5 Reasons You're Losing Instagram Followers and How to Fix It

No, we aren't talking about buying followers or bots! Building a strong social media presence helps you build your business, share your thoughts and meet like-minded people. 

In the current scenario when the pandemic seems to be ravaging the country, social media has served as a powerful tool for many people to exchange leads about COVID-19 treatments and oxygen supplies. So, if you want to give a boost to your social media profile, here's help. Business digital content creator, entrepreneur and podcaster, Raj Shamani, tells Cosmo all about the mistakes you could be making on your Instagram profile and how to fix it:

Engage with your followers

"Budding content creators don't engage enough with their current audience, they always look to get more followers but not engage with their existing audience, spending more time with people who already follow them is an important strategy to win the hearts of your audience", says Raj. So, reply to comments, DMs and like posts of your followers. 

Original content is king 

While it is nice to give a shoutout to another creator with inspired content once in a while, originality is key. "The biggest issue with budding creators is that they try to copy the content of other creators who are trending rather than making their unique content. Experimenting is good but content creators should stick to their niche, audience wants to see the creators original content and not someone else copied content," says Raj.  

Do not skip analytics

Most of the social media platforms provide an insight software to their users that allows them to know their post statistics. So, make the most of it. Raj agrees, "Budding content creators don't realise how important data analytics is and they don't take their data seriously. Most people don't see their insights and data and make relevant decisions based on that. How will a creator be able to find product-market fit if they don't understand? A creator should see, analyze and evaluate their data. Check at what time you are getting the maximum reach when you share your content, what kind of post is working, when do you have the most no. Of active audience. Hence it's very important to check the data for correct decision making." 

Make more post series

Contrary to popular opinion, you don't have to be a regular poster to rake up followers. Just make sure they are regular and in sync. "One of the common mistakes is not making your content episodic. It doesn't matter if you post every day, once a week or once a month. But you should make it episodic and interesting. Say for instance, like a television serial where people are just waiting for 9 pm prime time to watch the specific series. This will help a creator to build a loyal audience."

Do not follow trends, create your niche 

Raj says, "Focusing too much on width and not on depth is another major mistake creators make. Focus on depth and cater needs of everyone who follows you instead of trying to cater needs of 10 other group of people who aren't your followers. Do everything for the 5 people who follow you instead of 500 people who are yet to follow you."