If you maintain an Instagram page, it can be exciting to see those likes and comments come in after posting something. Getting those new followers can be even more exciting. At the same time, there are times when you open your Instagram profile and notice that you have a lesser followers count than the last time you opened the app. This can be a turn-off especially when you lose a significant number of followers. We start worrying about why we are losing followers on Instagram. After which we browse the internet for resources that teach us how to gain followers on Instagram.
Whether you maintain an Instagram page for your business or one for your blog, the final goal is usually the same. You want people to consume your products. Social media marketing expert Alex Tooby says that it is not about how many followers you have but how many of them are customers of your products. Therefore, there is no need to stress too much about losing followers.
Simultaneously, it is good to take action when you see that your followers’ count is declining. Below are some of the common reasons you are losing followers on Instagram and how to fix each one of them.
Not posting consistently
Maintaining an Instagram page takes commitment. It is not just about creating a business account and posting a few photos on the social media platform. It is essential to continue with the same excitement and interest you had when starting the page. This is because the more you post, the more people are going to find you on the hashtag page or their Instagram feed. People usually tend to unfollow accounts that have been inactive for a long time.
On the other side of the spectrum, posting too much can also put you at a disadvantage too. You could come off as spamming your followers’ feed. This can result in them unfollowing you.
Follow a schedule
To ensure that you post consistently, try creating a schedule. Ensure that you post one or two posts every day. You can either set a particular duration of time every day to post content on Instagram or use tools like Buffer that let you schedule posts in advance. Moreover, you should also pay attention to the time you post something.
People have come up with the best time to post on each day of the week using data from many users. However, to optimize your results, you need to check your Instagram Insights and see your Audience page. It will help you understand your followers better. That way you will find the best time to post for your account.
It is suggested that you keep track of your Instagram activity on a spreadsheet. Use it to analyse what strategies are increasing your page’s growth and implement them more.
Not Engaging
Your Instagram activity should not stop with just posting. Yes, people are going to see your page and like it if they want. However, when there is zero interaction, people can easily forget your page. By that we mean, they might not remember why they followed your page in the first place. Thus unfollowing you.
Engage
The solution to that is simple. Start engaging. Reply to comments and comment on potential followers’ posts or anyone you think can benefit from your products. Include something that lets you interact with your audience. You can ask a question. One more great thing about engagement is that you can ask your audience what they want. Instagram has tools like polls and quiz templates that let you understand what your audience wants.
Not using the right hashtags
Hashtags let you reach a wide range of audience. It is a way to reach people who do not follow you. Adding 30 hashtags to your post is a good thing. You can reach more potential audience. Given that different people use different keywords to search, more hashtags means you increase your chance of appearing on different people’s search feed.
With that being said, it can be tempting to add all the hashtags until you reach the maximum limit. If you are just adding random hashtags to reach more audience, you are not going to see much growth. It can be a bit misleading.
Do hashtag research
The first rule of thumb when it comes to adding hashtags is to use only relevant ones. Do some hashtag research to find which ones are perfect for your post. A set of hashtags can work with all the post. However, be sure that not all your hashtags are the same in every post. For example, if you are a technology blogger, you can put #techonolgy in all the posts but not #earbuds in every single post. Only the post with content about earbuds should have that hashtag.
Note: When promoting your post on the Instagram story, add a list of hashtags behind the post. There is actually no limit to how many hashtags you add so just shrink your text and reach more audience.
Not paying attention to the captions
The photo or video may be the first thing your audience sees. The caption below is as important. Not including any caption expect a string of hashtags can really hurt your account. Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words but captions add more value to that post or video. Moreover, the caption gives context to the post. Besides, captioning also helps you engage with your followers.
Write good captions
Write captions that complement the visuals in the post. It is good to stick to a particular category. If you are a food blogger, then stick to content that falls under that beat. Your followers are going to lose interest if your captions are irrelevant to the theme of your page. You may lure new followers with those posts but with the risk of losing existing ones.
Not catching up with Instagram tools
Instagram adds different tools. If you are going to stick to adding posts and stories, you are missing out on the chances of reaching more potential followers. For instance, some people like to watch Instagram reels over scrolling through posts and people who do vice-versa. The best way to reach all of them is to post every type of content offered by Instagram. Besides, not being up to trend can also result in you losing followers on Instagram.
Use all the tools
So far, Instagram does not charge any price for using any of its tools. Well, except when you want to promote your content on the social media platform. Therefore, why not make use of all the free resources available on Instagram. As Instagram adds new tools, people’s Instagram activity also changes. You should adapt to that to avoid losing followers on Instagram.
