Do you want more people following your Instagram account or do you care about those who are really engaged with the content? Instagram is known for having a large number of fake accounts. Many users create mass followings by following and then quickly unfollowing other users. This can be a disaster to your brand image if your follower list is filled with fake accounts.
Instagram is now working to identify genuine accounts and discouraging fake ones. As a result, it is more important than ever to ensure that your follower list is clean and authentic.
'Less is More'
At the beginning of Instagram- success was measured by how many followers you had. Oh wow! You have 30,000 followers! Don't get me wrong! Having more followers is incredible, but the point is, from those followers, how many of them are actually engaging with your content regularly?
After all, it's all about engagement rates rather than a high number of followers!
For instance- it's better to have 200 followers that engage with your brand's content than 500 followers when 250 of them don't even care, and 50 might be fake or ghost accounts.
Instagram Engagement Rates
Did you know 95 million videos and photos are posted on Instagram each day?
The tactics of engagement rates are changing day by day. Instagram is consistently finding new ways to understand which content to show audiences - it's almost impossible to show them all!
Engagement rate is the ratio of how many users comment, like or save your content – it's a tactic used by Instagram and a standard used within the industry to determine success.
For example, if an account with 5,000 followers posts a piece of content that gets 100 likes & comments within the first hour after posting, that's an engagement rate of 2%. If an account with only 500 followers has the same engagement, their rate is 20%.
Instagram wants their audience to stay connected with the platform along with the brands and users who are active daily. After all, that is how Instagram makes its money - by brands utilising paid marketing to get their product in front of new and engaged audiences, hence why Instagram will push out the content with maximum engagement first.
Why Do Engagement Rates Matter?
Did you know you cannot buy engagement rates anymore—Instagram has now identified such fraud and penalise it immediately! If you want to increase your brand awareness on Instagram and build a community, engagement matters a lot!
Here's some of the reasons why engagement rates matter:
- It matters to real people, journalists and marketers who decide whether they can use your Instagram followers to spread their message.
- Instagram uses the number to determine how wide your content reach will be.
A reasonable Instagram rate is around 4%. You're killing it if it reaches closer to 10% So, if your Instagram has many ghosts, fake and disengaged followers, they are lowering your engagement rate.
Solution: Clean your Instagram Follower list!
How to Purge Instagram Followers?
You must be wondering how do I clean your following list on Instagram; well, here it is:
Manual Removal
You can manually remove the followers you feel are fake and not engaging. Follow the steps given below to remove followers manually:
- Go to your "followers" list.
- Select the profile you want to remove by tapping on it.
- In that profile, tap the three dots in the upper right corner.
- Select "Remove Follower" from the pop-up menu and confirm the removal.
Using Automation Tools
Identifying disengaged followers on your Instagram can be overwhelming, especially when you have a large number of followers. Therefore, a few automation tools can help you identify and remove fake Instagram followers.
For instance, you can use 'Cleaner' for Android and 'Unfollow' for iOS. These tools will let you know which followers are active for 180 days and who do not interact with your content with your last 100 posts.
That will allow you to identify unengaged followers and remove them from your account manually.
Remember: If an account hasn't interacted with your last 100 posts, Instagram may have already chosen not to show them your content.
Engagement Over Followers
It might seem odd to remove followers that may increase your engagement rates, but they are not only not seeing your content but are likely no longer within your sales funnel. Putting an engagement strategy together to increase new followers within your target audience and potential new customers is a better use of time.
We suggest you define your audience, understand the types of content they engage with and think about the solution your product or service can provide.
Ready to showcase engaging content on your socials? Well, we can help! At avails, we create onsite social media photography and social video content made to enhance your brand presence and increase your engagement on Instagram? Take a look at our content creation packages here to book a shoot!
avails Social - content creation agency Melbourne.
