70. Why Cleaning instagram Followers Can Boost Sales & Engagement

When I first started using Instagram to grow my business, I quickly realized that having a large follower count wasn’t the golden ticket to success. Think of it like throwing a massive party—sure, the room is packed, but if no one’s talking to you or genuinely interested in what you have to say, what’s the point? That’s when I decided to shift my focus from how many followers I had to who was following me.

A lot of people look at my account and go, well, Brittany's had 700 followers for the last six months. Why is that? Well, the reason is that I'm very intentional about who my followers are because it impacts not only my growth on the platform, but also my revenue. I intentionally keep my Instagram follower count smaller even though I gain over 100 new followers every month. Surprising, right? But here’s the thing: it’s not about the numbers. It’s about the quality of your audience and whether they’re engaging with your content in meaningful ways.

When I clean my followers list I look for several different things, one of which is looking at who might potentially work with me, but also who do I want to work with? Having a following of ideal clients is the goal.

By “cleaning” my Instagram followers—removing bots, inactive accounts, and people who just aren’t my ideal audience—I’ve created a space where every follower matters. This approach has not only boosted my engagement but also transformed how I connect with potential clients.

If you’ve been feeling stuck in your Instagram growth strategy or struggling to see meaningful results, stick with me. I’ll show you why cleaning your social media following might just be the game-changer you’ve been looking for.

Table of Contents

• The problem with vanity metrics

• Why engagement rate matter more than follower count

• Quality over quantity: building a relevant and engaged following

• How a clean following improves content and client growth

• Tracking and improving your engagement rate

• Why buying followers is a bad ideas

• When people ask me about my following size

• How often should you remove followers?

• My motivational pep talk

• Cleaning Instagram followers - the key to take control of your Instagram growth

The Problem with Vanity Metrics

Most business owners buy into the myth that more followers equals more success—but let me tell you, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Social media metrics, like follower counts, can be deceiving. It’s easy to look at a profile with tens of thousands of followers and assume the person behind it is thriving. But when you dig deeper, you often find that a high follower count doesn’t always translate to engagement, sales, or actual business growth. Because the focus isn’t on how many people are following, but on who those people are and how they’re interacting with the content.

As I remind myself often, “The number that matters is the money in your bank account, not the number on your profile.” Vanity metrics might make you feel good temporarily, but they won’t drive the kind of meaningful growth you need to thrive.

If you’re ready to stop chasing numbers and start building a social media presence that truly works for your business, cleaning your followers is the first step. It’s time to trade in vanity for value.

Why Engagement Rate Matters More Than Follower Count

When it comes to Instagram’s algorithm, engagement is everything. The platform doesn’t just reward how many followers you have—it prioritizes content that gets likes, comments, and shares. If your audience isn’t interacting with your posts, Instagram assumes your content isn’t valuable. That is a giant problem, my friends, a low engagement rate is actually stagnating your growth. When your engagement rate is low, your visibility on feeds, reels, and even the coveted explore page takes a hit.

If you don’t know what your engagement rate is, you can use a free tool like Phlanx to check it. Watch my video here showing you how it works. Your professional dashboard on Instagram tracks many things but not your engagement rate, unfortunately.

To keep my engagement rate healthy, I’ve made a habit of regularly cleaning up my follower list. This might seem counterintuitive—why would you intentionally remove followers when growth is the goal? But the truth is, this small act can make a massive difference.

So, don’t be afraid to curate your audience. By focusing on engagement rather than numbers, you’re not just playing to win with the algorithm—you’re creating a community of loyal followers who truly value what you have to offer.

Quality Over Quantity: Building a Relevant and Engaged Following

Not all followers are created equal—and I’ve learned that a carefully curated audience far outweighs a massive, disengaged one. By focusing on relevance, I’ve cultivated a community that supports my growth and helps my content thrive.

So, who do I remove when “cleaning” my followers?

1. Competitors

   While I value collaboration over competition, competitors aren’t my target audience. They don’t contribute to engagement or conversions, and having them in your metrics can skew your content strategy. If they want to learn from me, I’d rather connect through mentorship than through a follower count.

2. Inactive Accounts

   These accounts are like empty chairs in a packed audience. They don’t clap, cheer, or even watch—they’re just there, dragging down engagement rates. Removing them keeps my audience active and my analytics accurate. Inactive accounts aren’t the same as bot followers, they belong to actual people who have stopped using their profiles. For example, a business might have rebranded or closed down and stopped using their old account. 

3. Bot Followers

   Fake followers may inflate your numbers, but they’re poison for engagement. Instagram’s algorithm thrives on interaction, and bots don’t comment, like, or share. Keeping them is like serving food to an empty table—pointless and wasteful. This is exactly why you should never buy followers, because when you do they are usually bot accounts.

This isn’t about exclusivity; it’s about effectiveness. By focusing on quality followers who genuinely resonate with my content, I create an Instagram community that feels more like the latter. And the best part? It’s a growth strategy that works for any niche or business size.

How a Clean Following Improves Content and Client Growth

When your audience is genuinely engaged, creating impactful content becomes less of a guessing game and more of a meaningful dialogue. Each post I share has a purpose—whether it’s to solve a problem, spark inspiration, or provide actionable tips for my followers. But here’s the thing: engagement is a two-way street.

If a post doesn’t perform well, it’s not just a failure—it’s feedback. It tells me something isn’t connecting, and I need to adjust. This iterative process helps me refine my messaging and ensure my content serves the right people. With a clean and engaged audience, the insights I gather are clearer, more actionable, and directly tied to the interests of my ideal clients.

Beyond improving content, a curated audience also enhances client acquisition. Instagram’s algorithm loves engagement, so the more your followers interact with your content, the more likely it is to be shown to a broader, relevant audience—including new potential clients. Cleaning your followers isn’t just a one-time task; it’s a growth strategy. By maintaining an audience of active, relevant followers, you’re setting the stage for authentic engagement and long-term success.

Tracking and Improving Your Engagement Rate

Understanding your engagement rate isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential for optimizing your Instagram strategy. Your engagement rate reflects how well your content resonates with your audience and how effectively you’re fostering meaningful interactions.

To keep track of mine, I use tools like Instagram Insights or third-party apps. These platforms help me analyze the performance of my posts and identify trends, such as which types of content spark the most engagement. They also help me spot followers who no longer add value—whether they’re inactive accounts, bots, or simply not aligned with my goals. 

Tracking your engagement rate also provides a roadmap for improvement. For example, if a particular post gets lots of interaction, it’s an indicator that my audience is really interested in this topic or content format and I should make more of it. On the other hand, content that doesn't perform well needs to be analyzed further to determine what needs to be adjusted in your content strategy.

By consistently monitoring and refining your engagement rate, you’re not just playing the numbers game—you’re actively nurturing a stronger connection with your audience. And that connection is what transforms followers into loyal clients and advocates for your brand.

Why Buying Followers is a Bad Idea

Let’s get straight to the point—buying followers might seem like an easy win, but it’s one of the worst moves you can make for your social media strategy. Why? Because fake followers don’t engage.

Without engagement, your posts are less likely to show up in the feeds of your genuine audience and won’t be shown to people who don’t yet follow you, meaning the post won’t get much reach. Have you found yourself stuck in the 200 view jail? Instagram’s algorithm thrives on activity like likes, comments, and shares. When these fake accounts stay silent, the platform assumes your content isn’t valuable, pushing you further down in visibility rankings.

Beyond that, if you’re trying to figure out what’s working or what your audience wants, those numbers are useless when half your followers aren’t real people. It’s like trying to run a marathon in the wrong direction—you’ll exhaust yourself without making progress.

And let’s talk credibility. Social media is about building trust and connection. When your audience realizes you’ve faked your numbers, it can damage your reputation. Authentic growth might take longer, but the payoff is far greater. Real followers engage, share, and support your brand—things fake accounts will never do.

When People Ask Me About My Following Size

Someone asked me a question during a masterclass, “Do you think you lose potential followers because of the size of your following”. The answer to that is heck yes, I know that I do.

I know that people have not followed me or attended my free master classes because I don't have 100,000 followers. They assume if I don’t have a large following I’m not good at what I do. It’s okay, I understand that’s a mentality some people have.

What it actually means is that those people are not my ideal clients and I technically don't want them following me because they don't understand the right metrics to track on social media.

But on the flip side of that, I know that I have probably gained followers because I don't have a large following. I know that's mind-bending logic, but there are some times where I'll look at a service-based provider and I'll be like, you have 100,000 followers. I might love you to pieces and really wanna work with you, but dollars to donuts, I can pretty much guarantee that I can't afford you.

Whether or not that's true, I don't know, because I often I don't go to their website to actually look at their prices because I have this mentality of they have a lot of followers, they must be very expensive to work with because they're an established business and sometimes I won’t follow them because I don’t want to feel sad that my business isn’t in a place where I could make the investment to work with them. 

As a service business the size of your following is a double edge sword, it can help or hinder, but ultimately, like we’ve discussed so far. The size of your following truly doesn’t matter so I recommend you don’t spend too much time thinking about it, instead let’s focus on building a community of the right followers for your business!

How Often Should You Remove Followers?

I recommend that you do go through and clean out followers once a quarter, once every six months would be okay as well. For accounts with large followings, do it once a year at least, please.

The more often you do it, the less time it takes because you're kind of looking at the list more regularly. You’ll check who has followed you since your last list cleaning and then do a quick glance through the followers you had when you cleaned last to see if any of the accounts have become inactive since. 

It can feel like a daunting task, especially if you have a lot of followers. Which is why I like to do it when I run masterclasses, or have big events in my business and I’ll send a personal message to everyone inviting them to join me for that event. Two birds one stone kind of thinking, it increases my event attendance and also cleans my list.

My Motivational Pep Talk

If you keep putting yourself out there and you keep creating content that your ideal followers love and you continue to be consistent, you are going to show up to the right people eventually. You will naturally, organically connect with the right people for your business,  it will happen and it does not matter how many followers you have. All that matters is how many people are actively giving you money and supporting your business, and no Instagram metric tracks that so don’t get hung up on the metrics it does track.

Cleaning Instagram Followers - The Key To Take Control of Your Instagram Growth

Curating a meaningful Instagram following isn’t just a strategy—it’s a commitment to creating real value for your audience and your business. Sure, it takes effort to clean up your follower list, but the rewards are undeniable. By prioritizing quality over quantity, you’re not just building a follower count; you’re building a community that truly engages, supports, and helps grow your brand.

Start small. Check your engagement rate today and scroll through your following list to identify accounts that no longer serve your goals. Remove those inactive, irrelevant, or bot followers and make space for the ones who are excited to see your content pop up in their feed. As you focus on building a targeted audience, you’ll notice a shift—not just in your numbers but in the meaningful interactions and opportunities that come your way.

Remember, the key to Instagram growth isn’t about chasing vanity metrics; it’s about creating genuine connections and a thriving, engaged community. Take control of your Instagram strategy one step at a time, and watch how this focused approach transforms your social media presence.

Ready to take your Instagram strategy to the next level? 

Start by refining your followers and boosting meaningful engagement. Ready to take the next step? Check out my Organic Engagement Playbook which is the step-by-step guide to building genuine relationships on social media that turn followers into loyal customers.

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Go Get Great Episode 70 References

engagement calculator - https://phlanx.com/engagement-calculator

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00:00 Intro

1:30 Looking at my account

2:40 Why remove followers

6:10 Who to remove to increase engagement

11:00 Market research

12:30 Do you feel you lose clients because of follower count?

15:00 Wrap up