Instagram Follow Trains. Are They Worth It?

Follow trains on social media platforms like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) can be a mixed bag.

I’ve participated in a number of follow trains on Instagram for Bailey’s account. My main goal has been to gain quality followers who would engage in our content. I’ve had Bailey’s account active since just before I brought her home from the farm I picked her up at. That was three years ago and as of right now, we’re only at 2300+ followers.

Here are some pros and cons to consider when participating in a social media follow blitz:

Pros

• Rapid Growth: You can quickly increase your follower count, giving your profile and appearance of popularity and credibility.
• Increased Engagement: More followers can lead to more likes, comments, and shares, boosting your content’s visibility.
• Community Building: Follow trains can help you connect with like-minded individuals who share similar interests, potentially fostering a supportive community.

Cons

• Low Quality Followers: Many followers gained through follow trains may not be genuinely interested in your content, leading to low engagement rates.
• Algorithm Impact: Social media algorithms prioritize engagement. If your new followers aren’t engaging with your posts, you content’s visibility might actually decrease.
• Time Consuming: Participating in follow trains and managing the influx of followers can be time consuming, and actually distract you from creating quality content.

How It Can Help a Dog Mom Blogger

For a dog mom blogger, follow trains can offer a quick boost in followers, which can be particularly appealing if you’re just starting out. Here’s how it could help:

• Visibility: More followers can make your profile more attractive to new visitors, encouraging them to follow you as well.
• Networking: You might discover and connect with other dog moms and pet influencers, opening opportunities for collaborations and partnerships.
• Increased Traffic: A higher follower count can drive more traffic to your blog, especially if you share your blog posts on your social media profiles.

However, to ensure sustained growth and meaningful engagement, it’s important to balance participation in follow trains with creating high-quality, authentic content. Engaging with your followers through comments, messages, and personalized posts about your pup will help convert those new followers into a loyal, active audience.

Our Experience

I have mixed feelings about the follow trains. On one hand, yes you can see a significant increase in your follow count. However, not everyone follows. Meaning, if it’s a follow for follow deal, we noted a number of accounts did not follow us back.

We also noted some that did follow us back, unfollowed us a few days later. That’s just not a cool move at all.

These followers that you gain, very few will actually engage with your account. I’m not saying all do this because Bailey has made quite a few pup friends from these trends.

Conclusion

Follow trains can be fun! And you can gain some great followers and pupper friends along the way. However, there are some accounts that only participate to see their follower count increase and nothing more.

You also need to watch out for “Instagram Jail”, which is where Instagram will freeze certain actions on your account (liking posts, following accounts) because you’re doing too much activity on your account which makes it look like you’re spamming.

I know. Insert massive eye roll here.