Purge your Followers, Bring an Instagram Account Back to Life
You don't have to start from 0, but reviving an old Instagram account will take time
Recently, someone asked me what would be the best way to grow an old, inactive account.
As you already know, Instagram rewards consistency. This makes growing an inactive account harder. The followers you may be having on this account might never see your content again as the algorithm would push other accounts, more regular and consistent ones, that they follow.
Growing an inactive account is a lot different than growing a new one.
And for this reason, many people get discouraged after they try reposting on an older account.
That’s partly why you will hear people say that they don’t like Instagram anymore, and why the free organic reach you get on TikTok is better.
But here are some truths that are worth keeping in mind:
- Instagram still converts a lot more than TikTok.
- Growing an inactive account requires some prep work.
- You won’t get an incredible engagement overnight.
So pay attention to what follows if you haven’t posted in a long time, or if you’re considering posting on an old account that you have.
The first step would be to get rid of your inactive followers. Go through your existing followers and remove all the inactive, spammy, or fake accounts.
You will probably end up purging 20 to 40% of your followers, but this will help you start with a cleaner account and a higher engagement rate.
Then, go through your DMs and start engaging if you can. If you have conversations that you left pending or find ways to engage in any way with the existing messages you have, do it.
Another good practice would be to notify your followers that you will start being active again. You can manually DM some of your followers and let them know. This will help the algorithm see some activity back, and you may even show on their feed.
If you don’t know how to DM, start with your existing DMs. Reaching out to someone with whom you already had some contact will be easier.
Finally, stick to a schedule. Be consistent and regular. Post regularly, even if it’s hard, even if you’re not getting the results you were expecting. Instagram is a patience game, and too many people give up before it pays off.
Be gentle with yourself. Instagram is now a lot harder than it used to be when you had an account and were actively posting.
There are other ways to bring an account back to life, and if you know some, I would love for you to share them with me to talk about it.
Do you feel like you tried everything to grow on social media and especially Instagram? Hopefully, what follows will be the last thing you will have to do to reach your goals.
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