thing, but also because groups like Telegram and What's App actually are able to have way
more people in a DM group.
On Instagram, the maximum amount of people that can be in a DM group is 15.
However, on a platform like Telegram, it could be upwards to 100,000.
But still, what people fail to realize is that regardless if you're going on another
platform, you just sharing your post is already tracking information and Instagram will obviously
still find out where that traffic is coming from.
So regardless, if your DM group or your engagement pod is on Instagram or outside of Instagram,
Instagram will still have a way of finding out if you are cheating the system.
The second thing that you wanna be aware of before you join a DM group, or an engagement
pod is that it's super high maintenance.
And this is the main reason why I stopped using them.
Now what I mean by this is that a lot of times these DM groups have set rules that you need
to follow.
Of course, there are different types of groups that exist, for instance on one end of the
spectrum, there are groups that have absolutely no structure and you can just drop your links
and pray for the best and hope that people engage.
I don't really recommend that you join those groups because most times in those groups
there is not fair value exchange.
And that there's a lot of leachers.
And at the end of the day, it's just people dropping links and you get zero results at
all.
However, on the other side of the spectrum, there are highly organized Telegram groups
that exist where people actually have multiple rounds during the day and it's like at specific
times and only a limited amount of people can do it, and if you don't engage by x amount
of time then you're kicked out of the group and it's this highly organized thing to crack
the system.
Those are definitely a lot harder to get into.
But I just wanted to share with you that there are different types of groups that exist and
what you really want to be aware of is that if you want results, then you really gotta
put in the work.
And not only this, is that when you join these DM groups, people aren't here to be friends.
They're here to grow their accounts.
And what I mean by this is that everyone in these DM groups, have a common goal.
It's quite transactional.
Unless your DM group or engagement pod is with you and a bunch of friends, or a bunch
of people in your niche that you're genuinely friendly with and you're actually interested
in their content, people are really going to call you out if you do not engage in their
posts.
For instance, there are some groups where you literally have to like every single person's
post and comment specific things maybe, or comment something in order for them to do
the same thing for you, and of course, that's fair.
However, it is really time consuming, and if you don't follow the rules, you will get
called out.
Or, worse yet, you might even get kicked out.
And this really leads me to the third reason why I stopped using engagement pods or engagement
groups.
And that is, is that as a long term strategy, engagement groups do no work.
I understand that it's trying to get you a boost in the algorithm and do whatever you
need in the short run, however, in the long run, if you are trying to build an authentic
following and actually have people that genuinely like your content, it doesn't make sense to
build your account on the backbone of just engagement groups.
It's kinda like having a business and having fake customers.
It just simply doesn't make sense.
However, if you still do want to pursue engagement groups, let me tell you exactly what you need
to do, to do it the right way.
Now one of the main ways to make engagement groups a little bit more enjoyable, is make
sure that the people in your group are your actual friends or people that you genuinely
care about.
Not only this, also make sure that the people that are in this group are in the same niche
as you.
That's going to increase the amount of genuine interest in each others content.
Not only this, it's also going to help you gain more traction from people within your
niche.
What I mean by this is that if you were commenting on your friend's photo, and she's in the same
niche as you, let's say you guys are both in beauty.
Well, her audience, who also is interested in beauty is going to see your comments and
potentially follow you, because you share a similar niche.
This is the number one way to make sure that your engagement group is actually going to
be somewhat effective.
Not only this, to combat the issue of Instagram being able to tell where your traffic is coming
from, and seeing patterns of this, what you can do is that if you're genuinely friends
with these people that are within your niche, why not start your own group, you know, outside
of Instagram, and instead of sharing the exact link to your post, just simply update them
and say, hey, I posted something new.
Hope you guys like it and check it out.
By the way, how's your day going?
Actually creating real friendships, that's the most organic way that you can possibly
use these engagement pods.
And instead of looking at this group as a simple transactional piece, try to form a
real relationships with these people.
Actually form connections.
Collaborate with them.
Have this network of people within your niche that are your homies.
That way it doesn't feel sleazy.
It doesn't feel pushy.
And it doesn't feel annoying.
It genuinely feels authentic and real.
Now if your looking for other ways to build an authentic following, make sure you check
out these videos right here.
And don't forget that I will be hosting free Instagram masterclasses.
So definitely make sure that you check out the link in my comment section, and in my
bio because they're happening literally this week, if you're watching this video the day
that it was published.
Anyways guys, I hope you guys have a great day, a great week, and a great life.
And I cannot wait to see you at my free masterclasses.
Bye guys.