What to Do When You Get Unfollowed (to protect your mental health & grow your business!)
For today’s blog post, I’d like to talk to you about something that happens to everyone who’s trying to grow their following: getting unfollowed. More importantly, we’re going to discuss what to do when you get unfollowed that would be helpful to you and your business! Check out the video version by clicking the “play” button below, or keep scrolling for the written version below the video.
One day, you might log on to Instagram, YouTube, your email list, (or wherever else you have followers) to casually check your follower numbers (expecting to see a higher number), and then your stomach drops. Somehow, you’ve actually lost followers! Maybe there were just a few, or maybe even a lot of unfollows. Possibly even from people you know and admire. You start thinking things like, “Was my last post not good enough? Do they not like my content? Do they not like me? Ahh! It can be really stressful playing the “why” game!
In all honesty, there could be a million reasons why someone would decide to click that unfollow button, and the chances that you’ll ever really know every single reason are slim to none. More importantly though, it’s really not good for our mental health to speculate and ask ourselves these kinds of questions. (Also, if you’re asking yourself these kinds of questions I highly suggest you check this post I created that will help you understand the importance of the questions you ask yourself and how to ask yourself more helpful questions: Mindset Hack for More Positivity & Productivity
So, what should you do when people unfollow you that would be helpful to you? Good news, I have 5 suggestions. Here are five things to remember when you get unfollowed:
1. It’s Normal
Unfollows happen to literally everyone trying to build an audience online. At first you might notice every single lost follower, and depending on your personality or life experiences it might feel like rejection, but I want to reassure you that it’s normal to get unfollowed, and it is also very normal to feel that way at first. But, as you keep going, it WILL get easier. Over time, you’ll see that if you’re losing some followers, but overall you’re still growing, then you’re still growing! And, in all reality, that’s actually the normal path to growing your following. Follower growth tends to happen as more of a wavy line than a straight one (confused? Check out the video above).
2. Don’t Assume the Worst
The reality is, you just don’t know why someone unsubscribed or unfollowed, so don’t assume your content is bad or the person who unfollowed has an attitude about it. Maybe the person who unfollowed has been having a tough time feeling overwhelmed and they really love your content, but are just stepping away as an act of self care. Or, maybe they want to consume your content on one platform, but not this one.
Or, maybe your content triggered them, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It could mean you’re being brave. My point is, there are a lot of reasons to get unfollowed and it’s just not helpful to assume the worst and create a hurtful story about every single unfollow, you’ll only drive yourself crazy doing that.
3. Keep the Big Picture in Mind
You might not know the specific reason why each follower left, but overall, people unfollow a social media account because it’s no longer relevant to them. Does that mean your brand is no longer relevant in general? No, it just means that your brand wasn’t right for THAT specific person at THIS specific time. If you’re still gaining followers overall, you’re probably doing just fine in spreading the word about your brand.
The truth is, you don’t need every single follower to stay with you. That’s not the goal. In the marketing world, there’s a term referred to as “conversion”. This can be pretty much summed up as “when the person you’re trying to market to, does the thing you’re trying to get them to do (like, when a follower becomes a client or buys your product).” When it comes to the big picture, the only kind of following that’s valuable for your business to have is one that will convert from followers to customers. Big picture, people who unfollow probably aren’t the ones who are going to help you grow your business anyway. So, in the scheme of things, losing followers that aren’t going to convert anyways, doesn’t impact your business.
I hope we can all collectively take the focus off of the numbers of followers we have, and focus more on making sure we have the right following. Really, you just need a small number of dedicated followers (which are those people who are going interact with your account, purchase your product or take your advice) to make your brand truly successful. I’ve seen it again and again — there are Instagram accounts with maybe 5,000 followers who have created a lot of success for themselves - I’ve even seen it with people who have a million dollar business. On the other hand, I’ve seen accounts that have 50,000 followers but next to no revenue. I know you’ve heard it before, but not everything is as it seems on Instagram, or on any social media platform for that matter. So, focus on the followers you have that WANT to hear what you have to say. These are the type of followers that can really make your brand take off. And remember, more followers doesn’t necessarily mean more financial success.
4. Learn What You Can
Keep an eye on your analytics, and you might notice a trend and gain insight that can be helpful to you. Educate yourself on normal “unfollow” or “unsubscribe” rates for whatever platform you’re trying to grow, and if your unsubscribe rates are higher than average, consider if what you are posting doesn’t resonate with your audience, or if you had the wrong audience in the first place for the content you want to share. Or, (and this can be difficult), if you behaved in a way where people are finding it hard to continue to root for you, like if you had an integrity or morality breach. You want to see what you can learn from that as well.
5. Use Your Energy Elsewhere
Worrying about losing followers takes a lot of time, and a lot of emotional energy. This energy has way better uses! Instead of worrying about the people you’ve already lost, focus on serving the people that DO follow you and who DO root for you. If you’re creating content that adds value and keeps your audience’s needs in mind, keep the blinders on! Constantly watching who or how many people unfollow can be a huge energy drain. Please, please use this energy to write your book, respond to emails, come up with new post ideas, or something, really anything that will have you feeling like you’re moving forward.
To summarize, here are the things I want you to remember the next time you get unfollowed and you’re feeling bad about it:
Remember it’s normal (and it happens to all of us)
Don’t assume the worst - it might not even be about you
Keep the big picture in mind - the RIGHT following is a lot more important than a large following
Learn what you can from the experience
and,
Use your energy elsewhere because there are a LOT more productive things you can do than monitor who isn’t following you on an online platform. I guarantee you’ll feel much better after knocking a few things off your to do list, than if you use that energy to obsess over unfollows.
I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post. And, if you want in on ALL the free resources I have for entrepreneurs, sign up for my email newsletter. Once you sign up, you’ll get instant access to my free resources library, which has a bunch of awesome downloads and links that I don’t share anywhere else, like PDF guides to help you get clarity, grow your instagram following, and links to my favorite books, the software I use to run my business and more. If you want to join my email newsletter and get all those free resources, head to sarahdeshaw.com/free-resources to sign up.