Shadow banning – it’s a fear many online business owners have if they use Instagram for marketing. While there has been conflicting information on whether it is real or not, I believe it is and have testimonials from users to prove it. Maybe you suspect it has happened to you! If you have a story you’d like to share, contact me!
What is shadow banning & how to know if it’s happening to you
Shadow banning is when Instagram seems to block your content from the world. The user likely doesn’t know it’s happening, but there are a few ways to detect if it is happening to you. If you see a sudden significant drop in engagement, reach, and are no longer showing up under a hashtag search, you’ve likely been shadow banned.
What causes an account to get shadow banned?
It is Instagram’s way of keeping people compliant with their policies. It’s not like they just go around randomly picking people to shadow ban that week. There is some sort of reasoning behind it. Most of the time, it is because you used bots or some automated Instagram growth tool. It’s a spammy tactic and one of the many reasons why bots will destroy your account. Another possibility is that you used a broken or flagged hashtag. Sometimes a hashtag can get overused with inappropriate content which causes Instagram to block the hashtag as a whole. If you use that hashtag, now you’re suspected with participating in the community-violating content. Another possibility is that you had numerous spam reports on your account. This isn’t something you can really control. Hopefully you aren’t spamming people but especially in this world where everyone is offended by something, people might mark you as spam knowing full well you are a real person. Lastly, spammy behavior can get you shadow banned. This would be like flipping through stories too quickly, leaving comments quickly, doing mass follow/unfollow, etc.
What should you do if you’ve been shadow banned?
The best advice I have if you really think you’ve been shadow banned is to lay low for awhile. Enjoy some time away from Instagram. You can still post, respond to messages and comments, etc. but limit it while your account recovers. Sometimes an account recovers in just a few days, especially if it’s your first offense. Other times it might be longer. Don’t follow or unfollow more accounts. Don’t copy and paste message replies. Basically just coast until things start acting more normal.
I hope this gives you more clarity on this topic! Go do some hashtag research to make sure your lists are clean, delete bots and sketchy third party apps, and continue to do your best serving your audience. Good luck!