Not only is it less likely to appear in your fake followers' feeds, but it's also less likely to show up in your other followers' feeds. This can create a vicious cycle: your engagement rate drops, so fewer people view your content. And the fewer users who see your posts mean your engagement rate will decrease again.
There is no downside to manually working through your follower list. Remove followers who are fake and inactive, whilst increasing the engagement and visibility of your profile across the platform. Your content will perform better, you'll receive more authentic engagement, and you'll have the algorithm on your side.
If you have a lot of purchased followers, your follower count might be high — but your engagement is going to be really low, because those fake followers don't interact with your content. This is off-putting to brands and partners, who care more about high engagement rates than high follower counts.
If you think your profile is looking bad and suspicious due bots, don't hesitate to start cleaning the followers' list. If fake or ghost Instagram followers don't interfere with your account, and you want to delete them just for yourself, think twice.
The more fake followers you purchase, the more you mess up with your Instagram accounts' engagement rate. And this metric is by far one of the most important for the Instagram algorithm.
For some people, they're a nuisance that leaves silly comments. For others, they're a quick way to boost their follower counts. But in both cases, fake Instagram followers are a much bigger issue than you think. They can hurt you in the algorithm, damage your credibility, and even get you on Instagram's bad side.
Fake followers could hurt your credibility.
Users might notice you don't have a ton of engagement on your posts, which could deter them from following you. If you have 10,000 followers but only four likes per post, it won't take people long to realize something is up.
Case One: Ghost Followers Lower Engagement
Instagram cares more about engagement and active followers rather than your number of followers. Instagram will flag your account as uninteresting, therefore decreasing your ranking. PRO TIP: If you want to remove ghost followers and bots, take it slow.
The biggest benefit of removing inactive followers is that your engagement goes up. When your engagement goes up, your content actually gets seen. As an influencer, with more engagement, you can get better brand deals, and as a business, with more engagement, you can get more relevant customers.
A drop in your engagement might mean that the discoverability of your Instagram profile is lower. Users need to find your profile when they search for a keyword related to your account. For this, you need to optimize your profile for search.
The algorithm is not affected. Instagram still collects all data, including likes, and as mentioned earlier the individual user will still be able to see the amount of likes on his or her own posts. This way, likes still affect posts in metrics such as engagement and how they are prioritised in the feed.
The likes, comments, and overall engagement of your archived posts will remain the same. Therefore it doesn't affect anything. However, if you delete your posts, it's another story: you will lose their engagement in a second.
Inactive followers
The “dormancy” period is up to your discretion, but I'm comfortable with 180 days. If they've been out for more than six months, they're most likely not just “off the grid” on vacation. Chances are high they'll never be back, and you can remove these Instagram followers if you wish.
Over the last few years, I've noticed a significant drop in my impressions, engagement, and number of new followers. The reason: Instagram's 2022 Algorithm. Thanks to the last few updates, only 10% of your followers are able to see your post.
To those trying to guilt trip genuine unfollowing and blocking as rude, it's not. It's rude if you start harassing or slandering these people, but it's not rude to say you don't want to see a stranger's content because you don't enjoy it.
But by removing a follower, users can feel more secure about who sees their tweets without blocking them altogether. Sure, the blocked user might notice that they no longer follow you, but who knows! Maybe they clicked the unfollow button on accident!
Unfollowing accounts and removing followers are both good due to the number of accounts that can disrupt engagement with audiences. For instance, spam accounts tend to follow many people. They won't engage with your content and only take up space. Inactive accounts, too, are unnecessary.
The lack of intention, or the lack of planning, behind your content, will lead to a low engagement rate. If you need to take a break from posting, to take a step back and plan out your content so that you can be ahead…DO IT.
In summary, as an industry standard, an engagement rate on Instagram between 1% and 3% is generally good, it is the average we see on an influencer's profile.
Do not delete your post and repost it. Doing this absolutely kills engagement, so don't do it.
Follower count can also affect your engagement rate. Instagram average engagement rates per number of followers for business accounts as of October 2022 are: Fewer than 10,000 followers: 0.76% 10,000 – 100,000 followers: 0.63%
First, what are hidden likes? In April, Instagram gave users the option to show or hide the like counts on their posts. Instagram's move was made in an effort to decrease bullying on the platform and lead to a less pressurized experience.