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Disclaimer: I had contacted ShoutCart to inform them that I will be reviewing their service. They offered and added credit to my account to help document and properly review the service. All opinions and reviews are mine.
Shoutcart is a marketplace that lets you buy and sell shoutouts on Instagram. Shoutcart allows you to reach almost 120 million Instagram followers.
Getting Started on ShoutCart
Sign Up
Follow the basic registration form. Your Number and kik are requested. However, they are not required.
Adding Account
For those looking to sell shoutouts, you will be required to add your account.
When you put in your username, you will need to verify your account. You will be given a code that you must (temporarily) insert into your Instagram profile bio.
Click verify and you’re good to go. Don’t forget to remove the code from your bio after verifying.
Buying Shoutouts on ShoutCart
Finding the Right Accounts
There are accounts selling shoutouts in over 11 categories. Find the one that best matches your content. I looked for accounts posting entrepreneur/travel/lifestyle themed content.
After narrowing down around 10 accounts. I looked through each account’s Instagram profile. I was looking at their content and whether I could provide them with content that will blend in well with theirs. Mainly for a more organic feel.
Looking through my own content, I noticed that the vast majority of my content is travel-related (Didn’t realize I traveled that much this year!).
I decided to spend my credits between 4 accounts:
- @germanytravell – Personal
- @millionaires_luxury – Luxury
- @destinationed – Travel
- @thewatchrebillion – Watch / Luxury
Ordering Shoutouts
When you find an account you like, click on it. Read the description by the account owner. There may be important information that may interest you. As well as potential requirements or rules they may have.
When you believe you found the right one, pick the duration and price you wish to order.
Then add it to the cart and head to checkout.
At checkout, you will see your cart summary as well as details you must submit to complete your order. You are asked to fill out the following:
- Email – For the receipt
- Shoutout Caption – This will be exactly what the account owner will post with your image (be sure to include your username)
- File Upload – Image or Video you’d like posted
- Your Instagram Username – For for a reference
- Prefered Shoutout Time – Pretty self-explanatory
In my case, since I wish to upload different images for different accounts, I will be making several orders. I wouldn’t want to upload a travel image to a watch Instagram account.
Hit submit and you’re good to go. Just follow the basic instructions.
Adding credits to your balance
To add credits to your account, click the $ sign on the top right side. Then in “available balance”, click “add funds”. There is a minimum $50 requirement to add credits at a time. It ranges from $50 to $2000. However, you can order shoutouts totaling $10,000 at a time.
When you’ve pick the amount. Choose between Paypal or Credit Card. Then click “buy now” (Paypal) or “pay with card” (Credit card).
Selling Shoutouts on ShoutCart
Adding Your Instagram Account
First thing you are asked for is the category of your account. You can pick one (would be cool if we can select multiple) of these:
- Humour & Memes
- Fashion & Style
- Fitness & Sports
- Quotes & Texts
- Luxury & Motivation
- Cars & Bikes
- Outdoor & Travel
- Food & Nutrition
- Pets & Animals
- Models & Lifestyle
- Personal & Talent
You can then set your 2 hour price and your permanent price. These define the cost to leave the shoutout posted up for the specified duration. You can also add more prices. The options a single hour slots from 1 hour up till 48 hours.
After that you have your description. Include any relevant information/requirements that potential buyers should know. Then hit submit!
Requesting Payout
Requesting a payout is pretty quick and easy. Click the $ sign on the top right. Then click “withdraw”.
In “Request Payout”, insert the amount then put in your Paypal email (the one associated with your Paypal account).
Hit the “Request Payout” button and expect it to take 3-5 business days to process.
Results
After submitting the order, 2 of the 4 accounts had posted my shoutout within the same day. However the results were quite disappointing. Bare in mind that that I spent $20 between 4 accounts. Which isn’t much.
Instagram Shoutout #1
I had spent $8 on @millionaires_luxury for 1 hour. The account quickly posted it. I received roughly 30 followers. However, most of them seemed to be fake accounts. Most of the accounts had uploaded 0 content. Didn’t like that. It may or may not be intentional. It could just be bots that function like that. According to Shoutcart stats for this order, the uploaded shoutout received roughly 275 likes.
Instagram Shoutout #2
I spent $2 for a 2 hour shoutout with @germanytravell. Now even though he over 43k+ followers. For some reason the turn over was almost nonexistent. I received no likes, comments or followers following the shoutout. The post itself got 1200 likes and 33 comments. For some reason, the post is still up, 10 hours later.
Instagram Shoutout # 3
I spent $5 for a 2 hour shoutout on @thewatchrebillion. The shoutout received around 375 likes. The turn over to my account was 5 followers (including the account owner) and 5 likes. However, the followers we’re pretty high quality.
Instagram Shoutout #4
I had made an order for a $5 shoutout with @destinationed. However, it’s been a few days and my shoutout hasn’t been posted. I will update the article when/if it gets posted.
Next time, I plan to order a shoutout from a very big account (100k-1 million). I believe the results would be a lot better than spending a little with a small account.
Pros
The website is very clean and trustworthy. Which can’t be said about many similar sites that service Instagram. There is a growing list of accounts selling shoutouts; which offers a good and diverse audience to reach out to.
The ability to see each account’s “score” is priceless. This score rates how engaged that account’s audience is. The higher the number, the better.
Another great feature is the stats. This gives you the ability to monitor the stats of your shoutout. Each shoutout is automatically followed by a code. This code is set by shoutcart and it helps keep track of the shoutout. Then it shows us how many likes and comments were received on it.
Cons
I don’t like the minimum $50 requirement to add credits. Ideally, $5 or $20 would be more ideal. Something else I don’t like is the inability to put a custom amount when wanting to add credits.
I encourage using Shoutcart to buy shoutouts as well as to sell them. It’s an effective way to reach out to new audiences that have a similar interest. Consider having a bigger budget and investing in an account that has a bigger following. This may result in a better turnover to your account.