There are two kinds of Instagram growth services – hands-on and hands-free. Allow me to elaborate.
Hands-on services provide you with the tools, but you have to do the work yourself. Hands-free companies manage your Instagram growth for you.
Social Upgrade is the latter type. Or, perhaps it’s better to say “was.” These folks got shut down for shady practices, which I’ll discuss later.
So, why would you want to read about a company that doesn’t exist anymore?
Well, you can see what they did wrong, and then avoid similar services. Today’s Social Upgrade review is going to help you learn from their mistakes.
Dig in!
What is Social Upgrade?
Social Upgrade closed its doors in 2020. Nevertheless, I’m going to talk about what it was.
In my opinion, the service was nothing spectacular. It was a classic pay for growth tool firmly grounded in Instagram’s grey zone.
Aside from the usual automated engagement, it provided full-on management. In other words, the company managed your Instagram growth campaign. All you had to do was select the target audience and pay.
Like many similar agencies, Social Upgrade claimed to provide only real followers and engagement. And, like many similar agencies, they didn’t tell the whole truth.
It was evident that they used an Instagram bot to perform automated tasks. The advanced “marketing” story that they sold was a facade for generic bot use. While automation isn’t so bad in itself, they employed it in a way that violated Instagram’s policy.
So, why did Social Upgrade close?
The short answer is – they sold fake likes.
It’s safe to say that the company abused its user base. They took their customers’ accounts and sold their likes. This means that, if you were their registered user, your account was liking other people’s stuff without you knowing it.
These actions earned them a lawsuit from Instagram, after which they went down the drain.
Top Social Upgrade Alternatives
| Service | Quality Rating | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Nitreo.com | 4.6 | $49 |
| Upleap.com | 4.3 | $39 |
| KENJI.AI | 4 | $49 |
| Flock Social | 4 | $49 |
| Stellation Media | 3.9 | $99 |
| Ingramer | 3.7 | $49 |
| Instazood | 2.9 | $29 |
| ektor | 2.9 | $79 |
| Socialcaptain | 1.2 | $39 |
How Does Social Upgrade Work?
Before Social Upgrade shut down, they sold engagement and “growth management” to Instagram users.
It was a very simple concept. You targeted your audience using hashtags, location, and competitors’ accounts. You could also blacklist profiles that you didn’t want to interact with.
Once you did that, you got assigned your “personal Growth Expert.” Allegedly, this was a real live human who managed your campaign. However, it’s more likely that there was no such person, and that a bot was doing all the work.
How to set up Social Upgrade?
Setting up a Social Upgrade account was very simple. All it took was a few steps.
First, you had to go to their website, the now-deceased socialupgrade.co. Unlike many IG growth tools, Social Upgrade’s site was easy to find, so kudos for that.
Once there, you had to click on “Get Started” located in the upper right corner. You signed up with your email and Instagram username.
Last, you had to choose a subscription plan and pay via PayPal.
That’s all there was to it.
Social Upgrade Features
The service didn’t have too many features. They were pretty standard automated operations that most bot-based tools offer. Let’s take a look at what Social Upgrade could do.
Organic Growth
Social Upgrade’s selling point was the whole “organic growth” story. They claimed to engage with other users in a way that looks natural. There weren’t many details available on what concrete steps they take.
But, that doesn’t matter anymore because now we know that their actions were far from organic.
Like I said earlier, the company provided users with likes from its other users. What was problematic about this? The people whose accounts were being used to send likes didn’t know it. In a sense, they betrayed their customers’ trust and violated Instagram’s policy.
Targeting
The service required you to target your audience. You could do this via hashtags, account names, and competitors’ profiles. In the case of the latter, the tool would target your competitors’ followers.
Another thing that you could do is blacklist accounts. Those would be profiles that you didn’t want to engage with at all.
Growth Manager
A personal Growth Manager was another key feature of Social Upgrade. However, it is now questionable whether it even existed.
To clarify, this was supposed to be a real person who would manage your Instagram growth. But, it is plausible that they just let a bot run this operation, which would be another dishonest move by the service..
Customer Support
The company said that it offered 24/7 customer support. You could contact them via email or phone. As you may have expected, the support didn’t function “smoothly,” to say the least.
Some customers complained about how nobody responded to their emails for days, and that their phone number was unreachable.
Social Upgrade Pricing
Social Upgrade offered two pricing packages – Standard and Turbo. They were paid monthly and cost $39 and $99, respectively.
What could this money get you?
The Standard subscription was supposed to bring you a 65% growth. The Turbo package bumped this number up to 100%.
So, if one had 5000 followers, the Turbo subscription would have doubled that? That’s what Social Upgrade claimed.
It sounds a bit outrageous now, and I don’t know whether it worked. But, given that they sold fake engagement, who knows, they might have been able to pull it off.
Is Social Upgrade Legit?
From all that I read online, I can conclude that Social Upgrade wasn’t legit. Their Trustpilot.com score was 3.5 stars, which isn’t terrible. However, scroll down through the comment section, and you’re in for a surprise.
Reviews that claim this service is a scam are predominant. People reported many issues. Some of them said how Social Upgrade kept charging them even after it shut down! Others couldn’t reach customer support, especially when they wanted their money back.
It’s a real mystery how they stayed in business for so long.
Is Social Upgrade Safe?
Social Upgrade wasn’t a safe tool to use.
At first glance, everything seemed to be in order. They had a secure website and verified payment gateways.
The trouble was that they misused their customers’ accounts and got some of them banned. Also, the fact that they kept charging monthly fees after closing is very disturbing.
Honestly, it’s good that such a business isn’t around anymore.
Social Upgrade Pros & Cons
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| They provided short-term growth | Sold fake engagement |
| Secure website | Misused their customers’ accountsMisused their customers’ accounts |
| Unreachable via phone | |
| Didn’t respond to emails sometimes | |
| Kept charging even after shutting down | |
| Somewhat expensive |
Social Upgrade Review: Final Verdict
Was Social Upgrade able to grow Instagram accounts?
Possibly yes, but at what cost?
I’m not talking about money, even though they weren’t cheap. I’m referring to them using your account behind your back to their benefit. They did it in a manner that could get you banned.
Social Upgrade was a dishonest service that didn’t work in line with Instagram’s terms. It’s no surprise that they ended up the way they did.
If you want to boost your account, do it the right way. Only use real organic services, some of which you can find in the table below.
Top 10 Instagram Bots
We’ve put in all the hard work for you and tested numerous services that claim to help grow your Instagram account. Not sure which to choose? Check out the table below and make your choice!
| Service | Quality Rating | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Nitreo.com | 4.6 | $49 |
| Upleap.com | 4.3 | $39 |
| KENJI.AI | 4 | $49 |
| Flock Social | 4 | $49 |
| Stellation Media | 3.9 | $99 |
| Ingramer | 3.7 | $49 |
| Instazood | 2.9 | $29 |
| ektor | 2.9 | $79 |
| Socialcaptain | 1.2 | $39 |