These days, individuals engaged in activities on Instagram, particularly those focused on income generation, invest a significant amount of time and effort in attracting followers. Having more followers translates to greater credibility, popularity, and ultimately, higher earnings and revenue.
Even individuals who have an interest in online presence benefit from increased followers as a result of their efforts. All of this is true if you haven’t experienced a drop in followers or follower attrition. We can consider this issue as a common and natural occurrence that affects both small and large Instagram pages. However, when a page deals with follower decline and loss, a competitor’s page might experience growth and an increase in followers, as competition on this platform is intense and challenging. Therefore, the first solution that likely comes to mind is recovering Instagram followers.
In general, a search can reveal various methods for recovering followers from being dormant and reactivating them, thereby increasing the engagement rate of the page once again. Nevertheless, we cannot rely on all of these methods as safe and practical, and understanding the Instagram algorithm and user behavior is necessary to accomplish this task. For this reason, by examining key points in this regard, we will describe everything you need to know about recovering followers, reactivating followers, and other related matters in the following sections.
What Is A Ghost Follower?
In general, a ghost follower or ghost follower on Instagram refers to a type of follower account that does not engage with your content. In other words, this type of follower shows no reaction or interaction with your Instagram page’s content, including posts, and only adds to the follower count. These followers can exist in small or large numbers on any page and can have an impact.
However, it should not be assumed that they are inactive regarding their activity on the page. Ghost followers are not always fake followers but can be regular personal accounts that are active on Instagram but do not interact with the content on your Instagram page. They do not like posts, leave comments, or show any reaction to your content, effectively making them ghost followers.
These types of followers can be found on any Instagram page, from celebrities to personal and regular accounts. However, the question is, where do they come from? Ghost followers can be of the same type as real and old followers who have lost interest in the page’s content. They can also be introduced to the page through the purchase of followers. In any case, they will have significant effects on your Instagram, so it’s essential to understand the reasons behind their inactivity and how to recover Instagram followers.
Reasons For Ghost Followers
In general, certain actions can lead to Instagram followers becoming ghost followers, and it’s not always due to the actions of the page owner. In some cases, ghost followers may naturally occur on their own, and as a result, having a small number of them on pages with a large following is inevitable. However, by understanding the most important reasons for the presence of these types of followers and making efforts to regain them, you can prevent many of their negative effects. In summary, these are the factors that can cause followers to become ghosts:
- Buying A Pre-Existing Instagram Page: When you purchase someone else’s Instagram page or personal profile intending to gain Free Followers for your business or activities on Instagram, you should be aware that you are likely to acquire a significant number of ghost followers. These page followers may have been interested in the content the previous owner was posting, and there is no guarantee of their engagement with your content. In this case, the risk of follower drop is also quite high.
- Buying Followers: Many people are opposed to Buying Followers, and the fact that these followers may be ghost followers is one of the main reasons for this opposition. It’s interesting to note that this concern is valid, but where you make the purchase plays a significant role in this regard. Some reputable agencies provide active follower sales services, and therefore, you can trust them for this purpose.
3. Inappropriate Content: In many cases, using inappropriate content, such as posting repetitive or uninteresting images, can lead to Instagram followers becoming ghost followers
4. Deactivation Of The Page: As mentioned, ghost followers don’t always occur due to a specific issue with your page. In some cases, the follower may deactivate their account or have minimal activity on Instagram.
Now that you are familiar with the reasons behind ghost followers, it’s time to understand the effects they have on your page. This way, you’ll realize the importance of bringing them back to an active state.
The Effects Of Ghost Followers On Instagram
Several reasons emphasize the need to convert Instagram followers from ghost mode to active mode. In fact, these types of followers will have numerous negative effects on your page, the most important of which are as follows:
- Decreased Credibility: One of the most detrimental effects that non-genuine followers, including ghosts and fake followers, have on your Instagram page is a decrease in your credibility in the eyes of customers and audiences. Most people measure the number of followers on a page relative to the number of likes and comments, and when there is a significant difference due to the inactivity of followers, they lose trust.
- Reduced Engagement Rate: Having ghost followers significantly reduces your engagement rate because this type of follower does not interact with the content on your page. This decrease in the engagement rate can even lead to your content and posts not being displayed in the explore section.
- Decreased Sales: The presence of a large number of ghost followers alongside fake followers leaves fewer real people on the business page to make purchases. Therefore, preventing a decrease in sales is another reason why you need to convert Instagram followers.
- Follower Drop: Decreased trust in your genuine followers due to a significant difference between the number of followers and likes or comments can lead them to unfollow you over time. In this way, you will eventually lose your real followers.
5. Page Closure: Instagram’s Algorithm is complex, but almost everyone knows that this platform is sensitive to pages with fake and ghost followers. In many cases, having a high number of such followers has resulted in the page being closed or banned by Instagram. In most cases, reopening the page will be necessary in this situation.
Therefore, considering the impacts that each ghost follower can have on a page, preventing their increase and, of course, returning them to those who attach great importance to their Instagram page is essential.
Converting Ghost Followers Into Active Followers
It can be said that sometimes having ghost followers is even worse than having fake followers because, after identifying fake followers, you can easily remove them from your page. However, dealing with ghost followers, who are often real but do not interact with your content, is more challenging to convert. Nevertheless, we have tried to introduce you to 6 easy and effective methods for converting ghost followers in the following.
- Identify Interests And Trends:
As mentioned, losing interest in your Instagram page’s content is one of the reasons why followers may not interact with your posts or stories. That’s why content creation on social networks cannot be considered an easy task. To attract the audience’s attention, you must first familiarize yourself with their interests and even the trends on the platform. Then, create engaging and relevant content based on the gathered information. By doing this, there is a good chance of re-engaging some of your ghost followers. - Get Familiar With Instagram’s Algorithm:
Most successful individuals on this platform who have attracted a large number of followers are well-acquainted with Instagram’s algorithms and rules. Understanding and utilizing these algorithms will help expose your posts to a larger audience and increase interactions on your page. These actions not only lead to converting ghost followers but also help in growing your Instagram followers. Therefore, if you are serious about using this platform for your activities or even earning income through it, you should take your efforts seriously, and understanding the rules, principles, and algorithms is one of the first steps. - Use Hashtags Wisely:
Using Appropriate Hashtags beneath each post is highly important and can impact your Instagram followers. Properly utilizing hashtags not only allows you to categorize and describe the content of your posts but also helps attract a larger audience. As a result, the chances of your content appearing on the Explore page increase, attracting the attention of potential followers, including your ghost followers, and improving your chances of re-engaging them.
- Choose An Appropriate Profile Picture:
In many cases, a simple change in your profile picture has attracted the attention of many ghost followers to the desired page. Changing your profile picture often signifies a change in the overall appearance of your page. As a result, your followers may open your page and review its content. If the quality of the content is high, they will likely like it and, subsequently, pay more attention to following your page. It’s worth noting that using a personal photo for your profile picture can have a significant impact, as followers often prefer to know who is behind the page. - Go Live:
Hosting a live session on Instagram can make a significant impact on ghost followers and assist in re-engaging them. When you go live on your page, your content will be displayed in the stories section for all your followers, attracting their attention. Notifications will also be sent to users. In this case, even if they don’t attend the live session, they will likely take a look at your posts and grab their attention. If you’re unsure about how to go live and what content to use, considering the interests of your users and the nature of your work can be helpful. For example, if your Instagram page is used for business and product sales, you can go live to show the packaging or shipping process. This not only grabs the attention of ghost followers but also builds their trust. - Increase Your Activity:
Ultimately, increasing your activity can be considered the best method to bring back Instagram followers. When your content and posts are consistently visible in the feed of your followers, including ghost followers, their attention will be captured, whether they like it or not. However, if posts are uploaded continuously without planning and engaging content, there is a chance of unfollowing. Therefore, it can be said that for continuous growth and achieving desired results, you need to be vigilant and consider various aspects when uploading content, including posts, reels, stories, and contests.
- Post: If a significant amount of time has passed since your last post, it’s time to make a move. With proper planning and the creation of unique and non-repetitive content, upload a compelling post. Choose an appropriate time interval for posting so that it receives more views and is exposed to a larger audience, including your ghost followers on Instagram.
- Long Videos: You can make use of the feature to upload long videos, also known as IGTV. Since these types of videos do not typically gain popularity in the Explore section and cannot attract viewers there, this feature will display them to more of your Instagram followers. Depending on the type of content and your number of followers, you can even upload up to about 3 videos per week.
- Stories: As you know, Stories are displayed more than any other type of content on Instagram. Take advantage of this opportunity to convert your ghost followers into active Instagram followers by properly planning your Stories. Additionally, since choosing content for Stories is usually easier than for posts and reels, you can do it more frequently to boost page interaction. You’re not always obliged to make Stories related to the topics of your posts and activities. Occasionally, you can use them for trivia, challenging topics, engaging content, and even humorous content.
- Contests: Hosting a contest and offering prizes is one of the most essential and widely used strategies for attracting Instagram followers. If it’s possible for you, organize exciting contests, select winners, and reward them. The prize or gift should not necessarily be something complicated and can be related to your field of activity, such as a free product or even a percentage discount and free shipping based on your area of expertise.
Also, keep in mind that, in addition to performing the mentioned actions to increase engagement and convert ghost followers into active followers, your interaction with followers should not always be one-sided. Occasionally, visit the pages of those who have public profiles, and attract their attention by liking and commenting on their content. In summary, attracting and retaining Instagram followers can be time-consuming and sometimes challenging but is not impossible or overly complicated.
Detecting Fake And Ghost Followers
After becoming familiar with ghost followers, many people often want to distinguish them from fake followers due to the significant similarities. In response, it can be said that in most cases, fake followers are created by bots and do not exhibit signs such as activity, profile, posts, and other similarities. Ghost followers, on the other hand, are usually regular followers who are active on their own Instagram accounts and other pages but do not engage with your content. We have provided suitable solutions to address this issue.
Summary
In conclusion, it can be said that, considering the negative impacts of ghost followers on an Instagram page, removing them from your profile is a highly important matter that should not be underestimated. As a result, with ease and by investing a bit of time, you can utilize the methods discussed in this article to convert Instagram followers from ghost mode to active mode. By doing so, you can achieve your desired results and enhance your Instagram presence.