Instagram just killed the Close Friends hack—but the smartest marketers are already pivoting to bigger opportunities. While the golden era of mass Close Friends lists is over, 5 powerful new strategies (including a secret Instagram feature pushing Reels to millions) are now exploding. Want the edge? Here’s exactly how to dominate Instagram in 2025—before these get patched too.
Instagram marketers, influencers, and growth hackers—brace yourselves. The legendary Close Friends Method, which allowed users to add millions of followers to their "Close Friends" list and boost engagement, has officially been patched by Instagram. This method allowed people to add millions and milions of followers to their Close Friends list in Instagram:
But every good thing must come to an end. While this golden era of explosive growth has ended, there are still powerful strategies to grow your account, monetize your influence, and stay ahead of the algorithm.
In this blog, we’ll break down:
✔ Why the Close Friends Method was patched
✔ What Instagram’s new restrictions mean for growth hackers
✔ 5 alternative methods to grow & monetize Instagram in 2025
✔ A surprising new Instagram feature that could replace Close Friends
Let’s dive in.
For those who missed it, the Close Friends Method was a game-changing growth hack that allowed users to bypass Instagram’s follower limits by adding thousands (or even millions) of accounts to their "Close Friends" list.
💡 Key Takeaway: If you already grew your Close Friends list, you’re safe—Instagram won’t remove existing followers. But you can’t add more.
1. Main Account Growth (Follow/Unfollow + Story Engagement) -
Use tools like Insta Grow which uses real-devices (Androids) to automate actions such as follow/unfollow, likes, story likes etc. You can sign up for the tool, using this link.
This is how the dasboard of the tool looks like:
Some awesome growth results we have seen from Insta Grow so far:
Finally, to monetize your work, you can charge your clients between $300-$500 per month for growth services.
Pro Tip: Check out this video for a full breakdown on how to use Insta Grow!
2. TikTok Automation (The Blue Ocean Opportunity)
Most marketers ignore TikTok automation because it’s harder and more complicated than Instagram. But with the right tools (like Insta Grow, which also works for TikTok), you can grow brand & influencer pages with targeted followers. You can also monetize through sponsorships, affiliate marketing, or selling services. Here is a screenshot of some awesome results we have achieved with TikTok automation in Insta Grow:
3. The “Mother & Child” Method (Red Bull’s Secret Strategy)
Grow your main account using multiple child accounts to push your content for maximum exposure. The mother-child method has provided great results in the past, even to big brands like Redbull:
Again, you can sell this service for $1,000-$10,000 a month, depending on your results, value, reputation and niche. If you want to know to learn how to do this for your clients, watch this video or check out this in-depth blog on the mother-child method. The method can be done using both Su Social and Jarvee:
4. Mass DM Strategy (The Russian Software Method)
You can automate direct messaging to reach a huge audience efficiently. Easily use this method to grow your own accounts or your client's businesses. Once you have mastered this service, you can offer it from $1,000-$10,000 per campaign.
5. Give Me Data - Scale Your Business
Use Instagram outreach and email marketing to generate more leads and grow your business with these advanced techniques:
You can use Give Me Data to scrape and extract valuable public information from Instagram, such as:
✔️Emails
✔️Phone numbers
✔️Follower counts
✔️Bio details
✔️Followers
✔️Following
✔️Profile Data
✔️Hashtags
You can also extract the likers of a post or the likers from the latest 12 posts of an account (upto 12,000 for the latter), Give Me Data is here to help! You can use the new & fresh likers feature:
As you can see from the above picture, you get two options: first is to directly extract the likers of a specific post or reel. For this option, keep the 'Post likes for IG user' button off, and paste the link to that specific post you want to extract likers from. Second, you can extract up to 12,000 likes from the latest 12 posts of a user. For this, click on the 'Post likes for IG user' button and paste the URL of the instagram page/profile.
BONUS: Also at signup, you get 500 coins for free - sign up using this link! If you want to know more on how to make money with Give Me Data, check this article out!
Here’s the BIGGEST opportunity right now:
Instagram now allows “Reels Trials”—a feature that pushes your Reels to NON-FOLLOWERS with NO LIMITS on posting frequency. Afer posting it as a Trial Reel, you also get the option to view your key engagement metrics such as views, likes, comments and shares. If you think you reel is performing well, you also get the option to 'share with everyone'. Once htis option is chosen, your reel will now be posted for your followers to increase it's reach even more. Cool right?
PRO TIP: You can do this manually or you can do this with automation!
How to Use It:
Why This is HUGE:
The Close Friends Method was legendary, but Instagram growth is always evolving. If you see a world-changing opportunity like the Close Friends feature in the future, we advise you to jump on it immediately
Right now, the best opportunities are:
✅ Instagram Reels Trials (new & untapped).
✅ TikTok Automation (less competition).
✅ Mother & Child Accounts (long-term branding).
