Four Tips for Improving Instagram Visibility and Avoiding Shadowbanning 

These recommendations are from Carolina aka Blogger On Pole’s  webinar ”Instagram, Visibility and Shadowbanning with Carolina, aka Blogger on Pole” held on January 14, 2021. Members can view the entire webinar at this link. 

Carolina’s work is based on her previous experience as a journalist, as well as knowledge gained while obtaining her PhD in Criminology with a focus on online moderation.

Carolina notes that social media is inherently political, as governments continue to write laws moderating what can be posted.

She also notes, like with most things pole-related, it all starts with strippers and swers.

Once strippers and swers are affected, the whole pole community is affected.

Four Tips for Improving Instagram Visibility and Avoiding Shadowbanning 

1. Search your hashtags to avoid posting shadowbanned hashtags. How do you know if a hashtag is shadow banned? Go to the instagram search and type in the hashtag. If nothing shows up, it’s shadowbanned.
2. Take a break from Instagram. Close the app and simply don’t use it – no posting, no commenting, no nothing – for a few days. When you get back to posting, check your audience insights (available on business and creator accounts) and see if there is a difference.
3. Review your account status (this is newer than the 2021 webinar). In your “Settings and Activities” scroll down to “Account Status” and see if all the options are green. If not, take the actions recommended or file an appeal.
4. Stay educated! Consider taking a social media marketing course (Hubspot has free course options) and keep up to date with the latest Instagram policies and news.

Two Additional Tips for Taking Action to Influence Social Media Governance 

1. Lobby for larger governance plans (e.g. promoting human rights based social media). This may include writing your representatives doing things like signing petitions or even sending an email complaint to Instagram (here is a sample!)
2. Interact with and share your favorite accounts who might be shadowbanned. If you’re not sure, but you haven’t heard from them in a while, it couldn’t hurt!

As social media continues to evolve, these tips may also change and evolve. 

As a pole business owner, social media should not be the *only* way you interact with your audience.

Consider collecting email addresses and engaging with them the “old fashioned way,” or at least in a way that you have more control and influence than social media.