How to stop the spambots follow – unfollowing you

Is this happening to you on Social Media? Do you get lots of new followers one day and then watch as they gradually unfollow you over the following few days?

It sucks, but it’s all part of being social and the first thing to do is stop worrying about it.

Being unfollowed is great. It means that those spammy accounts are no longer part of your community you don’t want them anyway! They never comment on your posts, they have no interest in your feed or your content, and you’ll never collaborate or do business with them.

The good news is that there is a way to stop this happening.

Here are five quick tips that you can put into practice right now that will slow down the spambots and boost your social media following and engagement.

These are especially powerful on Instagram, but the principles apply to all social media platforms, so take note.

#1 Check your hashtags

If you’re using broad hashtags with millions of posts, they’re likely to be attracting the spammers.

Check your hashtags and make sure they are relevant to your business. Put each hashtag into the search box on Instagram and look at the number of posts for that hashtag. If it’s got more than 1 million posts then it’s highly likely that the spambots are using it to target posts. Try using hashtags with fewer posts (between 5,000 and 100,000 is a good number) as these tags are less likely to be used by the spammers.

#2 Give value in your posts

Just like on any other social network, if you give lots of value or entertainment or inspiration then the right people will want to stick around, and you’ll start getting love notes!

#3 Do not partake in spammy practices

Yes I know you want to grow your following. But a large following means zilch. What’s important is relationships. Don’t use auto commenting bots, you’ll get zero engagement in your feed. It’s like attracting ghosts! They might be there but you’ll never hear from them.

#4 Do not follow irrelevant accounts

Again this is a practice I hear so many Social Media experts touting. Of course following others IS important when you are just starting out on social. In order to be inspired and to get noticed you should be following others daily. It’s a community after all, so being engaged with others is a fundamental part of growing your own tribe. But remember, the accounts you follow should be relevant to your business or feed!

Ask yourself:

Do I want to be noticed by this account?
Do I want the followers of this account to notice me?
Do I want to be inspired by this account (great to spark your creative juices!)

#5 Be consistent

This is one of the most important tactics for every social media platform.

If you do this you will attract more REAL followers than spambots. If you post at least once a day, those who love your feed will start to look forward to your posts. The Instagram algorithm will play to this and show your posts to more people.

There you have it, five quick tips that you can implement immediately and stop the merry-go-round of spammy follow-unfollow practices.

Lets make social media a better community by building relationships mindfully.