Time for an Instagram reset?

Clear out deactivated followers and reset your algorithm for a new experience

Time for an autumn cleaning! No, not in the house, but on Instagram. Because the platform is announcing two updates that will make it easy for users to both reset their algorithm and delete inactive followers. How does that work exactly? We’ll tell you below!

Remove deactivated followers

Last week, another update was spotted where you can now see which of your followers are deactivated on the platform and how you can remove these followers with one click if you wanted to. Now, of course, the question is: why would you want this for your brand?

For starters, this number of followers can affect your stats because all your average performance metrics are divided by the total number of followers you have. So your engagement rate and reach data can be affected, depending on how you measure them. In addition, these followers can also have a big impact on your lookalike audience. If you take your Instagram followers as your base target audience, these deactivated accounts will also be included in that and may have a negative effect on your ad campaigns.

Reset your algorithm

The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, shared recently that they are now testing an algorithm reset at the platform. The first users would already be able to perform this reset through their settings. Once you perform a reset, you basically start from scratch and your algorithm will have to get to know you all over again. Over time, the platform will again show content based on the content and accounts you interact with.

Instagram clean-up: yes or no?

As a brand, are you transitioning into another industry or are you going to tap into something else? Or does your algorithm completely misalign with your brand at the moment? If so, we would definitely recommend considering an algorithm reset. In addition, are you doing a lot of ads on Meta where you use your Instagram followers as a target audience? And are a large proportion of your current followers deactivated? Then removing these followers would also definitely be worth thinking about.