What you need to know about ghost followers on Instagram

Undoubtedly, a big number of followers on social media is a success. This is especially true for such a social network like Instagram. However, oddly enough, Instagram followers can become a problem.

Of course, the attractiveness of an account depends a lot on the number of its subscribers. Big Instagram fan base can even create some social authority, increase sales and open doors for influential marketing companies. However, not all followers are equally good.

IMPORTANT: smaller subscriber quality can greatly affect your income. With more and more brands and influential people doing business on Instagram, professionals now value quality rather than quantity when it comes to Instagram followers.

What are ghost followers

Simply put, ghost followers are fake accounts or inactive users on Instagram (or other social networks) who don't interact with the content to which they subscribe. Such followers rarely publish something on their profiles, usually, they are created by bots.

If you notice a profile that follows many pages, but at the same time has only a few subscribers, then there is a high probability that this is a fake user who won't interact with your account. A couple of random ghost followers are no cause for concern, but too many of them can negatively impact your Instagram page.

Why ghosts are bad for your account

The biggest consequence of having ghost followers, and for any account, is the loss of trust. For example, if you have 20,000 subscribers, but only 20-50 likes per photo, users will easily find a discrepancy in these two indicators. As a result, the authenticity of your profile will be called into question. The followers base is used to show key indicators of your page effectiveness, but these numbers may be distorted by ghost followers.

Consider two companies selling clothes on Instagram:

• Company A, which has 10,000 followers and an average of 1,500 likes on the photo and about 50-60 comments.
• And company B, which has 40,000 followers, but an average of 30-50 likes and 5-10 comments per post.

Although Company B looks better at first glance due to the big fan base, it's a much less attractive profile. All because of the low level of followers engagement. Users with fake Instagram subscribers cannot really identify their audience because they don’t know how many real ones they have.

How ghosts affect brands

Companies aim to sell products on Instagram to reach any of one billion users. The profit potential is huge. However, Instagram ghost followers will never like posts, go to the site specified in the post, or buy something from you.

In any case, you shouldn't spend money on bots. Better take the time to really chat with your subscribers and, for example, comment on photos. When you truly communicate, they become more loyal customers.

IMPORTANT: with the advent of new features, such as the ability to buy channels, Instagram has become a platform that allows you to not only discover products but also directly buy them.

Initially, having a large number of followers can attract potential partners. However, trustworthy brands will suspect something is wrong if the level of engagement doesn't match the number of subscribers.

Avoiding ghost followers

The good news is that in most cases the appearance of ghosts is not an accident. Users can perform actions that increase the likelihood of having those bots.

The most popular way to get a big audience is to buy it. In most cases, companies that sell followers claim that they will make your account more attractive. But most likely, having bought subscribers, you will pay only for the number. Probably none of these new readers will ever like and comment on your content. And when people and companies find that you have fake subscribers, the attractiveness of your account will drop dramatically. In any case, it’s better not to buy such users.

How to get rid of ghost followers

The easiest way to forget about ghosts is to use the SpamGuard service. It's very effective because all followers who didn't leave any comments and likes within a month will be deleted. Bots will also be removed. By the way, you can try SpamGuard for free.

Working with the audience, you will understand what it needs and how it reacts to publications. Learn the dynamics of users' interests and post what people want to see and read. So you will become more likely to appear in the recommendations of Instagram users who may be interested in your product. Your task is to develop a set of actions that allow being visible to potential customers more often.

Successful business promotion in social networks requires extreme measures. Therefore, you have to torment Google with questions about how to remove ghosts on Instagram. After all, such accounts will still follow your account. Therefore, you need to perform periodic cleanings with SpamGuard. Do it right while working to attract interesting people and increase engagement through quality content.