According to Research of HubSpot, 14% of Instagram marketers said that they lose followers on Instagram from 2020 to 2021.
If you’re a part of that 14%, you might be panicking trying to determine what’s causing the decline.
Don’t worry – we have got you covered. Below, we’re covering the big reasons why you lose followers on Instagram and how to regain them.
5 Reasons why lose followers on Instagram?
1. Not posting enough or posting too much.
40% of Instagram marketers said that not posting enough is the first reason why losing followers.
Meanwhile, 33% said posting too much could lead to the same impact.
In terms of posting, it’s all about striking the right balance. You want to post often to be sure you’re reaching your target audience and not disappearing in a sea of posts.
But you also don’t want to post too much that your followers are getting flooded with your content all over their timeline.
Here are short guidelines: First, update at least once a day on Instagram – whether it’s on Instagram Stories, Reels, or in-feed. If you have to choose, Stories might be the best option as marketers surveyed say it’s the second-best approach to drive followers behind going live.
Second, share from two to three in-feed posts in a week. You could improve this cadence based on how your audience responds but you probably shouldn’t lower it.
2. Be too sales-y.
The second reason why your account is losing followers is that your content is too targeted on selling, based on 39% of Instagram marketers surveyed.
Our survey found that content centered around a brand’s services/products is leveraged by 39% of IG marketers and has the second-highest ROI.
But if it’s the only kind of content you publish, you might alienate your audience.
Again, balance is the keyword here.
Along with posts that highlight your services or products, you should also publish content that:
- Reflects your brand values.
- Invites conversation.
- Builds community.
Making your followers laugh is one of the effective content strategies.
Our survey revealed that funny content is the best for getting followers, and engagement on Instagram.
3. You had bot followers.
When you buy bot followers, you will be in for a rude awakening when they all disappear and your follower list tanks.
39% of Instagram marketers said that is the third most popular reason why followers drop.
While it’s tempting to purchase bots to offer the semblance of a strong follower base, this practice will only hurt you in the long run.
Instead, concentrate on building a follower list organically via a consistent posting schedule, sharing useful content, following trends, and listening to your data.
It doesn’t have to take time either. Just 1% of marketers we surveyed say it took over a year to develop their followers by 1K. The others (65%) said it took anywhere up to six months.
And 13% really did it under a month.
That is all to say that see this loss in followers as a chance to rebuild your Instagram page and get more reliable information on your followers.
4. Have no a consistent aesthetic and voice.
One thing followers want is consistency.
Consistency in your branding and your creative assets is vital in growing strong brand recognition. In addition, consistency additionally helps build a visually interesting profile.
If a person visits your profile and every post looks like it was created by a different brand, they will have a tough time finding what your brand is all about and maybe decide to unfollow you.
Personally, if I’m scrolling and I see a brand I don’t recognize on my timeline, I’ll go to their feed and if I don’t recognize their last few posts, I’ll likely unfollow them. I imagine many users act the same way.
With this in mind, think of what your brand identity and visual aesthetic are early on in your branding process.
From there, you could leverage tools like Canva to organize a visual profile that stays consistent across all platforms.
5. Your followers have evolved and you’re not keeping up.
It would be really simple to market to our audiences if their behaviors and interests always stayed the same.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.
This requires marketers to stay on top of what attracts their followers. One of the most effective methods to do that is by relying on your data. What’s it telling you?
Your feed can include buyer success stories, product highlights, company values, and industry trends.
Maybe content surrounding industry trends used to perform very well, however, you have noticed a slow decline over the past six months. Maybe your viewers aren’t as in this content or the format in which it’s being presented.
Perhaps when you used to leverage photos, you need to think about switching to video.
Your Instagram strategy should be steered by what your data is telling you. When you don’t use it, you’ll rapidly lose touch with your followers and slowly see your follower list drop.
Losing Instagram followers could be a scary reality to face. But when you find the reasons, you could handle it and regain them.