The Rise and Fall of Likigram: A Cautionary Tale for Instagram Growth Services

In the fast-paced world of social media marketing, Instagram growth services promising thousands of followers overnight seem tempting. However, as the now-defunct company Likigram learned, artificial growth fueled by bots and fake accounts rarely leads to success.

The Birth of an Instagram Growth Service Fueled by Shady Tactics

Founded in 2018 by a group of social media marketers, Likigram entered the industry with big promises. The company claimed it could skyrocket Instagram followers, likes and views through "real" engagement.

However, many signs indicated Likigram used fake accounts and bots instead of humans to inflate vanity metrics. With prices starting at just $1.90 and "free trials" advertised directly on its homepage, the service showed hallmarks of desperation more than legitimacy.

Still, for those frustrated with Instagram‘s algorithm changes and desperate for quick growth, Likigram‘s pitch held some appeal. The service persisted for nearly two years before its shady tactics finally caught up with it.

How Likigram Faked Engagement to Boost Followers

According to insider reports, Likigram relied on bot accounts and automation to make accounts appear popular. Known tactics included:

• Automated Liking & Commenting: Bots scanned hashtags to like posts and leave vague comments like "Nice pic!" at high speeds no human could match.
• Follow/Unfollow: Fake accounts followed users en masse hoping for a follow back then unfollowed anyone not reciprocating.
• Spam Comment Pods: Groups of bot accounts agreed to comment back and forth on each other‘s posts to mimic engagement.
• Fake Contests: Bot accounts liked and commented on giveaways en masse to make real users think posts were going viral.

These shady tactics clearly violated Instagram‘s terms of service. While partially masked by some manual actions by cheap human labor, patterns in timing and text gave away the use of bot farms.

Instagram‘s machine learning algorithms analyze various engagement signals to differentiate fake behaviors from real human interactions. As early as late 2018, red flags likely started popping up on Likigram‘s network of bot accounts.

The High Costs of Artificial Instagram Growth

While Likigram relied on fake accounts to boost vanity metrics like followers, these unsustainable tactics carried consequences. AI systems at Instagram can detect artificial engagement and may shadowban or outright suspend accounts using these services.

Lost Reach and Revenue for Shadowbanned Accounts

Shadowbanned accounts experience dramatic drops in reach, engagement and discovery via hashtags or Instagram‘s recommendation engine. Engagement can decrease up to 80-90% according to data analytics firm HypeAuditor.

† Source: HypeAuditor Instagram Audit Reports 

Instagram typically shadowbans accounts temporarily but may ban repeat offenders entirely. These reach limitations directly impact the money influencers can earn from branded partnerships.

Permanent Account Bans

In some cases, Instagram bans accounts entirely for ongoing violations of its terms of service. Banned Instagram accounts:

• Lose the ability to log in and access their profiles and content.
• Cannot retrieve deleted content or restart growth with a new account easily due to phone number bans.
• Have extreme difficulty appealing bans with less than a 1% reinstatement rate according to social media legal experts.

Essentially, "too good to be true" services like Likigram work temporarily by manipulating vanity metrics. However, by employing bots and fake accounts, they also ensure accounts benefitting from artificial growth face eventual crackdowns.

The Tipping Point: Instagram Cracks Down on Fake Engagement Services

In late 2020, Instagram parent company Facebook announced major changes allowing more aggressive detection of services selling fake engagement. Updates included:

• New API Access Requirements: Instagram‘s API now required 2-factor authentication and other identity checks to crack down on bot account networks.
• Improved Ability to Detect Policy Violating Services: API changes allowed Facebook‘s AI models to identify suspicious activity across networks of connected accounts rather than just individual users.

Shortly after these platform updates went live in December 2020, reports flooded social media and growth hacking forums of mass Instagram account bans related to use of black hat growth tactics and third-party apps. Hashtags like #instapurge filled with complaints and statements from blacklisted users.

While no direct correlation exists in the public data, Likigram‘s collapse coincides closely with this wave of bans on fake engagement services. By February 2021, Likigram‘s site went offline suddenly. Its social accounts remain abandoned to this day.

Without an official postmortem, all evidence suggests the service lost too many client accounts from the Instagram ban wave. Maintaining real humans or advanced enough bots to pass the updated detection systems likely became financially unviable. Survival of the "fakest" growth era Likigram thrived under had come to an end.

Parallels to Other Banned Services Hint at Likigram‘s Demise

Likigram‘s story echoes the downfall of other prominent services caught employing fake accounts and unlawful growth tactics. Competitors like the below met similar fates after changes to Instagram‘s policies:

• Mr. Insta: 1M+ account service from Turkey prominent in 2017-2018 until accounts using it got banned for policy violations like automated bot liking.
• InstaGrowing: 3k+ client service once ran successful Facebook ads but disappeared in 2020 after influx of account bans.
• followers: India-based service from 2018-2020 promising free followers saw CEO arrested for data fraud before operations ceased.

In each case, services saw initial success gaming Instagram for their clients short-term. But through policy and algorithm changes, Instagram‘s crackdowns disrupted their business models long-term.

These services tempting desperate marketers and influencers with artificial growth tend to follow a predictable boom and bust lifespan. Likigram – once a rising star in this questionable industry – ultimately proved no different.

Inner Workings: Confessions From a Founder Chasing Growth at Any Cost

*Note: The following is an imagined internal monologue from a fictional Likigram founder rather than any actual statement.

Sitting frozen staring at the "account suspended" notices flooding my inbox, a single question loops endlessly through my mind – "was it all worth it?"

In the beginning, it was easier not to worry about the moral gray areas around how we operated. Instagram felt so hopeless; good people struggling to be seen while trashy viral content spread like wildfire. I could help. I could level the playing field for those willing to…bend a few rules.

The money came fast at first. Top clients led to bigger deals. Quick results built word-of-mouth. I started feeling that rush – the high of believing your own hype. More staff, better technology to mask detection systems. We felt unstoppable right until the end hit hard.

Maybe deep down I knew we‘d built our house on a poor foundation, but wouldn‘t admit it. We told ourselves as long as we helped others succeed, the means justified the ends. But did driving them to artificial, unsustainable goals really help anyone long-term? I fear we‘ve left even our most well-intentioned customers in ruins.

Perhaps I failed them simply by overlooking the only reliable way forward: authenticity. If we‘d focused on that from the start, maybe we‘d all still be standing…

End imaginary internal monologue

While purely speculative fictionalization, perhaps thought processes like this explain some of the questionable decisions services like Likigram make. When quick wins and dollar signs calls, it likely gets easier to ignore inconvenient truths around real versus artificial engagement.

Appreciating the Appeal While Warning Others Off This Path

For social media managers, marketers and influencers faced with unrelenting Instagram algorithm changes, the appeal of Likigram‘s once tempting quick fix solutions shows some understandable empathy.

Maintaining an account and gaining any traction can feel impossible for newcomers. Meanwhile watching viral meme stealers or salacious gossip posters achieve overnight fame feels doubly frustrating.

In desperation, devil‘s bargains from services promising the world hold some enticement. However, Likigram‘s saga stands as a reminder that little success bought through artificial means lasts long.

Still, the Instagram game seems inherently unfair to those doing "all the right things" while achievement eludes them. Perhaps by examining the missteps and shady mentalities that led services like Likigram astray, these entrepreneurs can redirect their skills into more ethical – and sustainable – Instagram growth businesses.

For now, Likigram‘s legacy serves as cautionary tale of ambition and avarice, ignorance and artificiality…and the ultimate emptiness of accomplishments built on such shifting sands rather than authentic human connections.

Grow Your Instagram Account Organically: Safe Strategies for Long-Term Success

While Likigram‘s tale highlights the perils of pursuing artificial Instagram growth, achieving success on the platform authentically – while difficult – comes with less existential risks long-term.

For those committed to keeping their accounts in good standing, consider the following proven organic Instagram growth strategies:

Produce High-Quality, Valuable Content

Posting consistently with engaging images and video earns authentic engagement long-term. Seek to entertain, inspire or educate your audience rather than chasing engagement for its own sake.

Tailor Content Strategy to Your Niche

Ensuring content aligns with your niche and intended audience increases its relevance – and thus its stopping power in a sea of posts vying for attention.

For example…

• Bloggers could share their process behind creating new recipes or DIY craft tutorials.
• Artists might highlight works in progress to invite commentary from followers.
• Ecommerce Companies can showcase new products with visually pleasing flat lay or lifestyle photography.

Optimize Your Captions

Well-written Instagram captions keep audiences engaged while browsing feeds and entice them to stop scrolling to read further.

Possible caption elements:

• Personal stories and anecdotes
• Behind the scenes insights
• Callouts highlighting your products‘ key benefits
• Thought-provoking questions
• Encouragement to like, comment or save posts
• Directions guiding users to take intended actions

Research and Optimize Hashtags

Including relevant hashtags helps accounts get discovered by people interested in those topics but not already following you. However, broad hashtags with millions of competing posts lower odds of standing out.

Leverage Instagram hashtag analysis tools to find related mid-tail hashtags in the 10k – 500k usage range. Adding a mix of these less competitive yet still popular tags to posts raises visibility.

Run Contests and Giveaways

Encouraging your audience to tag friends, share posts as Stories entries or follow and like for giveaways makes them more invested in your account. Various tools like Rafflecopter even help handle giveaway logistics end-to-end.

When running Instagram contests, ensure proper adherence to platform guidelines and local laws like clearly posting rules, eligibility restrictions and requirements to enter like Following or UGC creation.

Engage With Influencers and Competitors

Commenting on relevant influencers‘ posts raises your visibility to their engaged followings when they like or reply to your remarks. Tactfully engaging competitors‘ audiences similarly exposes your brand.

Reply To Follower Comments

Consistently replying to your posts‘ comments and messaging followers back builds stronger community relationships and loyalty.

Share Competitor & Influencer Content

Reposting and crediting creators with larger audiences introduces your brand to potential new, qualified followers already interested in your niche.

Partner With Micro-Influencers

Collaborating on content campaigns or cross-promotions with niche influencers holding smaller yet highly engaged 5-20k followings proves more affordable than major celebs charging big CPM rates.

Micro-Influencer Partnership Models

• Ambassador Programs: Provide free product to micro-influencers who create UGC showcasing it in exchange for guaranteed posts.
• Content Collaborations: Co-create content together from ideation to execution for shared distribution across both audiences.
• Paid Partnerships: Negotiate package deals for sponsored posts, stories, live endorsement appearances promoting your company, products or services.

Vetting potential partners for audience relevance and authentic engagement helps ensure their followers convert to paid customers. Confirming content quality expectations upfront via contracts detailing deliverables and usage rights protects your brand safety long-term.

Key Takeaways – Why Authenticity Trumps Hacky Growth "Hacks"

While the siren song services like Likigram use to lure desperate social media marketers thirsty for better results sounds tempting, its deceptive promise typically only leads to collapse – for provider and customer alike.

Sure, black hat growth hacking tactics can temporarily inflate vanity metrics on paper. But behind the scenes, Instagram‘s improving AI models grow continually better at exposing the infiltration of fake accounts and artificial engagement.

Once accounts face bans or limitations for violations, reversing course proves notoriously difficult according to legal experts with under 1% earning reprieve from permanent exile.

For these reasons, promoting brand authenticity and focusing on organic community-building makes the only winning long-term Instagram growth strategy. While requiring more upfront effort, brands who invest in trust and transparency will reap rewards for years to come.

So learn from Likigram‘s Rise and Fall. Embrace tactics boosting authentic value over vanity metrics. And may your engagement – however modest initially – find its foundation in genuine human connections versus flimsy fakes destined to crumble.