Are your Instagram posts not reaching as many people as they used to? Have your engagement rates dropped despite your follower count increasing? The culprit could be inactive followers, also known as ghost followers. These are accounts that follow you but never engage with your content.
Inactive followers are a common issue plaguing Instagram accounts of all sizes. A recent study by HypeAuditor found that the average Instagram account has a 25.8% fake follower rate. For accounts with over 1 million followers, that number jumps to 43.7% (source).
As a social media expert and tech geek, I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to put effort into growing your Instagram presence only to have your posts fall flat due to unengaged followers. In this ultimate guide, I‘ll dive deep into what inactive followers are, how to identify and remove them, and proven strategies for cultivating an authentic, engaged audience in 2024 and beyond.
What Are Inactive Instagram Followers?
Inactive Instagram followers are accounts that follow you but don‘t interact with your content in any way. They don‘t like, comment, share, or save your posts. Many inactive followers are bots, fake accounts, or people who mass-followed you hoping for a quick follow back. Some may be real people who simply lost interest in your content or rarely use Instagram anymore.
Telltale signs of an inactive follower include:
- No profile picture (default icon)
- Odd or spammy username
- Very few posts on their feed
- Low engagement on the posts they do have
- Following many accounts but have few followers themselves
Why Inactive Followers Hurt Your Account
Inactive followers don‘t just make your follower count a vanity metric – they can actually harm your account‘s performance and growth. Here‘s how:
Lower engagement rates
Engagement rate measures the percentage of your followers who actively interact with your posts. It‘s calculated by dividing your total engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves) by your follower count. The more inactive followers you have, the lower your engagement rate will be.
For example, let‘s say you have 10,000 followers and your post gets 500 likes and 25 comments. Your engagement rate would be 5.25% (525 engagements / 10,000 followers = 0.0525). But if 50% of those followers are inactive, your true engagement rate is actually 10.5% (525 engagements / 5,000 real followers = 0.105).
Engagement rate is a key metric that brands, potential followers, and the Instagram algorithm use to gauge your account‘s credibility and content quality. Accounts with high engagement rates are seen as more authentic and authoritative. According to a Rival IQ study, the median engagement rate on Instagram in 2022 was 1.94% across all industries (source). Aim for at least that number or higher.
Reduced organic reach and impressions
Instagram‘s algorithm decides which posts to show each user based on a variety of ranking factors. One major factor is a post‘s early engagement – the percentage of your followers who interact with a post shortly after it‘s published. The algorithm uses this to predict whether people will like the post (source).
If you have a lot of inactive followers, your early engagement will likely be low because few people are seeing and interacting with your post. The algorithm will then deprioritize your post in the feed and show it to less of your total followers (even the active ones). Your organic reach (non-paid impressions) will decline, making it harder to gain engagement and new followers.
Spammy or inauthentic appearance
Having a large percentage of inactive followers can make your account look low-quality, spammy, or fake to discerning users and brands. People are less likely to follow an account that seems inauthentic. Similarly, brands are cautious about partnering with creators to promote their products if a large portion of their audience is inactive.
In a survey by Influencer Marketing Hub, 67% of brands said engagement rate is the most important metric when evaluating influencers for campaigns (source). Only 10% said follower count matters most. Brands want to ensure their marketing budget is spent reaching real, engaged people – not bots or ghosts.
Identifying Your Inactive Followers
Now that you understand why inactive followers are detrimental, let‘s look at how to determine which of your followers are disengaged ghosts. Here are three effective methods:
1. Manually review your follower list
Go to your Instagram followers list and scan through the accounts, looking for the inactive signs we discussed earlier. Click into their profiles to see their posting frequency and typical engagement levels. Accounts with no picture, few posts, spammy usernames, and little engagement are likely inactive. This method works best if you have a relatively small follower count as it can be time-consuming.
2. Check Instagram‘s "least interacted with" category
In your Following list, you can sort accounts by "least interacted with" to see which people you‘ve had the least mutual engagement with lately. Accounts near the top of this list are ones you rarely like, comment, or DM with – and vice versa. There‘s a good chance many are ghost followers. However, some may also be active accounts you simply haven‘t interacted much with.
3. Use third-party Instagram auditing tools
There are various Instagram analytics tools that can automatically scan your follower list and identify likely inactive or fake accounts. They look at engagement levels, posting patterns, profile data, and other red flags. Some tools estimate the percentage of your followers that are bots or inactive.
Popular options include:
- HypeAuditor: Analyzes your audience quality and authenticity
- Modash: Free fake follower check and audience analyzer
- Tailwind: Inactive follower estimates as part of analytics suite
Most of these tools have free and paid plans depending on the level of analysis you need. Be cautious about apps that claim to automatically mass-remove followers for you, as this is against Instagram‘s terms of service and could get your account penalized.
Follower to engagement ratio benchmarks
A good rule of thumb is that your engagement rate should scale with your follower count. If you gained 5,000 followers last month but your average engagement stayed the same, many of those new followers are likely bots or inactive accounts.
Here are some average engagement rate ranges to aim for based on your follower count (source):
| Follower Count | Good Engagement Rate |
|---|---|
| <1,000 | 8%+ |
| 1,000-5,000 | 5-7% |
| 5,000-10,000 | 3-6% |
| 10,000-50,000 | 2-5% |
| 50,000-100,000 | 1.5-4% |
| 100k-1 million | 1.5-2.5% |
| 1 million+ | 1.5%+ |
If your engagement rate is below these benchmarks for your follower range, you likely have a high percentage of inactive followers dragging it down. Time for a cleanup.
Removing Inactive Instagram Followers
Once you‘ve identified accounts that are inactive, here‘s how to give them the boot:
1. Manually remove as follower
Go to the suspected inactive account‘s profile, tap the three dots menu, and select "Remove Follower." You must have a public account to access this feature. Don‘t worry – they won‘t be notified that you removed them.
Repeat this for each inactive account. It‘s the simplest method but can be tedious if you have a lot of ghost followers. I recommend doing a few each day so Instagram doesn‘t flag you for unusual behavior.
2. Soft block method
If you don‘t have the remove follower option, you can "soft block" inactive accounts. Go to their profile, tap the three dots, and hit "Block," then "Unblock." This forces the account to unfollow you without actually blocking them. They can still see your profile and request to follow you again.
3. Third-party tools (use with caution)
Some Instagram tools claim to mass-remove inactive followers for you with a few clicks. I strongly advise against this. Using third-party apps to automate Instagram actions like mass-following or mass-unfollowing violates the platform‘s terms of service and could result in your account being restricted or banned. It‘s not worth the risk.
Manually cleaning your follower list does take more time, but it‘s the safest way. Think of it like spring cleaning for your account.
Preventing Inactive Followers
Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to inactive followers. While you can never fully eliminate them, you can minimize how many accumulate over time:
Post consistently and engage often
Accounts that post rarely or sporadically are more likely to be ghosted. Commit to a consistent posting schedule – whether that‘s daily, a few times per week, or whatever cadence works for you. Use analytics to determine when your followers are most active and post at those times for maximum reach.
Just as importantly, make an effort to like and comment on your followers‘ posts. Spend 20-30 minutes per day interacting with accounts you follow. People are more likely to stay engaged with those who engage with them.
Maintain content quality and niche
Make sure every post you publish is high-quality, visually appealing, and aligns with your brand‘s niche and aesthetic. Don‘t post just to post. Your followers followed you for a reason – stick to content they expect and want to see from you.
If you pivoted your content style or niche, it‘s natural that some followers may drop off. Focus on attracting followers who are genuinely interested in your current direction. Quality trumps quantity.
Rather than using huge hashtags with millions of posts, focus on smaller, targeted hashtags specific to your niche. These will help you reach people who are more likely to become engaged followers. Similarly, geotag your posts when relevant to attract local followers.
Avoid using hashtags associated with follower schemes like #followforfollow, #likeforlike, or #follow4follow. These will only bring bots and non-genuine followers.
Host contests and giveaways carefully
Contests requiring people to follow you and tag friends for entries will likely bring an influx of one-time followers only interested in the prize. Instead, structure contest rules around engagement actions (like, comment, share) and make following optional. This ensures participants are actually interested in your content.
Encourage followers to enable notifications
In your captions or Stories, occasionally remind followers they can turn on post notifications for your account so they never miss an update. This increases the chance they‘ll see and engage with your posts. Here‘s how to prompt them:
"Turn on notifications for my posts so you never miss a [tip/recipe/workout/etc]! Tap the three dots in the corner of this post, then tap ‘Turn on post notifications.‘"
Case Studies: Brands Effectively Managing Inactive Followers
Looking for inspiration? Here‘s how two major brands keep their follower list lean and engagement high:
Glossier (@glossier)
Glossier is a beauty and skincare brand known for its engaged social media presence. Of their 2.7 million Instagram followers, an estimated 96% are real and active according to a HypeAuditor analysis. Glossier maintains this by:
- Posting user-generated content to encourage engagement
- Replying to many comments and DMs
- Limiting use of mega-popular hashtags that attract bots
- Hosting periodic giveaways that require thoughtful comments to enter
Peloton (@onepeloton)
Fitness brand Peloton has cultivated a tight-knit community on Instagram of 1.4 million followers. They keep followers engaged and weed out inactive accounts by:
- Consistently posting high-quality workout videos and tips
- Featuring user-generated before and after content
- Engaging in the comments section with followers
- Using Instagram Stories‘ "poll" and "question" stickers to drive interaction
- Focusing hashtags on their unique brand (#onepeloton)
The Takeaway
Having inactive or fake Instagram followers is like having fans at a concert who don‘t clap or cheer – they take up space but add no value. Worse, they can make you look bad to the real fans and event promoters.
Don‘t get caught up in vanity metrics like follower count. It‘s far better to have 1,000 followers who genuinely love and interact with your brand than 10,000 disengaged ghosts. Regularly audit your follower list and prune inactive accounts using the methods we covered.
Most importantly, focus on serving your true audience with authentic, quality content. Build real relationships with them. If you do that, your engagement will flourish and the right followers will stick around.
