I love following new accounts on Instagram. I enjoy seeing pretty pictures, yummy food, and snuggly babies in my Instagram feed. Why do I follow new Instagram users? In order to:
- keep up with my long-distance friends and family (Edit 04/03/2017: I created a second personal account just to keep up with my friends and family! This allows my main account to stay branded.)
- find inspiration for my own Instagram pictures (follow me!)
- discover sales, new items, and contests with my favorite brands
- network with bloggers, writers, and feminists in my niche or in Georgia
- feel encouraged as a writer and entrepreneur
I’ve started unfollowing Instagram users for a variety of reasons too. Why did I unfollow you on Instagram?
Your Instagram Account is Too Personal
Confession: I take selfies. I also Instagram photos of my friends and me. I include long captions about how I’m feeling or what’s going on in my life. While I do have a second private account for real-life friends, close blogging friends, and family, I still share photos and stories from my real life on my primary, blog Instagram.
But there is such a thing as being too personal. Is every single photo a random picture of your children? Do you share every single meal with your followers? Are you bad-mouthing your significant other or your ex?
Your photos and your captions might be a little much. Moderation is key. Share some photos of your kids or your food. Share some honest glimpses into what’s challenging you right now. But don’t overshare your life.
Your Instagram Account is Too Branded
The opposite of being too personal is being too branded. I love a good flat lay photo, inspiring graphic, or OOTD as much as the next lifestyle blogger. But if all you ever post is perfect, branded photos with impersonal captions, you’re building a wall between you and your followers.
Instagram is a chance to reveal who you are. Who is the person behind the brand? What’s going on behind-the-scenes at your business?
Your Photos are Ugly
#SorryNotSorry
If all you ever post is blurry shots of your TV screen, or humorous GIFs you found online, or gross food photos, then you will struggle to find and keep Instagram followers.
Learn how to improve your Instagram photography. Check out photo-editing apps like Afterlight, which is what I use. Pay attention to your favorite Instagram users. Take note of which posts you love the most and use those ideas for inspiration for your own Instagram photos.
Cut back on the unoriginal posts. If someone else made it online, why are you resharing it? If you really want to demonstrate your sense of humor, create your own clever graphics for Instagram.
You Rarely Include Engaging Captions
Beautiful photos are not sufficient. What’s the story behind the photo? At the very least, answer the basic questions. Who? What? Where? Why? When?
Include those details even in photos of flowers or coffee or the sunset. Who gave you those flowers and why? What kind of coffee are you drinking, and where are you drinking it? Who is enjoying the sunset with you, and where are you?
If you want to engage your followers, ask questions. Use hashtags for Instagram communities or challenges, like #morethanaframe and #holdersnotfolders. Or use my hashtag #LaBelleBlog to connect with other bloggers!
You Use Too Many Hashtags
Strategic use of hashtags encourages engagement and new followers. Overuse of hashtags can drive away your existing followers.
What is the perfect number of hashtags? Popular Instagram users don’t always agree. I’ll be honest–I use all 30 allowed hashtags. But I know some people think you should use less.
Instead of putting your hashtags in your caption, put them in your first comment. As other Instagram users begin to comment on your post, your hashtags in the first comment won’t show up under your post. They’ll still work to promote your photo to other Instagram users searching for those hashtags.
You Never Reply to Comments or Questions
I get it. You’re super-popular and just much too busy to take notice of the little people who comment on your Instagram posts.
If you receive 10+ comments on every single post, you don’t necessarily have to reply to every single one of them. But you should at least answer the questions asked of you. You can use one comment to express your gratitude to multiple Instagram users who compliment your post. Just tag all of them in the comment.
If you only receive a few comments on your Instagram posts, you should reply to all of them. Even if you just send them back an emoji, you’re acknowledging them.
If you never reply to your users, eventually they might stop following you.
You Didn’t Follow Me Back (or I’m a Spam Account)
Some people treat Instagram as solely a numbers game. It’s nothing personal. Some of your followers might just be following you in hopes that you’ll follow back. After a few days or weeks, if you haven’t reciprocated, they’ll just unfollow you. This is to keep their following/followers ratio low. Honestly, I use the follow/unfollow strategy with Instagram, with no regrets.
Related: Why Bloggers Criticize the Follow/Unfollow Method
Some Instagram accounts are just spammers. I always check out the profiles of my new Instagram followers. Sometimes they have 0 posts of their own. Other times they only have promotional posts about gaining new Instagram followers. Eventually these accounts will be suspended, or they’ll unfollow you.
Are you ready to improve your Instagram following? I gained over 2,000 followers in March thanks to Guide 5 of Instarevealed (affiliate link). I’ve also purchased Guides 4 (on hashtags) and 7 (on the algorithm changes).
Edit: The guides are now only available as a bundle.
Use Code MAKETHATMONEYONINSTATHXTOBRITA
If you’re not ready to commit financially to Instagram growth, check out the Instaposse group on Facebook.
I’m interested in your thoughts! Why do you unfollow users on Instagram? Share your thoughts in the comments below. I’ll post the best tips to my social media accounts.
It’s funny. There’s a fine line with Instagram and I. I will follow people if they have beautiful photos that inspire me. Do they follow me back? Nope but that’s ok. I am not a fan of what I call fake photos or awful attempts at flat lays. To me Instagram is a peek at the behind the scenes life of people. Share authentic photos that help your followers get to know you better. Not just picture after picture of perfectly styled and laid random objects or flowers. That gets old quickly and is in no way authentic to me.
See, I actually disagree with you on how to define authenticity on Instagram. I’ve posted to IG on this before, and I plan on expanding my thoughts into a full blog post.
Who are we to say that beautiful photos are automatically inauthentic? I share tons of of photos with flowers because flowers make me happy, but also because they’re a pretty neutral photo to share so that I can write about whatever I want in the caption. Like yesterday I shared a styled photo of dried rosebuds, my third one so far, but my caption explained how bittersweet all my happiness is right now while I continue to grieve both my mother and my grandmother.
I follow a ton of professional photographers and travel bloggers on IG who only share gorgeous photos. Some of them never write a caption longer than one sentence, but their photos are beautiful enough for me to keep following. While I prefer long captions that help me get to know someone, I also accept that telling a story through photos is as valid as my own approach.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCjugnSLo6X/
Perhaps that was a bad example….flowers…as I post them too! I agree with what you said. If you just post a random pretty picture and keep doing that day in and day out I don’t get to “know” you. Captions and stories and explanations fill me in on the person behind the photo. Help me get to know you and your interests! Don’t just throw a pretty thing up there and call it a day. I also think this is the way you get to relate to people so much better. I love the anecdotes of little mishaps and funny things. It shows we are all human and have a story to share and that our lives aren’t defined by a little Instagram square and various filters. Hope that makes sense!
I definitely think our Instagram is ours and we should share what we find pretty and inspiring. I don’t like it when people post what they feel is the expected photo and what will get the likes. Keep sharing rosebuds if that’s what you love….I’ll keep sharing the random things I come across that make me smile. But if I were to keep showing pretty desktops and flat lays bc those appear to get lots of likes I lose myself. That is not authentic and not what I am aiming for.
Great post as it opens the door for discussion which is exactly what we aim for with our thoughts and ideas…conversation starters!
Instagram is definitely one of my favorite platforms! I will say that I’m interested in growing my account, but not interested enough to spend money on it (at this point). In the past year my account has doubled, with most of the growth being in the last 6 months – all from taking and posting only quality photos, using hashtags, and engaging with other accounts I enjoy. What I haven’t started doing yet is promoting my blog through instagram. I know it’s a great traffic source for readers, but I dont really publicize my blog with people I know IRL. It’s not a secret, I just don’t advertise it.
I’m confused about the “follow/unfollow” method….does that mean following accounts then unfollowing them later? Just curious.
I always find it interesting when bloggers keep their blogs on the DL from their friends/family. I get tons of traffic from people I know IRL. To each their own, for sure, but I wouldn’t be where I am now without my friends/family reading and sharing my work.
“Follow/unfollow” does refer to following new accounts and later unfollowing some/most/all of them, based on your own criteria and whatever strategy you’re using. I started doing this casually on Twitter when I first started my blog. Basically I followed some of the followers of accounts similar to mine about once a week. Then 1-2 times per month, I would look at the accounts who hadn’t followed me back and then evaluate if they were still worth following.
I now do this more frequently with Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. I do it most often on Instagram because it’s easiest there.
While lots of people claim this is “spamming,” it’s honestly a technique suggested by top social media strategists, like Mike Allton (29.7k Twitter followers) and Ann Tran (526k Twitter followers). They both suggest following 50-100 new targeted accounts every day.
ok
To me Instagram is a behind the scenes look into your life. Whether they are blurry or perfectly styled – I’m not picky as long as it looks like you’re being authentic. You get bonus points if you’re funny but even if you’re not funny and you show everyday mundane things I like that as well.
That’s how I feel about Snapchat! I like sharing the messy details of my life through short videos there. But for the last year, I’ve moved my Instagram from being just whatever photos to being pretty photos that look good together. I also started using the captions for micro-blogging, so even my pretty photos often have a long and vulnerable story attached to them.
I do follow a few feminist accounts that do screenshots and stuff, but for the most part, if I don’t already have an established relationship* with you, I’m not interested in bad photos.
About 400 of the people I follow are in this category, many of them bloggers who I’ve gotten to know through other platforms, not to mention my friends & family IRL.
When I first joined Instagram, I was following all my friends and family. But most of them post the same pictures to FB, so I’m not really missing anything if I unfollow due to lots of blurry, uninspiring photos. For now, Instagram for me is a way to share my adventures and creative pursuits and find inspiration. I also unfollow if someone posts too many photos. Like 6 photos within an hour from a party, for example.
One thing I notice about accounts that have consistently impersonal photos (although beautiful) is that their captions really draw me in. They add value and let their personality shine through the caption and then it doesn’t bother me so much that the photos are always flawlessly impersonal.
Great post!
It does help that my friends/family usually cross-post to Facebook. But if I comment there, I then get all the notifications of future comments, unless I remember to unfollow the post. A little petty, for sure, but that’s why I prefer commenting on their pictures through IG.
I definitely unfollow for way too frequent posting! I’m all about some selfies, but no one needs to post 10 selfies in an hour.
I also love good captions with beautiful photos!
My IG is a pretty separate entity from my blog and I LOVE posting pretty nature photos which usually get the most attention/love. It’s funny; whenever I end up posting something more personal (friends/family), I get a couple of unfollows. It’s fine; my IG is a compilation of all things I love, so my ‘people’ are gonna be in there. But I totally agree on a lot of your points – bad/blurry pics, too many memes/quotes/ re-posts, etc. No thanks…#unfollow
My follower count definitely goes up and down, and I don’t worry about the slight fluctuations. It’s only if I lose a lot of followers at once that I need to re-evaluate what I’m doing! As a lifestyle blogger, my life and blog are intertwined, so my Instagram is the same way. I stick with pretty pictures, but those do include pictures of my husband and me!
I just made it to 200 followers on instagram and feel accomplished, haha! I’ll never be a social media mogul, but instagram is my favorite thing about having a smartphone (since I still don’t really like smartphones). I think my taste on instagram tends to be similar to my taste in blogs–a little humor, a little fashion, a little bit quirky, plenty of adventure. And a lot of the people I follow are real-life friends and family or bloggers I’m acquainted with so I’m invested in their lives.
You should feel accomplished! I love your IG pictures. They’re very you.
I didn’t work on changing the look of my account until January or February of last year. That kind of snowballed into everything else. We all use IG for our own purposes. I decided last year that instead of just being a supplement to my blog, I wanted IG to help me attract new blog followers.
At least 400 people I follow are real-life friends/family and bloggers I love. I follow them even if they only post a few times a year, just so I don’t miss anything. 😉
I haven’t been doing the follow/unfollow thing as much as a lot of people. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about it. But I did use it on a small scale to get up to 1000 followers. The other day, I got a direct message from a blogger that said “hello so you name drop follow and unfollow” with no punctuation (pet peeve of mine). Anyway, I didn’t quite understand what she meant which is the only reason I even replied. I looked at her profile and she posted 3 photos the day I unfollowed her and I honestly don’t remember for sure but I think that’s why I unfollowed her. So I said that and she said “That’s just an excuse and who the hell do you think you are putting an expectation on when I post” so I said she has a choice of when to post and I have a choice of who I follow and unfollow. Ugh. Anyway it made me really mad and I wonder if she blows up on everybody who unfollows her like this. Anyway, sorry to rant but I had to tell someone. haha
Bwahahaha, that’s ridiculous. Yeah, I have no idea what that initial message means. Punctuation matters, people! Liz has gotten a handful of mean DMs too, but she also has over 30,000 followers, so obviously her strategy works.
So I finally set up a link in my IG bio that tracks traffic to my blog (the Instarevealed website explains how to do this). In the last two weeks (about when it’s been working), IG is now my 4th highest referral traffic. Out of my top 10 referral sources, IG has the lowest bounce rate and the longest time on page. So not only am I getting an okay quantity of traffic from IG, but the traffic is very high-quality.
The way I see it is that no one is obliged to follow me back. Huge bloggers use f/u on me, and when I follow back, it’s because I freaking love their accounts! If they unfollow me, I don’t care because that’s not why I followed them in the first place. I used to only genuinely follow about 350 accounts, and now it’s up to over 600, largely because of f/u.
Also, eEhakti contacted me to review one of their dresses. They didn’t say it was because of my IG, but considering I’ve had Belle Brita for a year and a half, I’m guessing my IG account brought them to my attention.
Yay! I love eShakti!! I actually reviewed a dress for them almost two years ago. I have no idea how they found me but I loved it! I may try to reach out to them again soon.
I love honest people who show all of it – the food, the outfits, the kids. Just show real life! I do love to laugh at the moms who share candid moments of their days or crazy moments where I can relate.
I love your flower pictures and your couple pics! I agree that I don’t like every single pic to be personal! I like it to be a mixture of the brand and just a titch more to let me know how folks “really” are (albeit edited nicely) I am not a lover of giveaways on Instagram, but that’s happening more and more. Don’t do too many of those or I’ll unfollow the account!
Great tips across the board here, girlfriend! Finding that balance on IG can be totally difficult, but it has to happen if ya wanna grow! Worth it.
Coming Up Roses
I totally agree with the posts being too personal. If I’m following a home decor account, I want to see home decor. Not what you’re wearing today and what you had for breakfast at the restaurant downtown. I get it if this is someone’s personal account, but for a blog or business, you’re right, keep it about your brand.
I agree with all your points, they are usually the reasons I unfollow. Definitely if they feel too branded! I’m trying to be as authentic as I can be.
http://www.cupcakendreams.com
Absolutely! I know I struggle to find the right balance with my own account. I use my general brand colors (pink, mint/blue/green/teal, white, gold, navy) and focus on pretty pictures, but I still want to share real moments. Luckily I gravitate towards all these colors in real life! I’m sitting at my desk right now and admiring my blue KKG letters, my pink hanging files and bulletin board, and my mint mirror. 😉
How did you buy only certain guides from InstaRevealed? I’m not sure i want to fully commit!
http://www.thecassiepaige.com/
When Liz and Teri first launched the guides, they didn’t wait to release them as a bundle. They released one guide at a time. After they wrote all seven, they started selling them as a bundle, and eventually stopped selling them individually.
I reviewed the bundle if you want to learn more. There’s also a code there to get 10% off! http://bellebrita.com/2016/07/gain-instagram-followers-fast/
I also bought the latest bundle on monetizing Instagram the day it launched. I had more than enough money in my PayPal account that I had earned through my blog and Instagram to buy it immediately!
I totally get the hesitation because it’s a lot of money. If you haven’t already, download their first guide free. It gives you an idea of the rest of the guides. Keep in mind, though, that guides 4, 5, 6, and 7 are all way longer and more detailed. Guide 1 offers comparable value/length as guides 2 and 3.
Thanks for this post its helpful to increase the follow on instagram