{"id":29839,"date":"2024-01-30T06:39:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/?p=29839"},"modified":"2026-05-25T01:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:35:00","slug":"instagram-follower-audit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/instagram-follower-audit","title":{"rendered":"2026 Instagram Follower Audit: A Comprehensive Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have you audited your Instagram followers lately? If not, you may want to add this task to your to-do list.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Because your followers may actually be the reason why your engagement is down or you\u2019re struggling to expand your reach on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ghost followers and people who don\u2019t engage with your account can drag your engagement rate down. In this Instagram followers audit guide, <strong>we\u2019ll explain<\/strong> why you should conduct an audit, whether you should remove ghost followers and how to clean up your follower\u2019s list.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Why You Should<\/span> Audit Your Followers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>We know what you\u2019re thinking:<\/strong> auditing sounds like a lot of work \u2013 why should I bother? Wouldn\u2019t it be better to focus on creating content?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not necessarily.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#e5ddce;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#fff7e8;border-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<p><strong>Auditing your followers can help:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Boost your engagement rate<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Eliminate bots or ghost followers that may be harming your account\u2019s reputation.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Ensure you\u2019re reaching the right people<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Engagement and Why<\/span> It Matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the biggest benefits of auditing your followers is that it can boost your overall engagement rate. On Instagram \u2013 or any social platform \u2013 engagement <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">matters<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re <strong>interested in brand sponsorships<\/strong> or just want to make it to the Explore page, having a high engagement rate is critical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brands want to know that people are actually interested in what you have to say (your content). If only a small percentage of your followers are liking, commenting and saving your content, then are you really influencing your audience? Probably not \u2013 at least not in the eyes of brands.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Instagram algorithm also favors content that gets a lot of engagement. That alone should be reason enough to audit your followers.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your engagement rate looks at your number of likes, comments and saves in relation to how many followers you have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Followers who aren\u2019t active on Instagram and never engage with your account will <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/instagram-engagement-drop\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lower your engagement rate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and that will have negative effects on your account in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Should You Remove<\/span> Ghost Followers?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lot of Instagram accounts have <a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/ghost-followers\">ghost followers<\/a>. You may have them and not even realize it. But should you remove them?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Yes \u2013 if your goal is to boost engagement and grow your account.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ghost followers from fake and bot accounts aren\u2019t doing you any favors. They\u2019re artificially lowering your engagement rate, and there\u2019s no incentive to keep them around.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">What to Look<\/span> for When Removing Followers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Your followers made a commitment to follow your account, so you don\u2019t want to remove people who may really be interested in your content<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What we recommend you do is use certain criteria when removing accounts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Check the Person\u2019s Profile Picture.<\/strong> If the profile doesn\u2019t have a picture, just delete it. Rarely do people make accounts and not add a profile photo unless they\u2019re a bot.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>How Many Followers does the Person Have?<\/strong> If you notice that they have a handful of followers but follow thousands of accounts, remove them. This is another indicator that the account is a bot.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>When was the Last Time the Person Posted?<\/strong> If the person hasn\u2019t posted in years, their account may be inactive. People change accounts a lot.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Are those Models or Celeb Accounts Real?<\/strong> We&#8217;ve all had accounts follow us that are obviously not the real celebrity or model that they claim to be. You&#8217;ll want to remove these accounts after verifying that they\u2019re not real.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Did You Recognize the Person\u2019s Name?<\/strong> If so, and they engage with your posts a lot, keep them on your follower list.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>If you know the Person and would Rather them not Follow your Account, Remove them.<\/strong> We all have those \u201cfriends\u201d or family members that we would rather not see our posts. You can remove or even block them if you know that they\u2019ll just follow your account when it\u2019s recommended to them in the future.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, you\u2019ll want to add your own rules to this list. Once you have a good grasp of the followers that you\u2019ll remove, you can then begin removing them manually. Manual removal will take time, but you\u2019ll shortly find out why it\u2019s your best course of action.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">How To Remove<\/span> Followers Manually?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You know why you should remove some followers \u2013 if you have time \u2013 but now it\u2019s time to begin the tedious <a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-bulk-or-all-followers-on-instagram\">task of removing followers<\/a>. This method works on every device we\u2019ve tried:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Android<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> iOS<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> PC<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What you\u2019ll need to do first is <strong>log into your account<\/strong> and go to your <strong>profile<\/strong>. If you\u2019re <strong>on an app,<\/strong> you\u2019ll need to tap your <strong>profile picture<\/strong> on the bottom right of the app and go to your profile.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#e5ddce;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#fff7e8;border-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<p><strong>Now, you can follow these steps:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Tap \u201c<strong>Followers<\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Tap \u201c<strong>Remove<\/strong>\u201d<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You&#8217;ll notice a \u201c<strong>Remove<\/strong>\u201d button next to all of your followers that you can tap on to remove accounts one-by-one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you know that you have certain people that you want to unfollow and have their account name handy, you can also use the \u201c<strong>Search<\/strong>\u201d box to find the account and begin unfollowing them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that\u2019s it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Work through your account\u2019s followers, remove those who seem to either have abandoned their accounts or are bots, and you\u2019ll have higher engagement in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Be Mindful of Instagram\u2019s <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Internal Limits<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Removing followers is a lot of work, and if you\u2019re feeling overwhelmed, anyone doing this manually will relate to you. <\/span>It&#8217;s a tedious process, and if you have hundreds of thousands of followers, I wouldn\u2019t bother with your audit<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#e5ddce;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#fff7e8;border-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<p><strong>However, you\u2019ll also find that you\u2019re limited by <a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/instagram-limits\">Instagram\u2019s internal limits<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 100 \u2013 200 unfollows per day<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 60 unfollows or so an hour<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you surpass these limits, you may be fine, but it will lead to Instagram limiting your actions at some point. You&#8217;ll then need to wait until the limit is removed to unfollow more people. Instead, go through your list and remove 10 \u2013 20 followers at a time when you\u2019re bored, and you\u2019ll be on the safe side of Insta\u2019s algorithm.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Can I Use an App<\/span> to Remove Instagram Followers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You&#8217;ll find a lot of apps that can \u201chelp\u201d you remove followers. If you have hundreds of even thousands of followers, you may be tempted to download one of these apps and let them automatically delete your followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#e5ddce;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#fff7e8;border-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><b>BUT be warned, Instagram will ban your account for using automatic tools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do the apps work?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>But look at these replies from a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Instagram\/comments\/14mjm7v\/looking_for_an_instagram_unfollow_app_that\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reddit post<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> \u201cFacts, lost my account.\u201d<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> \u201cI got a warning for using one of these.\u201d<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> \u201cI can back that. I received the same notification.\u201d<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> \u201cI was shadow banned.\u201d<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Should you remove Instagram followers using an app? NO. You risk getting your <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/how-to-get-banned-instagram-account-back\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">account banned<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you do want to remove followers, conduct your Instagram followers audit and begin removing them manually. It will take a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of time, but it\u2019s worth not having your account banned and needing to restart.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven\u2019t conducted an Instagram followers audit, you may be making a huge mistake. Find out why this one thing may be stopping you from growing your account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instagram"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"John","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29839"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38220,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29839\/revisions\/38220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}