Why Do You Get Random Instagram Followers in 2019?
If you are active on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed random people following you now and then. And if you’re not Kim Kardashian, chances are you have tried to figure out what exactly causes those spikes.
Sometimes an account can get a thousand new followers in a couple of hours. While such attention can be flattering, not all random Instagram followers are good. Your fame can become a pain, and here’s why.
Most random followers are bots
A bot is NOT a real person. These accounts are created via automated services that marketers use to grow followers quickly.
With Instagram promotion tools, you can launch a program that will automatically like, post comments, and follow other accounts. Lazy marketers use such services to be active on their behalf to get followers on Instagram and promote their profiles.
In these tools, there is an opportunity to set a random comment that your bot will use on Instagram, for example, “Cool!”, or even a more straightforward option like “Go follow me on Instagram.” Also, you are free to choose emojis and hashtags for your bots to use, which usually are locations (e.g., #London, #waterfall), descriptions (#yellow), or trends (#vegan).
Bots spot your activity on Instagram such as likes on posts of other accounts and then follow you to make you follow them back. If you don’t, most likely, the bot will unfollow you soon. If you see random likes on Instagram, bots can be the reason as well.
Why bots are bad
Though bots may seem harmless at first sight, they can ruin your Instagram presence in several ways:
- A bot won’t bring you sales (If you use Instagram for business)
- If your followers are mostly bots, your posts will have low engagement (likes and comments) which can be a reason for Instagram’s feed algorithm to decrease your organic reach.
- Bots affect your brand reputation. If there are lots of bots following you, your account looks dead and unprofessional.
But there are not only bots
Random followers can be real users as well. That happens because people search for the posts with hashtags (for example, #fashion, #cars, #Barcelona)
Attention: Hashtags you use are critical. If you use irrelevant hashtags on your posts, you shouldn’t get surprised at random people following your account. So be sure to collect only meaningful hashtags for your Instagram posts.
Finally, if you are active in the comments of other Instagram accounts and follow random famous people, their followers will naturally click on your profile from comment threads. Some of them might want to follow you.
Your actions
Here’s what you can do if random followers on Instagram bother you:
- Make your profile private. To do that, go to Settings > Privacy > Account Privacy and set your account to private. In this case, you’ll be able to moderate your follow requests.
- If you used an online tool or a mobile app, log out and change the password. Also, stop following random people on Instagram manually.
- Learn how to tell real users from bots. Fake profiles look empty or unrealistic, their feeds often have few weird publications posted on the same day. And if real people follow you, there’s nothing to worry about. Try to engage them by posting interesting content and chat with your followers in the comments.
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