How to remove ghost followers on Instagram
In 2022, the follower count is not as important as it used to be. For example, it doesn't affect how often your content gets in the users' feed. Add to that, ghost profiles subscribed to you are no good. So you shouldn't hesitate when removing inactive users.
Delete ghost profiles to get a higher engagement rate. This rate shows how much your followers are interested in your content. Deleting fake users may improve the rate. The number of people who see your content falls, and the number of likes remains the same. It means the engagement rate becomes higher.
High engagement is important if you make money on Instagram from advertising or collaborating. You can prove that you have an engaged audience and that the campaign will be successful. Thus, you can claim for a higher pay.
If you decide to get rid of ghost followers, we advise you to do it manually. There are three reasons for avoiding third-party apps for deleting Instagram ghosts from your account.
- Your account may be hacked afterwards. Using all these magic apps promising to solve your problem with ghost followers is not safe. They require you to enter your account data. You never know how they use this information.
- The apps are aimed to delete only bots. But there are a lot of profiles among you followers, who are real but don't give you photos likes. They also should be deleted.
- The apps can delete a profile by mistake. They deem any account with near zero followers and followings, and no profile photo to be a bot. But these accounts may belong to a real person who gives you likes and comments. They should remain among your followers.
Delete the followers gradually. It means no more than 200 profiles at a time. Otherwise, Instagram algorithms may get it as there is something wrong with your account that caused people unfollowing you. This may result in lower reach.
Check a profile which you think is a ghost before deleting it. Thus, you avoid deleting users who see and like your content.
Here is how you can get rid of fake followers:
- Tap Followers on your profile page.
- Tap Remove near a username.
Deleted users won’t get a notification. They won't know you deleted them from your followers until only they check the list.
Ghost profiles will always appear in your followers list. So you should check it regularly. But there are ways that help you to keep inactive users away. Use them and you will have to clean your list less often.
- Don't buy followers. All of them will not be active. They are either bots or people who get paid for subscriptions.
- Don't buy Instagram accounts. The idea is the same. There are no interested in you and your photos users among the followers. They will not leave a like or comment.
- Don't buy engagement. You will have a lot of likes on your recent post and no likes on the future posts. And your sponsors and other users will see it. If you buy engagement once, you have to buy it forever.
- Avoid giveaways. Let's assume you host a giveaway. People have a chance to get something valuable if they subscribe to you. It means you literally invite people who are interested in benefits, not in your content. After the giveaway, there will be a whole lot of ghost followers in your account. Lucky you if they unsubscribe themselves.
You need to delete followers who are not active in your account. They are a bad influence on your account statistics. And you need good statistics to earn money on Instagram.
We recommend that you remove the profiles manually one by one. Avoid third-party apps and services. Using them is not safe.
Don't buy followers, engagement, or host giveaways. Then, you prevent inactive users in your account in the future.