Honestly guys, my engagement was crawling like a slug last month. Felt like shouting into a void, seriously. Nobody gave a damn about my cat photos or that killer coffee trick I found. So yeah, I went down the rabbit hole looking for quick fixes, found stuff labelled “dirty tricks,” and figured, screw it, let’s try ’em and see what sticks. Here’s the raw play-by-play.
The Starting Point: Just Sad Numbers
Opened my analytics one Tuesday morning. Likes? Pathetic. Comments? Crickets. Shares? Forget it. Scrolled through my last few posts – decent pictures, some words… nada. Felt pointless. Googled something like “get more likes fast not working” and boom, landed on these so-called “dirty” tips. Three jumped out. Promised engagement juice, quick. Sounded shady, but desperation kicked in. Thought, worst case, nothing happens, right?
Going Down the “Dirty” Path
Alright, gloves off. I picked three tricks people whispered about. Didn’t overthink, just executed one after the other. Raw action, no polish.
Trick 1: The Comment Blitzkrieg
Read about flooding popular posts in my niche. Seemed sleazy, but hey. Found five big accounts talking about stuff similar to mine – urban gardening, that’s my jam. Didn’t just watch, I SPAMMED. Every single post they made that day? I left a comment. Not just “nice pic,” oh no. Went hard:
- “OMG this is GOLD! Exactly what I needed for my dying basil!”
- “FINALLY someone gets it! I tell people about this root rot thing ALL THE TIME!”
- “You’re a GENIUS! My tomatoes are gonna thank you BIG TIME!”
Felt kinda gross typing such over-the-top fluff, but I hit ‘Post’ anyway. Did this for like two hours straight.
Trick 2: The Like Tsunami (Manual Edition)
Next tactic was pure brute force: liking anything and everything from random folks. Targeted people who followed my competitors. Searched their follower lists, clicked random profiles, and just started liking. Like a madman. Last 10 photos? Smash that like button. Didn’t even look at half of them. Dog pictures, vacation pics, blurry dinners… liked ’em all. Hundreds in one sitting. My thumb got tired. Pure volume play. Zero strategy, just action.
Trick 3: The “Vote-Begging” DM Ambush
This one felt the most personal. Saw some folks suggesting sliding into DMs asking for votes. Found a contest running for best balcony garden. Spammed ANYONE I vaguely knew who followed me or had interacted before. Messaged like 20 people directly: “Hey! Please vote for my balcony garden in this contest! Link below! Need your help bad!!!” Shoved the link at them. Didn’t chat, didn’t ask how they were. Straight up “give me vote NOW.” Awkward as hell.
The Immediate Fallout & Results
Okay, first few hours after the comment spree? Weirdly… worked? Got maybe 15 followers back, a few likes on my profile pinned post. Mostly from the big accounts’ fans, I guess. Felt dirty, but saw movement.
The mass liking frenzy? Honestly, mixed bag. Got some curious followers checking me out, probably thinking “who’s this weirdo liking my grandma’s photo?” Maybe 10 new followers? Also got flagged by the stupid algorithm once, a popup saying “you’re liking too fast.” Lame.
The DM vote-begging? Fricking disaster zone. Three responses. Two were polite “sure, voted!” (felt kinda guilty), one was outright “Stop spamming, jerk.” Lost one follow too. Ouch. Lesson learned – feels invasive and rude.
Did it Actually Boost Anything?
Short term? Yeah, kinda. Follower count jumped about 30 overnight, mostly low quality profiles. My actual posts that week saw maybe a 10% bump in likes. But here’s the real kicker:
- ZERO meaningful comments on my actual content.
- Those new followers? Ghosts. They didn’t stick around.
- Felt exhausted and kinda scummy after.
The engagement spike lasted maybe 48 hours? Tops. Then everything tanked right back to where it started, maybe even lower. Plus the DM shame lingered.
Final Honest Thoughts
These “dirty tricks” are exactly that – dirty. Sleazy shortcuts. Sure, you might blip up the numbers for a hot minute if you spam hard enough. You trick the stupid machine brain a little. But:
- It burns you out.
- It attracts weirdos or ghosts.
- Pisses off real people (I lost that one follow!).
- Doesn’t build anything real.
It’s like shoving sawdust into a leak – looks filled for a second, then crumbles. Waste of energy, feels gross, and doesn’t fix why your stuff isn’t hitting organically. Back to the drawing board for me, minus the desperation. Real engagement needs actual effort. This junk? Not worth the guilt trip.
