Even if we hope our Instagram following increases steadily, it’s more likely to seem like a range of mountains with peaks and troughs.
Your follower count will naturally fluctuate as a consequence of accounts blindly playing the “follow/unfollow” game.
A person will follow you, then wait for you to follow them back before unfollowing you. It’s possible to lose a follower instantly, or it might take days or weeks.
While this approach may help certain companies get exposure, it is unlikely to convert followers into paying customers for most.
Keep tabs on your fan base using a dedicated app
Use an app like Followers to learn more about your target demographic. You can check who is following you, who isn’t, which accounts you aren’t following back, and which accounts aren’t following you in the free version.
If you examine the accounts that are following and unfollowing you, you will likely spot some trends.
Some examples of the many kinds of accounts you may come across are as follows:
- F4F profiles swap follows amongst each other. The vast majority of the time, these are easy to recognise. Spammy-looking handles that include the phrases “free,” “F4F,” and “followers” are a telltale sign of this sort of account.
- Competitors. They might be rivals if the account offers a comparable product or service to yours. A loss of followers is disappointing, but not fatal if they aren’t abandoning you.
- clientele in the making. By perusing a user’s feed and profile, you should be able to determine if they possess the qualities that make up your ideal persona.
You should reevaluate your use of hashtags.
You should reconsider your hashtag approach if you find that a significant portion of your followers are “F4F” accounts, rivals, or people who are not a good fit for your business. Hashtags are what get your posts seen by those outside of your immediate circle of followers, so choose them carefully.
In other words, you should stay away from the most overused hashtags. Since so many people are using the same hashtags at the same time, your message will quickly be buried behind a mountain of others.
You should probably avoid using the following hashtags because they are extremely overused:
- More than a hundred million photos have been taken.
- More than 20 million in business.
- More than 730 million people have found inspiration in this hashtag.
- 19,000,000+ for #fitness; 188,000,000+ for #nofilter
Instead, you could do some digging to find other hashtags that are as relevant to your brand and content but aren’t as overused or prone to being targeted by bots. Focalmark is an Instagram app that lets you discover trending hashtags and quickly copy them into your own posts. Each post can have a maximum of 30 hashtags, so choose carefully!
If you can’t think of any hashtags to use, consider combining your location with the name of the product you’re selling. Use #SeattleKids to promote a Seattle-based children’s museum, or #SeattleCoffee to advertise a Seattle-based coffee business.
If your business already has a dedicated following on social media, you may want to explore starting your own hashtag.
Third, evaluate your content plan
It’s time to reevaluate the kind of material you’re providing and your whole Instagram approach if you’re attracting (and losing) ideal clients there.
People will stop following you if they don’t think what you’re posting is worthwhile. Think on the benefit to your readers before you write anything. Avoid overt self-promotion in your posts.
Here are some suggestions if you’re at a loss for what to post on Instagram:
- Spread the word about what your customers have written (just remember to give them proper credit!)
- Give your audience something to think about with a memorable quotation.
- Throw a contest and write out the specifics like how to enter and what the rewards will be.
When promoting a certain product, it’s important to highlight how buying it would improve the reader’s life or save them money.
Read this post for a tonne of advice on how to make Instagram shopping work for your company if that’s your goal; see if you can adapt your own strategies to compete with the ones that have proven effective for other businesses.
Four, rearrange your posting timetable
Your followers may feel duped if your posts are all over the map and don’t address a central question or concern. When people choose to follow you, they did so with the hopes of receiving a specific kind of material from you. Be constant with your posting schedule so that you don’t confuse your audience.
Making a plan for your Instagram posts and overall social media presence will help you organise your content and maintain cohesion.
If you’ve ever signed up for an email newsletter only to receive the first message a year later and have no idea who sent it, you know the problem with irregular publishing schedules.
Due of the high volume of content on Instagram, your fans may worry that you’ve vanished if you don’t appear in their feeds frequently. Each company needs to carefully consider how frequently it should post and then keep to that schedule.
Completely, finally
It’s not wise to judge the health of your company just by its financial metrics. You shouldn’t take it personally if a lot of people stop following you. Accounts of varying sizes on Instagram are subject to follower count swings.
You need just maintain a regular publishing schedule, employ appropriate hashtags, and keep an eye on your follower count to convert your audience into buyers.