What are Instagram Engagement Groups and Where Can You Find Them

Does your Instagram account require engagement rate growth? Are you an influencer who is looking for new followers? It is not a secret that there are many different ways how to attract new people and encourage them to engage with your content, but Instagram engagement groups can be hardly compared with any of them inefficiency. These are communities where users can boost the engagement rate with their recent posts significantly, and it is not obligatory to make great investments instead. You will agree that everyone would like to benefit from such groups if that was so easy but there are certain rules in these groups and not everyone is ready to follow them.

Look: this article will focus on what engagement groups are, what result you can expect joining them and what types of groups there are.

What is an Engagement Group (Pod)

An Instagram engagement group which is also known as a pod is a community of individuals who have united with the purpose to assist each other with the promotion of Instagram posts and get an increase in engagement rates thanks to that. Usually, this circle of people is interested in one topic and they have grouped to interact with each other using likes, comments, shares and saves.

Naturally, there is not much information about such groups on the web since most of them are not public, but there are thousands of such groups existing today and they help each other to boost interaction and engagement.

Why Do You Need to Join These Pods

You may wonder why you should waste your valuable time for such strange communities, but some of the reasons we will mention may be quite convincing. Of course, if you use Instagram as a platform to share your personal life, interests, and experience as well as do not plan to earn on it or promote anything, the only reason why you can join such communities is to find new acquaintances and people with similar interests. However, if you are or wish to be an influencer or your Instagram account is used for advertising and increasing brand awareness, you may need the following benefits:

Posts with a higher level of engagement are shown to a bigger number of people because they appear at the top of your followers’ feeds;
The engagement rate received in this way is considered to be natural by the platform so it can be added to the Discover tab and prevent you from blocks;
Your engagement rate grows proportionally to the number of group members and it is relatively high and stable.

One more important point to consider about engagement groups on Instagram is the fact that all of these groups have rules to follow and some of them are paid. It means that a person should make a monetary investment in order to be accepted to the pod and start getting the results desired. However, there are many free communities established with one common goal and they accept the group only those who share their views.

Does it Work?

It is a widely known fact that the Instagram algorithm may spot manipulative increases in the engagement rates and ban or even delete such accounts. However, only some of the groups are created directly on the platform. Most of them are established on other social media or messaging services to prevent any troubles and achieve the best results.

There are people who might doubt the effectiveness of Instagram pod but statistics data confirm the efficiency for users. Usually, a person who has just added a post to Instagram sends its link to the group and members of this community have a limited amount of time to like, comment or share it. It allows collecting a bigger number of responses and likes within a short period of time.

One more way how free groups attract new members is a necessity to leave comments and likes to a certain number of people who are already included in the community. By doing so, posts of these people receive higher engagement rates while a person gets a chance to be one of those who boost other accounts and has his own account promoted.

Difference Between DM Groups and Pods

Engagement groups can be of several types. In fact, there are many different pods distinguished by functionality and rules, but one group called DM stands out among them.

DM is an abbreviation translate as Direct Message Group. These pods are created inside a special Instagram or Facebook application. The rules of this group are quite simple since every member of this pod warns others about the time he or she is planning to add a post and these people should like or/and comment on this post as soon as possible. Naturally, every group may have its own rules and it makes them different, but the only feature that unites them is the possibility to send direct messages to the group and a limit of maximum 15 accounts to join the group with certain interests. One more thing to consider when you plan to become a member of a DM group is the point that it is under the control of Instagram. The service does not approve the following way of boosting user engagement and can block or restrict access to them.

There are also groups when next to DM letters users can see a certain number. It usually means a necessary number of comments and likes required.

Unlike DM groups other, pods are usually created on third-party platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp or similar ones and usually, they have a specific time or several of them when users can add posts and react to them.

Types of Instagram Engagement Groups

Pods are distinguished on the basis of different characteristics. The most popular division is according to the reaction to be left by users:

Likes only
Comments only
Likes and comments

Usually, this point is provided in the rules and some groups allow users to choose the reaction or limit them to use a certain type.

Considering the focus, Instagram pods are divided into:

Niche: people of this group have common interests in one niche, are of one gender, age, location or have another common feature.
Broad: these groups include people from different spheres and the only thing that unites them is a goal to boost engagement rates. Usually, such groups include a bigger number of members but the likes and comments receives are less appreciated by Instagram because the following engagement may look a bit artificial.

Considering the presence of followers, groups can be of the following types:

Follower-based: some pods accept only those people who meet the requirement of the minimum number of followers.
Not follower-based: you can be accepted no matter how many followers you have.

Considering the way the group works, there are such pod types:

Drop pods: these groups provide a list of accounts to boost engagement rates at a certain time.
Rolling pods: a user should engage with a certain number of posts added earlier before he can add his.
Group pods: no limits on time or posts. A user can add a post any time and other members can engage with this content as they wish.

These are only some of the types of pods differentiated nowadays. However, no matter what type of engagement group you choose to join, it is very important to follow the rules. Otherwise, you can be excluded from it anytime.

How to Find Instagram Pods

Despite the fact that pods are public groups that do not keep any information in secret, they also do not advertise their activity too. The reason for that is a fear to be blocked by Instagram or Facebook that owns the platform for the activity that is disapproved. One more important thing to consider when you try to find engagement groups on Instagram is the cost of its services. Naturally, there might be more information about paid pods that earn on its members. But it does not mean that there are no chances to find Instagram pods working on an honor basis and free of charge.

Naturally, the way of looking for a suitable pod depends on the source where you wish to find it.

As you might have guessed, the easiest way to find a Telegram engagement group is to use Google search. The results of this search will give you a chance to try to join several groups but it may be challenging to find a pod to meet your interests and expectations immediately. As soon as you decide to join one or another Telegram pod, follow these steps:

Register a Telegram account either on the computer or mobile app.
Read the rules of the pod you are planning to join.
If you can cope with them, join the group.

The examples of pods operating today are BoostGram and WolfGlobal.

Facebook

When you want to join any pod on Facebook, be careful enough to avoid scammers and prevent your account from blocking. Facebook owns Instagram and puts much effort to prevent artificial post promotion too. Therefore, it is possible to try Google Search and apply for several Facebook engagement groups. However, it is better to contact a professional Instagram Marketing platform and ask for several engagement groups there. Moreover, experts advise taking advantage of networking and send messages to highly successful and popular accounts with the request to share a couple of effective engagement groups with you.

It is possible to find both free and paid Instagram pods on WhatsApp and the fastest way to do that is, of course, Google Search. However, it is possible to communicate with other influencers, check forums such as Reddit and groups on other popular social media websites to find Instagram engagement groups.

In most cases, people should send a message to the group with the request to accept him or her, so without a WhatsApp account, it is impossible to do that.

Other sources

No matter what source of pod you have chosen, there are several most popular ways to become a member of the group:

Google search and application.
Communication with popular account holders.
Checking forums and social media mentions.
Reading pod reviews

However, it is always possible to boost your engagement by entering one of the multiple DM groups on Instagram. Moreover, if you can’t find a vacant place in any of the DM groups, you can create your own pod with up to 15 members. How can you do that?

Find accounts close to your niche and check their engagement rate;
Suggest that these accounts join your engagement group by sending a message or be invited to their pod if they have any.

How to Join Instagram Pods

It is very easy to join any group no matter what source of pod you select. It is enough to create an account or use an existing one to send a request to accept you to the group. Usually, there are group moderators who will contact you and accept to the group if you meet all the requirements. Some pods have the ‘Join Now’ button that makes this process much easier and faster.

There are also groups that ask new applicants to send funds to a certain account to be able to join them. We advise being careful with such groups and pay money only when you ensure that this not a scam. Reviews and feedback on the Internet can help you to prevent making a rough mistake.

List of Engagement Groups to Join

The most popular paid pods on Telegram are Wolf engagement groups devoted to several niches including Global News, Comments, Likes, Health and Fitness and others. Other popular free Telegram pods are Social Tools – Chat, The Mom Tribe, Viral Bot, Superstar Instagram Bot 50k+, Girls Only 24hr Likes IG, etc.

Travelers can opt for joining Travel and fun, Viral Travellers, +2k Travel, Nature, Earth, Travel and Photography Only and many others. People who enjoy food can join Superfood Lovers, Foodies, Food & Beverage, Restaurants, and Hospitality, Food Bloggers, etc. Laid and guys who are keen on fashion can get likes in Fashion-Girls Jewelry, Fashion Love, Kids | Fashion | Babies, Fashion Influencers, etc.

A full list of pods by niches is available here.

Is it Against Instagram Rules?

It is difficult to judge how legal pods are, but it is a widely known fact that the Instagram platform is against non-natural engagement. Pods have appeared as an answer to a new complicated algorithm introduced by Instagram in 2016. Previously, most of the users added posts at the time when the platform was the most visited one and it allowed a bigger number of people to see them. However, this new algorithm has changed a chronological order of posts and made engagement a key factor for boosting post popularity. It has become a reason why so many pods have appeared.

Engagement groups on Instagram can’t be called illegal since the platform has provided users with an opportunity to create groups by interests, share posts and increase their engagement rates. At the same time, the number of members in such groups is limited and only 15 accounts can be added to DMs. When it comes to third party groups, it is not surprising that a platform does not approve comments and likes left by people who have never been interested in similar niches. Consequently, it is absolutely safe to be a member of a group devoted to a niche similar to the one you prefer. However, users who join standard pods and get an unpredictably big number of likes from people who are away from their location and have absolutely opposite tastes may suffer from account blocks if caught red-handed.

Free pods are safe and engaging as well as help to achieve certain results but it is important to increase the number of comments and likes gradually to prevent any problems.

Conclusion

Pods on Instagram are a powerful marketing assistant that helps to achieve higher engagement rates faster and with a minimum investment (both time and money). Users do not need to buy followers or spend years to increase their number in a natural way. With pods, all this happens much earlier – it is enough to devote half an hour of your free time on other people’s posts and get many likes and comments instead. However, be careful with the choice of pods to join and follow the community rules to get a long-lasting and efficient collaboration.

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