When it comes to Instagram, it’s not enough to post content and hope for the best. Your followers should be consistently interacting with your content by liking, commenting and sharing. This type of engagement is crucial for securing sponsorships that bring in revenue, boosting your brand image, and improving conversions.

If you have noticed that your Instagram engagement is down, these could be the reasons why it’s declining.

1. Difference In Content

Your followers are following you for a reason. When you deviate too far from the content they have come to expect, you will likely notice that your Instagram engagement is down compared to when you post content that is on-brand. For example, if you currently manage a channel that focuses on carpentry, and suddenly begin posting lifestyle photos, this might not be received well by your followers.

read this article on How to Create Engaging Instagram Posts

2. Weak Captions

Instagram is a social media platform that relies heavily on visuals. This makes your caption the second most important thing that should be resonating with users. While brevity might work for certain brands (such as photography brands), weak captions that don’t support your image will likely turn followers away. Try including a call-to-action within your posts, like heading over to your blog for a behind-the-scenes of your latest photoshoot or your thoughts on a trending industry topic.

read this article on How to Create Best Instagram Captions.

3. Inconsistent Posting

Do you find yourself posting three times a week one week, and then just once another? This inconsistency is likely why your Instagram engagement is down. Your users should be able to anticipate when they will be seeing content from you, making a posting schedule crucial to maintaining your brand. It doesn’t matter whether you post once a week or several times, as long as you stay consistent.

Since it might be a little difficult to stay consistent with posting, there are tools you can use to schedule your Instagram posts weeks before and guarantee your consistency.

4. Too Many Sponsored Posts

Today’s Instagram user is well accustomed to seeing sponsored posts on their feed. However, if these overshadow your unique content, you will find yourself losing followers quickly. These can seem inauthentic and make users feel like they are constantly being sold something – and nobody wants to follow an advertisement.

5. Too Many Product Posts

In the same vein, if you’re a business, too many self-promotional posts will quickly turn followers away. Users want to engage with a brand and see content that resonates with their lifestyle. Posts that frequently focus on pushing your service or product will feel too self-serving and provide no value to followers (especially those who have already purchased from you in the past).

6. Reposting Old Content

While it’s acceptable to repurpose old content occasionally, be wary of relying on this tactic when your content becomes stale. Longtime followers will be able to tell that you are doing this, and will quickly grow bored of the content that you are sharing. After all, why follow an account when you’ve seen all of their images already?

7. Too Corporate

Does your Instagram feed appear to be too buttoned-up and formal? An overly-corporate feel can turn off many of your followers, even if that is the vibe of your business. Try incorporating some behind-the-scenes posts to add a human element to your channel.

8. Practices Outside of Instagram

Even the most stellar Instagram content won’t receive positive engagement if your customers have a negative experience with your brand. Poor customer service, a malfunctioning product, and other bad practices could result in a decline in engagement. Try looking inward to see if there are ways you could improve company operations and customer service.

9. Bots & Fake Accounts

Instagram has a lot of competition. Though it can be tempting to use bots in order to garner more followers, avoid this practice at all costs. Instagram recently updated its algorithm, and many of your fake followers are being deactivated by the droves. If you’ve noticed your Instagram engagement is down, this could mean that you are losing followers that added no value, to begin with. It’s better to use automation instead to be able to schedule your posts for when your audience is actually online or send DMs automatically, which will save you time without resorting to having robots as followers.

10. Poor Communication with Followers/Customers

When it comes to engagement, consider how you are communicating with your followers. Remember to respond to comments and messages that you receive. Try responding to DMs from your desktop instead of your phone, which can make it easier to type. You can also try scheduling your posts for the next few weeks instead of trying to remember to post daily.

By taking the time to understand why your Instagram engagement is down, brands can easily develop new strategies to give their following a boost. In the meantime, to guarantee improved engagement every time you post, take advantage of AiGrow’s auto engagement pods for free today.