Autogrammer puts social media posts on autopilot

Gizmo Editor Review

I thought I was doing pretty well using social media channels to promote my “brand” but it turns out I was missing a significant opportunity. While I was paying attention to Twitter, Facebook and a couple of lesser channels, it seems that a boatload of people were focusing on Instagram.

According to a site called DMR, Instagram has more than 400 million active users and more than 75 million use the service every day. And an article posted on Patrice Press outlines some of the ways companies and individuals are using the vast reach of Instagram to promote their products and services.

Clearly, I needed to get in that game and to do it right, I needed to do more than post an occasional image or item. I needed a way to schedule and even bulk upload my posts.

That’s what led me to Autogrammer, a new platform that lets users schedule Instagram posts along with content for other social media channels. In addition to Instagram, Autogrammer also supports Pages, Groups and Profiles on Facebook as well as the ubiquitous Twitter.

Users can set up a new account with a username and password or log in using their current Twitter, Facebook or Google+ account. Once inside, they’re presented with a dashboard to manage their posts on multiple platforms.

With just a couple of clicks, I added my Instagram account and my Facebook account along with Facebook Pages and Groups. Instagram required that I verify my account, but that was a simple process that didn’t slow me down. More details and a set of helpful walk-through instructions from Autogrammer arrived in an email.

Now I was ready to post some photos to Instagram. I clicked the link to my account from my media account list in the dashboard’s left panel, then clicked a “Add post” in the main screen to bring up Autogrammer’s posting window.

The window let me select which channels I want to post to, a date and time for the post to appear, the image I wanted to upload and any text that would appear with it, including a web link. An Edit button brought up a full palette of photo editing tools, including frames, contrast adjustment and tools to crop, resize or change orientation. Some of the photos I’ve seen on Instagram of parties, kids and pets would have benefitted greatly had their owners made use of Autogrammer's redeye removal tool.

Once a posting is saved, it appears on the dashboard with a calendar icon to show that it is scheduled for a future time or a checkmark to denote that it has been sent to Instagram. You can open a scheduled post to make revisions such as changing the time or text, but you can’t go back in time and change one that’s already been posted.

One of the most useful features of Autogrammer is the bulk upload option. I was able to upload several photos at once, then edit each one in the dashboard and set a publication date and time. That sure beat slogging through them one at a time in Instagram.

A trial account on Autogrammer is free. Upgrade packages that support multiple social media accounts start at $19 a month.  

By: Ric Manning On 10/24/2017

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Followadder helps draw Instagram followers

Movie stars and other celebrities don’t have much trouble building a big following for the Instagram feed. But the rest of us could probably use some help.

Followadder is automated software that helps Instagram users build their page and increase their fan following.

The program  will  schedule automated photo posts, apply likes to photos and videos, post comments and create lists of users.

Here’s what The Small Business Blog said about Followadder:

You will save time and increase your exposure, expand your brand, create more engagement, and get more followers and likes by automating those tedious tasks on Instagram.

The program promises to deliver real Instagram followers as users work with it’s dashboard controls and its internal search engine that can tune in to locations, hashtags, and other connection points.

For more details, read the full Followadder review at The Small Business Blog and visit the Followadder website.

By: Ric Manning On 8/02/2017

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This service lets you buy Instagram followers

When I see a popular Instagram account, I usually assume that the owner has a long list of friends and associates. But that’s not always the case.

Services like iSocialmike sells packages of Instagram followers in sets ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 followers.

Details posted on the service’s website say it’s not unusual for people to buy Instagram followers. Here’s how they put it:

“There are hundreds and thousands of online businesses who use this type of strategy to better promote their products and/or services and they benefit from it greatly.”

The people behind iSocialmike don’t explain how they are able to deliver such large numbers of Instagram followers, but they do insist that they use “manual and natural ways to deliver followers and likes. No bots are involved in our services.”

To read their full story, visit the iSocialmike website.

Of course iSocialmike isn't the only service that helps Instagram users quickly grow their followers. I found a post on a blog called Income Artist that profiles four of the major services that use bots to collect generate Instagram like and follows.  The profiles include Instato, InstaQ, FollowingLike and Follow Adder.

By: Ric Manning On 2/07/2017

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Vibbi says it can deliver Instagram followers

Scientists and philosophers like to tease their students by posing this question:

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Here’s my version, tailored for the modern world of social media:

If you post a photo on Instagram and no one sees it, does the photo really exist?

The whole idea of starting images on the popular photo sharing platform is to get the image - and its creator - in front of other people.

Sharing on Instagram requires followers and, unless you’re a pop star or in the Kardashian clan, your follower count is likely under four digits.

Vibbi is a service that says it can fix that. Vibbi sells Instagram followers in packages that range from 100 followers for $2.97 to 10,000 followers for $69.99.

Vibbi’s website says its team of  “marketing specialists, top executives, and supply chain managers” can grow a client’s follower list without risking penalties imposed by Instagram. The service proclaims on its website that “at Vibbi, our process is 100% in line with Instagram's terms and conditions.”

For a closer look at what Vibbi offers, visit the Vibbi website.

By: Ric Manning On 2/01/2017

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Lobster helps amateur photographers sell their work

It's not uncommon for people who post personal photos on Flickr or Instagram to see their images posted somewhere else, on a blog or a website. On one hand that's a compliment - someone liked your photo enough to want to use it. But on the other hand, it's a rip-off. They didn't pay you for content that would cost them if they got it from a stock photo service.

Lobster may have the solution for that kind of situation. The service allows individuals to sell their photos and videos without dealing with the hassles of licensing and collecting fees. If you have a Flickr or Instagram account, you can sign up with Lobster, tag the material you want to make available for reuse and let Lobster handle the details.

Lobster charges 99 cents for photos posted on Instagram and $1.99 for a photo on Flickr. Buyers pay with PayPal, Lobster keeps 25 percent and the owner of the photo gets the rest.

Lobster would like to see more amateur and semi-professional photographers to put their material on Instagram and Flickr, especially if they shoot photos on topics that interest potential buyers such as news agencies. A good example is a music festival.

Buyers can search Lobster by topic, tag or location. When they purchase an image, they can download it immediately. A copy of the license that goes with the image will arrive by email.

To find out more about Lobster, visit the Lobster website or Twitter page.

By: Ric Manning On 12/23/2014

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