[FAQ]

Hello,
I’ve been working really hard on my Instagram account, and while I am gaining new followers, I also see the number drop a little bit every single day. It feels like a constant ‘two steps forward, one step back’ situation, and it can be a bit demoralising.

I’m trying to understand the main reasons why people hit the unfollow button. Is it usually because of posting frequency (too much or too little)? A change in content style? Or selling too often?

I’d love to hear what you all focus on to keep your community engaged and loyal on Instagram so they stick around for the long haul. I want to build a sustainable community, not just a leaky bucket.

[Jeff Bullas]

Focusing on retention is a sign of a mature creator who understands that community is more important than a vanity metric.

Short Answer: People typically unfollow on Instagram due to inconsistent content that drifts from your core promise, or an excessive amount of sales-focused posts that disrupt the value exchange.

The best way to prevent this is to treat every piece of image, video, and text content as a promise to your audience that you must consistently keep.

The number one reason for an unfollow is a bait-and-switch. Someone follows you because your content provides a specific type of value—for example, wellness tips. If your feed suddenly becomes filled with unrelated personal photos or pivots to a completely different topic, you’ve broken the promise you made when they first followed. The prevention is to define your core content pillars and stick to them.

The second biggest reason is over-selling. Your audience knows you need to run a business, but if your feed turns into a constant barrage of ads and sponsored posts, the value exchange becomes one-sided. A good rule of thumb is to aim for at least four value-driven, non-sales posts for every one promotional post. Finally, posting frequency matters; both posting multiple times a day and disappearing for weeks can lead to unfollows. The key is to find a consistent, predictable schedule that your audience can rely on.

Cheers,

[Author]

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