Nowadays, it seems like our number of “followers” can sometimes be equated to how well-liked we think we are or how successful anothers business is. We try hard to gain more followers, and at times more doesn’t seem enough.
You go off Instagram and when you come back on, you have had people unfollow you!! “But why?” you may ask yourself. It’s like a slap in the face. It can sting. And it might sting even more if that person is an actual friend. But unless people are dropping like flies, un-followers aren’t such a bad thing. In fact, I think they are actually a great thing.
You go off Instagram and when you come back on, you have had people unfollow you!! “But why?” you may ask yourself. It’s like a slap in the face. It can sting. And it might sting even more if that person is an actual friend. But unless people are dropping like flies, un-followers aren’t such a bad thing. In fact, I think they are actually a great thing.
Ready to answer the question, “why do people unfollow me on Instagram?” Better yet, ready to feel more empowered in your business? If so, you’re in the right place!
This article has been created to tell you why it is a GOOD thing when someone unfollows you.
1. You’re narrowing your niche.
One of the worst things you can do when trying to grow a successful business, is to market to everyone. While you can often get away with marketing about multiple topics, talking about far too many topics or for too many people doesn’t give your audience anything to grab on to. It’s like you’re neither here nor there.
Take this example: perhaps you used to post anything and everything on Instagram, from blurry pictures of your pets to a random flower in your garden to an aerial shot of yesterday’s lunch. But recently you decided to kick things up a notch and took a silent oath to only post gorgeous food-related photos. You want to start blogging more about recipes and nutrition, so it made sense to you to have an Instagram that matches.
Oh my! 8 people have unfollowed you ever since you switched your focus! Is it because they don’t like Pad Thai or because…they don’t like you? To let you in on something, it’s probably neither.
In fact, you’re just taking out the people who wouldn’t be interested in your narrowed niche anyways. Thinking about it this way, unfollowers are a great thing. When someone unfollows you on Instagram let’s say, you’re actually filtering out people who are not your ideal customer. The whole idea of our social media platforms is to build a community of people who LOVE what you create and want to engage with you. While you may lose a few followers if you’re transitioning your focus, you will gain plenty more in the long run.
2. You’re allowing engagement to flourish with your other followers.
Nothing says trouble like thousands of followers who completely ignore you.
It’s better to have a small, engaged audience, than to have massive amounts of people who skip over all of your images, videos and blog posts. By having people unfollow you on Instagram, for instance, you’re allowing engagement with your other followers to really thrive. You’re building a community of people who care. And that is certainly more valuable than the opposite.
3. It doesn’t mean they don’t LIKE you.
It’s easy to think that if someone unfollows you, they dislike you. Actually, our subconscious decisions to unfollow someone are usually more complicated than merely disliking someone. And more often than not, someone will unfollow you for other reasons, like that your content doesn’t feel relevant to their lives or they’re already subscribed to 900 newsletters and decided to do a strict purge.
It’s easy to think that if someone unfollows you, they dislike you. Actually, our subconscious decisions to unfollow someone are usually more complicated than merely disliking someone. And more often than not, someone will unfollow you for other reasons, like that your content doesn’t feel relevant to their lives or they’re already subscribed to 900 newsletters and decided to do a strict purge.
So, don’t take an unfollow personally or feel badly about it. Usually, unfollowing someone isn’t tied to a strong emotion of dislike. It’s just a natural part of growing your business and often means you’re doing something right.
OF COURSE, HAVING PEOPLE UNFOLLOW YOU ISN’T ALWAYS A GOOD THING!
If your followers seem to be running far, far away from you or if people that you thought were part of your ideal audience are suddenly clicking the “unfollow” button, then you might have some changes to make. Here are a few reasons why someone might choose to unsubscribe:
1. You’re too noisy. It’s good to be social on social media, but if you’re posting constantly, it might be too much for your followers to handle.
2. Too much promotion. Whether it be promotion of your own products or sponsored posts for another brand, too much can annoy people.
3. You’re not relatable. People love to use blogs and social media as a personable look at someone’s life. Even if you use it for business purposes, it’s important not to be robotic.
4. You post #allthethings. Going back to #3, it’s great to be relatable on social media. However, if you find yourself posting things just to have new content, then you should reconsider its purpose. Aim to post things that are inspiring and fresh for your audience. So, send that dimly lit picture of your dog to your BFF instead of your Instagram followers.
