Promoted post and lost engagement

Instagram Marketing
#1

So, I started this page about 2/3 months ago, till last week I had 1650 followers and was getting 350 to 500+ Likes per post.

Then I promoted a post, got a ton of followers, but also noticed something very weird (in my opinion), I was getting followers (all real people) but not likes. Even weirder, those who followed me through the promo did not like the post. The majority of the new likes I got, were from people who didn’t follow me.

Now, the page has 2800+ followers but I only get 170 to 300ish Likes per post.

The quality of the posts hasn’t changed, and I still use the same hashtags but my reach went from 12k+ to 2/3k.

What do you think happened here?
Is this happening because of the promo or maybe because Instagram removed the Like count in my country and that’s why people were not liking the promoted post in the first place?

3 Likes
#2

You should be able to see the Like count, not your followers so that’s out of the question. The people who liked that’s from reach, organic reach. The people who follow that’s from ad post. Some third world that are supposed to follow but not engage or something.

#3

Or simply ghost followers targeting a specific hashtag or geo location who actually isn’t interested in his content but using the follow solution to get a follow back? Would you agree?

1 Like
#4

Yes, my bots :rofl:

2 Likes
#5

:joy: :joy: :joy: Damn you destroying all them engagements on IG :boom::see_no_evil: You are unstoppable
@mrspuf

2 Likes
#6

No guys, that is not it.

I don’t understand what you mean.

Not at all. It is an old post nobody was liking anymore.

This is not the first post I promote and I’ve always got more likes than followers, and people who followed did like the post first.

Also, I’m targeting one specific no third world country.

No again. Most of them have a private profile and are not doing follow/unfollow.

#7

Does the profiles look legit?
IG didn’t remove the likes for you. You should be able to see the likes but it is just hidden to others.

I do not believe this would be the case, if your content is still as it was

#8

Yes Micky, trust me they are 100% legit. Of course out of 2800+ Followers a few are people who do F/U etc… but you can count them on 2 hands.

Well, what else could it be?

#9

Just trying to see what could go possibily wrong here. Can you please check and see if you appear in the hashtags still or maybe shadowed?

#10

When you say your reach went from 12k to 2k, it’d be helpful to understand the breakdown. Out of the 12k how much was from home, hashtag, explore, ad promo vs. now 2k.

#11

Hi Cindy, now we are talking!

We’ll compare 3 posts I have not promoted.

Here’s the breakdown of my latest post:
Likes 209
Reach 3206
Impressions 4495
Home 3185
Hashtags 761
Explore 5
Other 544

Now a post from a week ago before the promo and when the like count was still shown.
Likes 569
Reach 12783
Impressions 15720
Hashtags 6658
Home 2445
Profile 161
Other 6456

And a post from 2 weeks ago:
Likes 543
Reach 13133
Impressions 17554
Hashtags 11322
Home 3495
Profile 165
Other 2572

Until last week I used to get a lot of likes very quickly, which I believe helped rank the post in very competitive hashtags, I even got number 4 for hashtags with 1.2M + posts, and stayed there for a few days.

For the 2 old posts you see those 100+ “From Profile” because of the promo. They were not there before.

By the way what goes into “Other”?

Cindy, what is going on in your opinion?

#12

Hi Micky, it seems like I’m still there. At least for the less competitive ones.

First for a 10k # and a 15k
top 9 if the hashtag has below 20k.

For hashtags 50, 100k or above I stil find my old posts but not my new ones.

What’s happening?

#13

Well I did suspect this. Now a lot of your previous likes would have come from the hashtags, but if you say your newer post are not showing for hashtags 50, 100K and above this could be an explanation. Perhaps you are shadowed or there is something going on with those hashtags.

The less competitive ones are not the ones bringing you the engagement you are used to witness.

#14

Can you please explain this to me? What happens when you’re shadowed? And why would I still show for the less competitive hashtags?

I’m not sure about this.
In the past the majority of the Likes I got were from my followers (like 70/80%).

Now I have almost double the amount of followers but I get less Likes than before.

Ok, I’ll give you numbers:

Before 1600+ Followers, used to get at least 250/300 Likes from my followers.
Now 2900+ Followers I get 150/200 Likes from my followers.

Isn’t that weird?

Moreover, I have promoted a few posts in the past and I’ve always got a ton of Likes. I did a test yesterday promoting an old post that got a lot of likes when I posted it, and out of 2840 impressions only got 44 Likes.

Lastly when I had 1600 Followers I used to get 200+ Likes from my followers in the very first hour.

Now with almost double the amount of followers I’m like if I even get to 100.

I’m telling you for some crazy reason people are not liking no more.

If you are interested we can have a look at the numbers comparing promos. Money spent vs Like received.

#15

It seems you just got bad new followers. IG tests your post with some people and only if you get enough engagement (especially comments) it unlocks more reach. IG prefers showing your posts to your NEW FOLLOWER. So if your new followers dont interact enough your reach goes down drastically.

#16

Hi Kripke, thanks for getting back to me.

That’s what I believe. But they are all real followers coming from Instagram, not some shady software or follow/unfollow. Never done any of those things.

I’ve just promoted a normal post I had on my page.

Is there a solution?

#17

IG also can give you really bad followers. Does not mean they are good because you earned them the legal way - sadly. I would try getting rid of them. They give you higher follower number but destroy your reach.

One other thing what could have happened. It’s a myth but you can read it quite often. That instagram is shutting down your reach when you stop promotion because they want you to promote more. But it’s hard to proof and there is no proof that’s why i write myth. But would also explain what happened with your account.

Or 3rd option: Someone bought fake followers for you while you had your promo running. maybe an angry competitor who saw your promoted post or something similar.

1 Like
#18

I don’t think number 3 is the case, they are real.

Option 2, mmm not too sure.

Number 1 is in my opinion the most likely. You see I got more than 1000 followers in a few short days. Who could think that a great promo could turn out to be so negative?!

Is there any software that analyzes who don’t like or comment my posts?

Or do you have any other idea on how to know who I should remove?

#19

It will be very hard to guess what it can be the cause.

Here are some options.

  1. Shadowed profile
  2. Banned hashtags (search google)
  3. Fake followers( These can look very real if high quality )
  4. Not engaging followers which results in less reach.
  5. Less attractive content
  6. Did you post outside hours your followers engage mostly?

No. Not at all weard, this is seen quite often. Do as stated above get rid of none engaging followers as they kille your ER.

What are you using to promote? And how? Maybe the source that was promoting you was giving fake like and followers? Now that IG is more strict and the cost of fake engagement is doubled, this is what you get? These are all theories.

Are you posting constantly? Not posting constantly and not being active regurlarly kills engagement.

As mentioned above IG shows your posts to bits of your followers and if they engage enough, IG will show to further followers, if the first group doesn’t engage your engagement on that specific post will die.

Hope these tips can help you find the root of your issue

1 Like
#20

Only number 4 is possible out of those.
Quality of the posts is the same and I’m still posting at the same time.
I’m sure those are not fake followers.
I honestly should look more into the banned hashtags, but I don’t think I’m using any of them.
Also, my profile isn’t shadowed (I think) I was still able to rank n14 for a 1M+ Hashtag.

I just promoted a post through the IG app. I mean…isn’t that supposed to be the safest option?

I post every day. It can happen that I skip 1 day a week. I’m also very active, reply to every comment or dm I get.

Can you please recommend me a tool or something (even a strategy to do so manually) to help me identify who those not engaging followers are?