How We Dealt With A Recent Instagram Shadow Ban

We recently had to deal with the dreaded Instagram shadow ban. If you haven’t heard of this, a shadow ban, is when Instagram puts certain limits to your account which drastically reduces visibility (as only followers of your page, get to see your content)

What caused this ban?

We attempted to create a link tree account, for an Instagram page. After entering the Instagram page details, we were  asked to enter the code sent in to the mobile phone number registered with that Instagram account. All these was done at night, and so we  couldn’t ask the owner of the page  for the code, right up till morning.

What happened next

Once she had entered the code, we noticed the page wasn’t getting  the usual number likes it used to. On the average it recorded 20 likes per post. After this event, likes reduced to a  measly 1-2 likes per post.

What did we do?

We stopped using hashtags alongside the posts for about 2 weeks. We kept posting once daily on the page, but weren’t using hashtags except a branded hashtag. This means we used only (1) hashtag per post on the page for 14 days.

What were the results?

We realized that after 14 days, Instagram had withdrawn it’s “shadow ban” claws from the page . All is well and fine now!

How can you prevent a shadow ban?

When registering your Instagram account with a third party app, make sure you have access to the mobile phone connected to that Instagram account.  Also it’s been reported that using the same set of hashtags everyday can get your page shadow banned. Using banned hashtags on Instagram, can also get your page shadow banned.

How do you know if you’ve been shadow banned?

You will record really poor engagement( your likes and comments will drop drastically) as your account can’t be discovered by users who don’t follow you.

To confirm your page has been shadow banned:

1. Post a photo or video using hashtags.
2. Use another account that doesn’t follow your page, to search for any of the hashtags you’ve used , using the Instagram search function.
3. If your photos/videos don’t come up when these hashtags you’ve used are searched for YOU’VE BEEN SHADOW BANNED.

What can you do to stop it?

Stop posting on your page for about 14 days. If this sounds too drastic, then you can go ahead with posting but drop the hashtags. This means posting photos or videos on your page without using hashtags.

Have you ever experienced the dreaded Instagram shadow ban??? Share with our readers, how you got yourself out.