Marina De Giovanni Instagram Accelerator- is it worth it?
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are mine. Please build your own opinion on the information provided.
If you are active on Instagram, chances are, that you have stumbled on any of Marina De Giovannis ads too. I feel like I am bombarded by ads from Influencers on Instagram (and Facebook). Everybody promises to "make you famous" and gain easy peasy new followers with a couple of tricks and tweaks and some amazingly simple strategies. Sure, who would not want that?
Personally though, I don't really believe in any of these ads and their strategies, but since I have seen so many ads by Marina De Giovanni, I thought I will take a deeper look for you and check out, if her "Instagram Accelerator" program is worth it! You are welcome! ;-)
So, my first step into diving deeper into "the world of Marina De Giovanni" was to listen to her 1 hour (I repeat: 1 hour!😱) long FREE online class. I will admit that it was for me a very long winded hour- and really not much information on there at all.
BUT: this one hour online class will be maybe feel like a lot of information for someone who doesn't have a single clue about Instagram. An Instagram beginner, if you will. This might be eye opening and feel like so much information! Like:"that girl knows her stuff!"
For me though, being on Instagram since 2013, this one hour was a total waste, literally an "old hat". Nothing new. Boring. Yawn. Nothing I haven't heard of before.
Here is a quick recap of the 1 hour
FREE ONLINE CLASS BY MARINA DE GIOVANNI:
Marina starts her free seminar and goes on for about 10 minutes on how much she has struggled herself on Instagram to gain success. Smart move of Marina- because an Instagram newbie will feel now more connected to Marina. Like "she has been, where you are right now".
Marina also drops big names, such as Kylie Jenner, Kris Jenner or Ashley Graham... AS IF she would have had anything do to with them being famous!
Again: smart move from Marina, cause an Instagram newbie now might feel "like you can make it too and become as famous as a Kylie Jenner!"
Only problem is: these people were already famous!!! They did not become famous on Instagram! That is a major difference. Any celebrity will gain an instant following when starting an Instagram account- not much marketing needed. There are some celebrity accounts with as many as 1 or 2 posts and still a following of Millions! (For example Jennifer Aniston recently started her Instagram and gained overnight with one single photo 1 million followers. Today- about a month later -she has already 19 million followers and she posted in that time only 10 images). These celebrities do not need any marketing tactic or online classes to get where they are. And they certainly don't need Marina. ;-)
OK- next in Marina´s free class, she tells us a little about who she is. Really? Who is Marina De Giovanni? She claims that she is:
- known as THE authority on instagram influencer personal branding
- creator of some of the most wildly successful online programs for social media influencers, with over 150,000 customers from around the world
And how did she get there? Simply by a method she calls "Audience attraction". That is her secret. Instead of trying to "find" followers, she simply turns it around, so that they find her!
Simple as that.
LOL! I am sorry, but if only it were that easy...
So when she found out this amazing secret, she claimed: everything changed. All of a sudden she gained more than 100k followers.
And how do you attract a new audience?
According to Marina, all you have to do is, find your core interest and your core beliefs. Then the perfect audience will find YOU!
And Marina´s core interest is - according to her- Makeup and her beliefs are simplicity, quality and self-love. I will go into that a little later again.
Her free class continues with how much money you can make on Instagram. Big news again for any Instagram newbie that wishes to make money. And of course this provides so much hope! How nice would it be to make money on Instagram?
And what comes usually at the end of a free online class? Of course! The big offer for the much better class that costs money, in this case the "Instagram Accelerator" online class for a whopping $197.
$197 y'all!!!
It all reminds me very much on a "As seen on tv" or QVC show. It all leads to how amazing the value of the class is and even that this offer will expire soon stuff- you know what I mean? Like "Call now because the offer expires soon!"
Then Marina goes into detail about the different "modules" this "Instagram accelerator" offers. She literally promises:
- to build a 100k following on Instagram and multi million dollar lifestyle business.
A multi million dollar lifestyle business y'all! That is a very high promise here!!!
The value of this Instagram accelerator is (according to Marina) $3488. LOL. Excuse me.
At the end of the free seminar she even shows a "statement from Paypal" of 12k to show how successful she is.
But when I looked closer at that "statement", I saw that this is in fact an invoice - I believe she paid for an "Elite Influencer Business Mastermind". After googling that I am coming across websites that offer basically similar classes that Marina is offering herself (I wonder if it was this one). Did she pay someone to teach her how to offer these kind of online classes? And she paid 12k? What?!?
Alright- that was the recap of what her free class has to offer.
Who is Marina De Giovanni?
I was curious about Marina De Giovanni´s Instagram account, as she claims, that her core interest is "makeup and her beliefs are simplicity, quality and self-love." As soon as she knew her core interest and beliefs, the audience found her and that is how she gained her following of over 100k, Marina claims.
After checking out her current ads (did you know, that you can see all active ads an Instagram account has running on Instagram? Click on the profile on the 3 dotted lines on top right, then click on "About this Account", then on "Active Ads" ),
I saw an astounding large number of active ads running! Marina is spending HUUUGE MONEY on Instagram ads! She has 33 (!!!) active Instagram feed ads as well as 35(!!!) active Instastory ads running!
Even if she would spend only $1 a day per ad (the minimum rate), she would spend $69 a day! That accumulates to $2070 a month!
And my bet is that she spends more than $1 per ad! If she spends $2 per day that accumulates to $4140 a month!
And exactly this is how in my opinion she must have gained within 90 days a following of more than 100k! She is simply creating MANY ads! And it doesn't stop on Instagram. Lately I am bombarded by her ads on Facebook as well. So, she definitely is spending there money for ads as well. I am talking thousands of dollars per month!
And if she were a makeup influencer, then why is every single ad she puts out there only about her Instagram Accelerator program? None of her ads are about makeup. I see only the same handful of people commenting on her makeup skills on her posts (probably from engagement groups- been there, done that). Many more are asking about her Instagram accelerator program. And the only way she is monetizing her Instagram is through selling her Instagram Accelerator program! The followers that she is gaining through her ads follow her to learn how to grow their own Instagram accounts- not to learn about makeup
The ironic thing is that she is correct: you really do have to attract new followers! They find you- by putting out SO MANY ADS! So, if you think it is worth it to spend thousands of dollars per month to gain a huge following, then this might be a good "hack" for you too.
Who are the Influencers in her ads?
But wait, there is more: I was curious since she is using real faces in her ads that claim they gained with her Instagram accelerator program so many new followers. She actually mentions real Instagram handles (just check her active ads and you will see their IG handles! I don't want to expose them), but I checked them all out to see if they have gained many followers!
And what do you know? Nobody has gained a huge following. Nobody has gained 100k followers. Most accounts that she mentions in her ads have barely a following- often under 3000 followers (which I admit might sound huge to an even smaller account), barely likes. Nothing has changed - even though they claim in her ad that they were so happy with her class. But Marina of course also claims smartly: it is not about the number of followers. ;-)
And after joining Marina´s Facebook group "Power Bloggers Mastermind with Marina De Giovanni", I discovered, that all these real faces of Influencers in her ads were actually people she was promising to promote in return for a favorable quick video they can use in their ads, see below!
I even messaged some of the mentioned Instagram accounts in Marina´s ads and asked if they are still happy with her Instagram accelerator and I have even gotten one response in which the candidate admitted, that she never took the paid class- she only took to the free class. She has btw under 800 followers.
Reviews of the Instagram Accelerator
There are a couple of reviews in her Facebook group about the Instagram Accelerator and I want to mention, that some seem to really love it (below are 2 positive reviews- I removed names. Again: I can clearly see that they are definitely both Instagram "beginners"). Others say that there is not much information in there and that you can find any of the information online (below are also 2 reviews that don't find her program helpful and asked for their money back).
When you look at the socialblade data from Marina De Giovanni, I am surprised to see how many people per day she gained in the beginning of 2018 WITHOUT POSTING A SINGLE IMAGE ON INSTAGRAM! Look below how she gained between 70 and 400 followers every single day for many weeks without having posted (column on the right "Media") a single image- heck she even deleted one photo! I am sorry to say, but this is a pretty clear sign that Marina - at least back in March 2018- bought her followers.
I also find it amazing that Marina has on her Facebook page over 690k likes- yet the comments and likes on her single posts don't reflect this high number at all.
My verdict is that I believe Marina gained her large following not because she is a makeup influencer (as she claims), but because she bombards us with her ads how to gain a following on Instagram. She gains followers that want to learn how to also gain a large following.
I also find her claims to be known as THE authority on instagram influencer personal branding and creator of some of the most wildly successful online programs for social media influencers, with over 150,000 customers from around the world seem a little overstated- to say the least.
So, is the Instagram Accelerator worth it?
If you are a total beginner on Instagram and literally don't have a clue, then Marina De Giovanni´s Instagram accelerator might be a helpful class to you. However, keep in mind that you are spending $197 for information that is all out there for free on the Internet (though I want to give it to Marina that there are classes out there that cost much more than this).
I don't think that the Instagram Accelerator program is a "scam". Marina probably provides real information. Also: I bet she worked her ass off to write down all this info! This must have been a ton of work. I also like to add that Marina is offering a money back guarantee and from what I read, she really gives the money back, in case you are not satisfied. I am glad to hear.
So, it´s ultimately up to you, if you think it is worth spending $197 for an online class. She will probably recommend to create Instagram ads- as she is doing it herself. However: even if creating ads it is easier to gain followers if you can promise something (gain also followers) than if you only provide pretty images of anything. So, creating Instagram ads might not be helpful to gain followers for everybody. We just all might have to switch to become "Influencer coaches" instead to gain a following. ;-)
If you are not an Instagram beginner, I highly doubt that you will get any information that you haven't heard before. I hope this information was helpful to you. If you have bought the Instagram Accelerator, please share your experience below!
BTW you might enjoy my article "How to make money as an Instagram Influencer" and I never ever charge money for any info! ;-)
You might also like to read:
ONE MILLION FOLLOWERS: HOW I BUILT A MASSIVE SOCIAL FOLLOWING IN 30 DAYS BY BRENDAN KANE.
or my rant: "Instagram is so fake!"
P.S. English is not my first language and I am sorry if I have grammar mistakes or misspellings in my writing.
You can find me over on Instagram too! 😙
And then BAM 💣 on May 19th 2021 all of a sudden Marina posts on Instagram:
I stick to my opinion: Her blog never gets updated and has no traffic. She is neither a beauty influencer, nor a blogger. She is simply selling online courses and ebooks. And all she is teaching is: buy massive amounts of ads on Instagram (and Facebook) to become famous. 💵
UPDATE DECEMBER 2021: MARINA "cancelled herself". She announced on Instagram:
"But intuitively I’ve always felt like something wasn’t right with the path that I was on in my business, as if it wasn’t fully aligned with my purpose. Yet my purpose was something I struggled to uncover - I feel like I’ve been going around a revolving labyrinth for years trying to figure it out. After years of questioning my purpose, and the purpose plus future of my business, I started to feel like something was calling me. Calling me to do work beyond just helping women become “self-made”. And instead, shift to empowering SOUL LED women to impact the world in a deeper way. So I’ve decided that I’m cancelling myself, or at least the version of myself that you’ve grown to know and love over the past 8 years."
There is a new term around called "Fake Gurus"- and that is what Marina is imo. It looks she made a bunch of money by selling online seminars, but it seems she also lost her soul along the way. She should not have pretended that she is a beauty or fashion blogger, she knew she is lying to the world and that is probably why she could not keep going. She should have been honest that she is only an Influencer coach and only selling seminars, nothing more.
What is a Fake Guru?
Here are 10 red flags to watch out for (got them from coffeezilla):
1. Talks about Mastermind Group
2. Showing off their Cars
3. Anyone that disses normal jobs
4 Pre-recorded Livestreams
5. Selling Paid Course
6. Younger than 35
7. Financial History (Big claims very little evidence)
8. Runs YouTube or Facebook Ads
9. Gives out Free Books
10. Endlessly talk about mentors
