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Why do I lose 1 followers on Instagram?

If your Instagram is suddenly losing followers, then it's probably because you've been hit by the infamous 'shadow ban'. This can be because you've been using unauthorised software, spamming (irrelevant) hashtags or posting controversial content.

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In this post, I will explain why you might be experiencing a sudden drop in your daily follower count, and how to rectify the situation going forward. A shadow ban will effectively prevent your content from being shown under the respective hashtags that have been used in the post’s captions (or comments section). To make things worse, there is no official warning when you have been shadow banned, although the sudden drop in followers should be a red flag. The best way to spot whether you have been shadow banned or not is to search through a few of the hashtags that have been used in your latest posts, and see whether your posts show up in the feed for that hashtag at all. This may be easier to do if you’ve used an obscure hashtag, as there will be fewer posts to sift through. Needless to say though, this should be checked by a second account just to be certain. Here is a screenshot of the Instagram insights for my account @unreal.tattoos. Prior to the shadow ban, the account was gaining 500-1,000 new followers per day. After the shadow ban it suddenly started losing 25-100 Instagram followers a day.

What can cause a shadow ban?

That being said though, my experience has taught me that there are multiple reasons why you can be shadow banned on Instagram. Some are more obvious than others, and they can all be avoided. Without further ado, here are some of the reasons why your account might be restricted:

Using bots

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If you’ve been using the platform for long enough, you will be aware of the now frowned-upon growth strategy called the ‘Follow/Unfollow method’. Many users were using bots to automate this method, where they would follow an account in an attempt to have them follow them back, before unfollowing them after a few days regardless. Not only has the social media platform penalised offenders with shadow bans, but they have also gone as far as banning certain users from the platform indefinitely. If you’re thinking about using bots to further your Instagram account growth, then I would highly recommend that you avoid doing so. As an alternative, if you’re looking to schedule your Instagram posts in advance then you can use Instagram-approved services such as Buffer.

Repetitive hashtags

The reason being is that the repetitive use of hashtags can be seen as a spam tactic, which could easily be done with the use of a bot, whereby you would schedule 100’s of posts in advance – all with the exact same hashtags – and then just sit back and let the followers swarm in. To avoid getting yourself shadow banned for the repetitive use of hashtags, it goes without saying that you should mix up your hashtags regularly.

Reported content

I believe that this was the main reason as to why my @unreal.tattoos account (above) received its shadow ban recently, as I had posted an image of some women on the beach in bikinis, who were covered in large tattoos. It was only a few days later though that I noticed that not only were my posts receiving less engagement, I was also losing followers too.

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After searching through each hashtag, and looking for my posts, I concluded that I had in fact been shadow banned only a few days after that reported post had been taken down.

How to remove the shadow ban

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed yet, but I haven’t yet mentioned that the shadow ban was permanent – and that’s because it isn’t. When I encountered my shadow ban, I decided to take a break from the platform for a week or two just to get myself back into Instagram’s good books. When I returned, I continued posting great content however this time with a closer eye on what I can’t post. If I ever questioned whether I should post a certain image or video; then it was an automatic ‘No’ for me. I managed to turn my fortunes around with @unreal.tattoos and reverse the shadow ban.

Conclusion

This can be because you’ve been using unauthorised software, spamming (irrelevant) hashtags or posting controversial content. To rectify the ban, it’s best to take a break before the platform and then avoid making the aforementioned mistakes going forward. Do you have any questions or feedback on this post? If so, let me know in the comment section below!

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