How Safe Is Socialbloom And Should You Use It – A Review
Plenty of businesses and social media influencers rave about Socialbloom. This Instagram automation tool promises to help you target your ideal audience, land brand deals, and attract new customers for your business. After hearing so much about Socialbloom from my fellow social media marketers, I decided to give it a try.
But, when I went to check out their website, I found that it has been shut down!
After doing some digging, I found out that Socialbloom now operates under the name “XPLOD Social.” I was excited to learn this at first because I was very interested in testing out this tool. However, the fact that Socialbloom was forced to close and change its name definitely triggers a few red flags for me.
Because I love filling our readers in on the most popular social media marketing tools, I took the plunge and gave XPLOD Social a try. In this post, I’ll give you the scoop on XPOD Social’s (Socialbloom’s) key features. I’ll also give you my honest opinion about the pros and cons of using this tool. If you’re interested in learning about whether XPLOD Social (formerly known as Socialbloom) is a safe tool to use, keep reading!
What Is XPLOD Social?
XPLOD Social (formerly known as Socialbloom) is an Instagram growth automation tool that promises to help you get real Instagram followers. According to their website, XPLOD Social has helped hundreds of brands and influencers achieve fast, powerful growth. Like Socialbloom, XPLOD Social is marketed towards businesses, personal trainers, models, and other individuals who want to attract brand deals and new customers. This tool works around the clock to grow your Instagram following.
XPLOD Social’s Key Features
XPLOD Social offers many of the same features as Socialbloom. With this tool, you can still automate interactions like liking posts, following accounts, and leaving comments. However, there is one key difference between XPLOD Social and Socialbloom: XPLOD Social uses machine learned artificial intelligence technology to grow your account.
Let’s take a more detailed look at some of XPLOD Social’s (formerly known as Socialbloom) key features:
Artificial Intelligence
According to its website, XPLOD Social employs machine learning and artificial intelligence to attract quality followers to your Instagram page. This bot can target your competitors’ followers. It can also target users based on the hashtags they use and their location.
Audience Targeting
It’s important to choose an Instagram automation tool that effectively targets your audience. With XPLOD Social, you can target your audience based on a variety of criteria. Hashtag targeting is a basic function that most tools of this type include. You can also target the followers of your competitors. Brands who want to reach a certain gender can target based on this characteristic. You can also target users in specific locations if your business wants to target local customers.
Guidance from Social Media Marketing Experts
XPLOD Social’s premium and pro plans put you in contact with social media marketing experts. These individuals keep in touch with you as you use the service and try to help you meet your goals. XPLOD Social offers content strategy consulting and business strategy consulting with their higher-tiered plans.
Daily Updates and Reporting
XPLOD Social keeps track of your follower growth on a daily basis, so you can always keep track of your progress. Their reporting interface displays your daily performance and results. You can use this information to adjust your strategies in real time.
Customer Support
XPLOD Social offers 24/7 customer support.
Getting Started With XPLOD Social
XPLOD Social is pretty easy to set up. All you have to do is choose a plan, connect your Instagram account, and head over to the dashboard to personalize your targeting settings. This tool doesn’t require any additional software downloads which is always a plus in my book. They also offer a free trial that lasts for three days. You can cancel your XPLOD Social subscription at any time.
XPLOD Social’s Pricing & Plans
Now that you know a bit more about XPLOD Social, let’s talk numbers.
Many people complained about Socialbloom’s expensive pricing, and unfortunately, not much has changed with XPLOD Social. With so many social media growth automation tools on the market, there’s no reason to overpay for basic features. Here’s a breakdown on what’s included with each of XPLOD Social’s pricing options:
The Basic Plan
XPLOD Social’s Basic Plan will cost you $16–a week! In my opinion, this is way too pricey for a tool of this type. One month with XPLOD Social’s Basic Plan adds up to $64! For that price you’ll have access to features like hashtag targeting, weekly reports, and 24/7 customer support. You won’t be able to use the gender and location targeting, leave automated comments, or review the performance of your posts. Plenty of tools on the market offer more features for less.
The Advanced Plan
With XPLOD Social’s Advanced Plan, you get a couple of additional features. For $22 a week ($88 a month!), you’ll have access to all of the basic features as well as gender targeting and automated comments. If you’re looking to grow your account for a local business, you’ll have to choose another plan. The Advanced Plan doesn’t offer location targeting.
The Premium Plan
To enjoy advanced features like location targeting, content strategy consulting, and post performance review, you’ll need the Premium Plan. This one will cost you $40 a week ($160 a month!).
The Pro Plan
To really experience all of XPLOD Social’s features, you’ll have to purchase the Pro Plan. This plan costs $90 a week.
What I Like About XPLOD Social (formerly known as Socialbloom)
I had a decent experience with XPLOD Social’s free trial. Here are a few things that stood out about this Instagram automation tool:
Real Reviews
An important thing to look for when deciding on an Instagram automation tool is real reviews. I like that XPLOD Social lists real accounts that have used their services on their website. If you look at the reviews on their website, they seem legit. However, a couple of them mention Socialbloom rather than XPLOD Social. This makes me wonder if they are authentic XPLOD Social reviews or if they just changed the name in the other reviews. Nonetheless, you can look at the accounts named and see that they have a decent amount of followers.
Easy Set Up
If you’ve read any of my other reviews, then you already know that I strongly prefer automation tools with an easy set up process. With XPLOD Social, you just sign up and use the program directly from your web browser. You don’t have to worry about downloading any additional software or servers.
24/7 Support
Another positive aspect of XPLOD Social stems from its 24/7 support. If you’re a busy social media marketer who works around the clock, then you’ll feel secure knowing that you can contact a member of the support team anytime. I didn’t have a need to call them while I was testing this tool, so I can’t speak on their effectiveness. But, it’s nice to always have the option!
The Problem with XPLOD Social (formerly known as Socialbloom)
After giving XPLOD Social a try, I discovered quite a few problems with this tool:
It’s Too Expensive
If you want to give XPLOD Social a try, it will cost you a pretty penny. This tool is one of the most expensive Instagram bots I’ve ever come across. Although XPLOD Social has plenty of positive reviews, I’m not sure if this tool is worth paying such a steep price for. With its cheapest plan, you’ll only get access to basic features like automated follow/unfollow and liking posts. The Basic Plan costs more than the premium plans of most other comparable Instagram automation tools.
Its Connection to Socialbloom
When sites like Socialbloom get shut down, it’s usually because they are violating Instagram’s guidelines. Using any automation tool to grow your Instagram following involves some risk, but choosing tools that work more authentically can reduce the risk. Socialbloom’s switch to XPLOD Social probably stemmed from issues like repeatedly surpassing Instagram’s interaction limits or using fake followers. For this reason, I’m a bit wary about recommending this tool.
Since this tool has been shut down in the past, the company is likely on Instagram’s radar. It’s only a matter of time before XPLOD Social gets shut down like its previous alter ego, Socialbloom. It’s also kind of shady for XPLOD Social to hide its identity as the updated version of the now defunct Socialbloom. Since Socialbloom had so many fans, the only reason they wouldn’t reveal this connection would be due to legal action from Instagram (Facebook, Inc.).
Its Features Are Pretty Basic
Although XPLOD Social’s website boasts about its artificial intelligence technology, it doesn’t do much more than the typical Instagram bot. I didn’t notice any advanced machine learning abilities. This tool pretty much uses the same follow/unfollow and interaction method that other automation tools use. Other artificial intelligence Instagram bots study your behavior to mimic authentic human activity and make adjustments to your strategy. With XPLOD Social, you have to study your own reports and make your own strategy adjustments.
Should You Use XPLOD Social (formerly known as Socialbloom)?
After testing out XPLOD Social, I don’t recommend using it. It offers a few cool features, but there are better services that offer more features for half the price.
When it comes to the topic of safety, I’m always wary about using tools that have been forced to shut down in the past. Although they may be able to fool Instagram with a new name at first, the past will likely catch up to them eventually. You don’t want to run the risk of paying for an expensive XPLOD Social plan, only to have the service shut down shortly after.
Here are a few of my favorite XPLOD Social alternatives:
Kenji for Artificial Intelligence
If you like the idea of an Instagram bot that runs on artificial intelligence, but you don’t want to take a risk using XPLOD Social, try Kenji! KENJI.AI is by far the most advanced social media bot on the market. This tool uses machine learned artificial technology. It studies your activity and audience interactions to mimic human behavior and maximize your follower growth.
When it comes to price, Kenji’s plans range from $19-$29 a month. With the cheaper plan, you’ll be able to target your audience based on their location and the hashtags they use. You can also blacklist users and enjoy high speed automation. The premium plan includes additional features like Kenji’s advanced HyperTarget function. With Kenji, you’ll enjoy more features for nearly a fourth of the price of XPLOD Social!
You can give Kenji a try for free with a three day trial!
Upleap for A Dedicated Account Manager
While XPLOD Social’s social media experts add a cool touch, you can get personalized assistance at a more affordable price if you sign up for Upleap. To gain access to XPLOD Social’s social media experts, you’ll have to sign up for their expensive Premium or Pro Plan (for $40 or $90 a week!). You can get your own dedicated account manager with Upleap for as little as $39 a month. Its most expensive plan only costs $99 a month.
Although Upleap offers very affordable pricing, it includes many of the same features that you can only get with XPLOD Social’s more expensive plan. With Upleap Lite (the cheapest option), you can target users based on the hashtags they use and the users they follow. You’ll also have your own dedicated account manager.
Upleap Premium, which costs about the same as XPLOD Social’s Advanced Plan includes additional features like faster organic growth, location targeting, keyword exclusion, and the ability to view Instagram stories.
If you want to give Upleap a try, sign up for their three-day free trial!
Depending on your personal needs, either of these tools make great alternatives to XPLOD Social/Socialbloom!
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