Engagement Is More Important Than Followers: The Biggest Reason Why You Should Clean Up Your Instagram Audience (And How To Do It)

Cleaning Up Your Followers List Benefits Your Business.

When it comes to tracking your progress on social media, it’s really easy to get caught up in the numbers – specifically, the number of followers you have. I do it all the time. For a long time, there has been a big push for businesses to hit that 10,000 followers milestone on Instagram. But, when you think about it, what does having thousands of followers do for you if they aren’t engaging with your content? The more time I spend on social, the more I believe that the number of followers you have does not define your business’ worth or growth. In fact, sometimes cleaning up your Instagram followers list by removing followers who aren’t showing up is the best thing you can do for your business. 

When Less Is More.

Don’t get me wrong, having a healthy number of followers is great! And, over time, of course you want to attract more followers to your social accounts. New followers mean new potential clients and that’s important for sustainable growth. Sometimes, however, less is more. For example, it’s better to have 100 followers that engage with your content and invest in your business than 150 followers when 50 of them don’t care or show up. 

Instagram Prioritizes Content That Has A High Engagement Rate. 

When a large percentage of your followers are engaging with your content, Instagram takes it as a good sign! Your content is seen as more valuable and, since valuable content is more likely to keep people tuned into the platform, Instagram will prioritize it. That means your posts are more likely to: 

• Show up in more of your followers’ home feeds
• Pop up more often on the explore page
• Be featured as a Top Post in hashtags if you have high engagement

Trimming your Followers list on Instagram isn’t the only way to boost engagement, but it does help. So, if you’ve noticed that the number of people following your account has gone up but your analytics aren’t showing any increased engagement, it might be time to clean up your Instagram audience. 

How To Remove Followers From Instagram 

The process of removing Instagram followers is easy to do. This article by Backlight explains everything in detail, including the difference between removing, restricting and blocking followers. In a nutshell, this is how you remove a follower: 

1. Open the Instagram app.
2. Press the icon of your profile picture at the bottom-right of your screen.
3. Press Followers at the top of your profile.
4. Scroll or use the search bar to find the account you wish to remove.
5. Press Remove next to the account.
6. Press Remove again.

While the process of removing followers from Instagram is simple and quick, deciding which accounts to remove can take a little time. But don’t worry, I’ve got some suggestions to help you get started. 

Deciding Which Followers To Remove

Removing followers (and watching that number go down) can feel counterintuitive and even uncomfortable! It’s O.K. I’ve been there. Just remember: more followers isn’t always better!

Here are some suggestions on how to decide who to remove from your Followers list and how to sniff them out. 

1. Spam Accounts: We’ve all seen them – fake accounts! You know, the accounts with suspiciously vague bios, very few posts, and a surprising number of followers.  It’s hard to say why these accounts may be following you (don’t be surprised if it’s to try to sell you something though that’s not always the case) because they aren’t real, they are going to drag down your engagement rate. Even worse, if too many are following you, it can look like you are purchasing followers which is a big no-no for Instagram. If you see a fake account, make the call and remove it. 
2. Inactive followers (aka. ghost followers): Some people will follow you for all the right reasons but never engage. It could be that their interests have changed or that they have let their account go inactive. Take a look at their profile and see when they made their last post. Was it months ago? That’s a red flag. Whatever the reason, if an account hasn’t engaged with your content for several months, they are bringing down your engagement rate and it’s fair to remove them. They can always follow you again when they realize what they are missing out on! 
3. Accounts you don’t recognize: If you are doing a deep clean of your Instagram Followers list, these accounts could be worth a look. When you scroll through your Followers list, take note of accounts you just don’t recognize. Chances are if you don’t recognize them it’s because they don’t engage much with your content – or at least not enough to get noticed. Check out their profile and see what they are about. If you discover they are a good fit, BONUS! You can jot their name down and try to engage more with them. If, however, you discover they are inactive or suspicious, you can remove them. 

Engagement Over Followers Every Time. 

Removing followers who aren’t engaging with your content is good for your business. It may seem odd to think that decreasing your number of followers could actually increase your audience but it’s true! Instagram shines the spotlight on content that is valued and, as it happens, part of that value comes from how much engagement content attracts. Build a Followers list clean up into your quarterly workflow to stay on top of things and remember, having a strong and engaged social media community is way better than having a huge list of followers who just don’t care. You want your audience to invest in you the same way you invest in them!