{"id":33028,"date":"2024-03-04T23:35:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T06:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/?p=33028"},"modified":"2024-04-08T04:34:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T10:34:44","slug":"how-to-find-inactive-followers-on-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/how-to-find-inactive-followers-on-instagram","title":{"rendered":"How to Find &#038; Remove Inactive Instagram Followers?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Instagram follower audit is something we recommend that every serious creator performs to keep their engagement high<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You&#8217;ll have inactive followers on Instagram \u2013 it happens to everyone \u2013 but it can negatively affect you, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We&#8217;re going to explain in great detail why these fake followers are bad for your account long-term and how to find them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You&#8217;ll also learn how to unfollow these inactive followers so that you can reclaim some of your engagement. Of course, you\u2019ll reach a point (we hope) where you have such a high following that none of this really matters. Celebrities are a great example because they can never perform a real audit on tens of millions of followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Inactive \/ Ghost<\/span> Followers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Inactive accounts, or ghost followers, are two different things, although they\u2019re very similar<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/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> <strong>Inactive<\/strong> accounts can be accounts that are abandoned by their creators. <strong>For example,<\/strong> a person may have started a photography account that they don\u2019t use anymore. While this is a real person, they simply haven\u2019t been on their account for a long time.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Ghost accounts<\/strong> may be active or inactive. What makes them a <a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/ghost-followers\">ghost account<\/a>? They are accounts that never interact with your posts or content. They may not see it in their feeds, or they may simply not appreciate it.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We&#8217;re going to focus primarily on inactive accounts because if the person isn\u2019t logging into them, they likely won\u2019t be engaging with you any time soon. You can\u2019t know with 100% certainty if an account is dormant or not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>But a good indication of an inactive account is one that\u2019s:<\/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> No longer updated<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Very outdated<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\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;\"><strong>For example,<\/strong> the person may have posted in 2019, and that\u2019s it. If this is the case, they may have another account or simply not use Instagram any longer. Even on my own personal account, I\u2019m always shocked at how many of my friends have 3 \u2013 4 accounts and only one they use. <\/div><\/div>\n<h2><strong>Why Do Inactive Followers on Instagram <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Matter?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Big deal, right? Just because a follower hasn\u2019t been on their account for quite some time it isn\u2019t the end of the world. <\/span><b>If you\u2019re not trying to build a brand of some kind (personal or business), inactive followers don\u2019t matter.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, you need to know how to find inactive followers on Instagram if you treat your account seriously because these types of followers will:<\/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> <strong>Lower Your Engagement.<\/strong> Imagine that you have 1 million followers and 25% of them are inactive. You normally receive 10,000 likes on a post, but if these 25% of followers were active, you might have 12,500 likes. Lower engagement is a major problem because it\u2019s how sponsors will determine how much to pay for your posts.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Lower \u201cLove\u201d from the Algorithm.<\/strong> If your content isn\u2019t being liked or commented on, guess what? Instagram\u2019s algorithm will notice. The platform wants you to keep your audience engaged and promotes content that is \u201cviral.\u201d If you\u2019re not receiving any engagement from followers, you will not have your content recommended or shown on the Explore page.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Lower Credibility.<\/strong> If you sell sponsored posts or are asked by a brand to promote its product, they will certainly monitor the post to see how it performs. Engagement is the main metric that they consider alongside sales. If you have a lot of bots, fake followers or inactive followers, it can damage your credibility and make it harder to monetize your following in the future.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inactive followers can cause your account growth to come to a screeching halt and <strong>negatively impact your earnings.<\/strong> You can make a lot of money on Instagram, but inactive followers will lower these earnings <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">somewhat<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your content has low engagement, it won\u2019t be suggested to others, and you will start seeing your follower growth slowing down. You want to keep your followers as active as possible, especially when growing a smaller account.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, you understand the negative damage that inactive followers will cause, so let\u2019s learn how to find them and remove them.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">How to Find<\/span> Inactive Followers on Instagram?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b>You know why inactive followers are bad, but how do you actually find them? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, Instagram doesn\u2019t make it easy for you to see who is and isn\u2019t engaging with your account. You will need to find inactive followers on your own by following the steps below:\ud83d\udc47<\/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> Go to your <strong>profile<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Tap \u201c<strong>followers<\/strong>\u201d<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can now begin opening up your followers one-by-one and looking for profiles that haven\u2019t posted in a long time, don\u2019t have pictures or have any posts. If you know this follower has another account, you can remove the account that you\u2019re on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, you will end up removing some accounts that are <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not inactive<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if you do this en masse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lot of people will browse their feeds, never interact with posts and never really post. You may end up deleting them, but if they do like your content, they may follow you again in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some apps do state that they can find inactive followers, but you might be banned in the process. Let&#8217;s see how we recommend that you unfollow inactive accounts on Instagram.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">How to Remove<\/span> Inactive Followers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inactive followers can hurt your engagement rate, even if they aren\u2019t fake accounts. It\u2019s common for people to create Instagram accounts and then stop using them. <\/span><b>But when you have a high percentage of inactive accounts following you, it can lower your engagement rate significantly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The good news is that you can <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-bulk-or-all-followers-on-instagram\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">remove followers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> using these strategies:<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>1. Find and Remove Them Manually<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best way to remove inactive followers is also the most time-consuming: manually. To manually remove inactive followers:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"sue-panel\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"self\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:0px;-moz-border-radius:0px;-webkit-border-radius:0px;box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-moz-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-webkit-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;border:1px solid #cccccc\"><div class=\"sue-panel-content su-u-trim\" style=\"padding:15px;text-align:left\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Step #1: <\/strong><\/span>Head to your Instagram <strong>profile page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17727\" src=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Click-Profile-600x382.jpg\" alt=\"Click Profile\" width=\"600\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Click-Profile-600x382.jpg 600w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Click-Profile-768x489.jpg 768w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Click-Profile.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"sue-panel\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"self\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:0px;-moz-border-radius:0px;-webkit-border-radius:0px;box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-moz-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-webkit-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;border:1px solid #cccccc\"><div class=\"sue-panel-content su-u-trim\" style=\"padding:15px;text-align:left\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Step #2: <\/strong><\/span>Tap or click \u201c<strong>Followers<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18930\" src=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tap-Followers-600x396.jpg\" alt=\"Tap Followers\" width=\"600\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tap-Followers-600x396.jpg 600w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tap-Followers-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tap-Followers.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"sue-panel\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"self\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:0px;-moz-border-radius:0px;-webkit-border-radius:0px;box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-moz-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-webkit-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;border:1px solid #cccccc\"><div class=\"sue-panel-content su-u-trim\" style=\"padding:15px;text-align:left\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Step #3: <\/strong><\/span>Check each profile to <strong>see if it\u2019s inactive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"sue-panel\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"self\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:0px;-moz-border-radius:0px;-webkit-border-radius:0px;box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-moz-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;-webkit-box-shadow:0px 1px 2px #eeeeee;border:1px solid #cccccc\"><div class=\"sue-panel-content su-u-trim\" style=\"padding:15px;text-align:left\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Step #4: <\/strong><\/span>Tap the \u201c<strong>Remove<\/strong>\u201d button next to the accounts you want to remove.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-18929\" src=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Remove-Follower-600x547.jpg\" alt=\"Remove Follower\" width=\"600\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Remove-Follower-600x547.jpg 600w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Remove-Follower-768x700.jpg 768w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Remove-Follower.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, this process could take a while. However, it\u2019s the least risky option for removing inactive followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>2. Use Tools to Identify and Remove Them<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also use third-party tools to remove followers you don\u2019t want. With these tools, you can:<\/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> Analyze your followers<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Identify inactive accounts<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Remove them<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not every tool will remove the followers. <strong>For example, <\/strong><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sproutsocial.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sprout<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will only identify them. However, this could be a really easy way to save time when removing followers manually. Use a tool like Sprout to identify all of the accounts and go down the list to remove them one by one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some tools will remove followers for you, but they can also raise flags that get your account banned. It\u2019s better to be safe than sorry, especially when trying to use third-party tools.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Once you know how to find inactive followers and remove them, spend a little time on this every week or so<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You&#8217;ll appreciate the active followers who will comment on and like your posts, increasing engagement in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inactive followers will kill your Instagram engagement. Let\u2019s learn to find them in 5 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33028","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\/33028","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=33028"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34962,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33028\/revisions\/34962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}