Why Am I Losing Followers?

In today’s social media landscape, there is one metric that content creators, especially those who want to earn brand deals, should always monitor. That metric is the number of followers you have. The more real followers you have, the more attractive you become to various brands. But sometimes, the number of followers goes down instead of up. Here are 7 reasons you may be losing followers instead of gaining them:

1. You're not reaching new audiences to replace the ones who naturally unfollow. There will always be a certain percentage of people who unfollow accounts they are no longer interested in. You have to outpace the attrition with new followers to show growth. Quality content will get pushed in the algorithm, exposing your content to new viewers rather than the followers you already have. Quality content promotes virality. This is a numbers game. Only a certain percentage of people will follow you after watching your video. The more viral your post is (in terms of viewership), the higher the chance that people will follow you. For example: A video gets 1000 views and 5% of people follow, resulting in 50 followers. In contrast, a video gets 10 thousand views, resulting in 500 new followers. (This example doesn’t take into account people that viewed the video that already follow you). Post quality content consistently to gain new followers and strategically market your content.

2. You may not know your audience well enough to keep delivering what they want. It's important to know what your followers like and why they follow you. If your content is not consistent with what people followed you for in the first place, they will unfollow you and move on to someone who gives them what they want. Study your followers!

3. You're not engaging with your audience. Followers like to be seen or heard. They like to feel that they have a connection with you. If you are not actively engaging with your followers, it can feel as if your page is abandoned, even with the posting of content. Be sure to reply to comments and thank people for sharing your content.

4. Your content quality is not consistent. This can refer to your visuals (lighting, camera, etc) or the actual content of your posts (story, information, etc). People follow you and stick around because they know what to expect from you and they know they like it. Establish a quality bar for your content and don't post anything that doesn't reach that bar.

5. You are upsetting some people. This might mean that you posted something controversial. It might mean that you shared a personal opinion (political, religion, etc) that your followers disagreed with. It might have even taken them by surprise. This may refer back to knowing your audience. Some platforms are built off of controversial topics and this is expected and/or encouraged. Ask yourself, is this the kind of platform that I have built? Think twice before posting anything that some of your followers might not agree with.

6. You are using bots to boost your numbers. Besides the fact that you're breaking all the rules, bot followers inevitably fall off. Most platforms have ways of detecting bot-generated followers and likes and will pull them off. In some cases they might even shut down your account for it. Be sure all of your marketing and growth is 100% organic.

7. You are not staying in front of your followers with consistent posting. The old adage, 'Out of sight, out of mind' definitely fits in the world of social media. If you are not staying in front of your followers by consistently posting, followers may definitely consider unfollowing you, thinking the account has been abandoned. Set a schedule for yourself and post regularly.

8. Someone is pirating your content. It has become a major issue where other people steal your content and build their own followings with it. Some fake accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers. Unfortunately, sometimes it is impossible to find and report them all. And often reporting doesn't do a thing for you. But you have to try. Constantly monitor each platform for stolen uses of your content and report it immediately.