Followers are the measure of your popularity, power and authority on Instagram.
The number of followers you have says a lot about your account, but did you know that how many people you follow can also factor into the equation?
The equation we’re talking about is the almighty Follow Ratio or follower to following ratio, which is the number of Instagram followers an account has relative to the number of accounts they follow. Once seen as a vanity metric, this ratio has become somewhat of a status symbol and plays an important role in how people view your account– leading to its latest moniker, “The Cool Ratio”.
More importantly, having the wrong ratio could result in not being followed… and that’s not cool 🙂
Calculating Your Follow Ratio
Calculating your account’s Follow Ratio is relatively simple using the formula below:
Your Follow Ratio = Number of Followers ÷/ Number of Accounts Followed
A Follow Ratio of 1 means the number of followers you have is the same as the number of accounts you follow.
A Follow Ratio of greater than 1 means you have more followers than accounts you follow.
A Follow Ratio of less than 1 means you have fewer followers than accounts you follow.
Here are some examples of the formula in action:
1000 followers ÷ 100 accounts followed = a follow ratio of 10 or 10:1
1000 followers ÷ 2000 accounts followed = a follow ratio of 0.5 or 1:2
What Your Follow Ratio Says About Your Account
Your Follow Ratio says something about your Instagram account’s quality, status and popularity. Many users decide who to follow based on an account’s Follow Ratio. Although an ideal Follow Ratio doesn’t really exist, there are some general benchmarks you can use to determine what kind of message yours is sending and whether or not your account is one to follow.
A Follow Ratio of < 0.5 = Spam
A Follow Ratio between 0.5 and 1 = Low Quality
A Follow Ratio of 1:2 = Average
A Follow Ratio of 2:10 = Quality/ Micro Influencer
A Follow Ratio of 10:100,000+ = Influencer
As you can see, a low Follow Ratio can indicate a spam or poor quality account, while a higher Follow Ratio can convey prestige and a potentially interesting account. When users are deciding whether or not to follow your Instagram, your Follow Ratio can be the deciding factor.
How to Improve Your Follow Ratio
So what can you do if your Follow Ratio is less than ideal? Well, you can unfollow a few accounts but that typically won’t do the trick.
In truth, there really is only one way to improve your ratio, and that’s through Instagram growth.
Boosting your follower count is guaranteed to improve your Follow Ratio and level up the status of your account. Some Instagrammers turn to bots or fake followers for a quick fix, but these won’t yield the long term value and results your account needs to succeed (check out our article on The Do’s and Don’ts of Instagram Growth for more on that).
Manual, organic growth is the best strategy for sustainable Instagram growth that will improve your account’s quality and Follow Ratio. Growing your following the right way ensures your account is populated by a community of engaged, active followers– the type of followers that make you look good and get your content seen. And for this type of growth, AiGrow is the ideal solution.
AiGrow is a complete Instagram management and growth solution designed to build your account the right way; with real, relevant, AI targeted followers that improve your account’s quality and boost your Follow Ratio.
Elevate your account with our advanced suite of tools, or get an expert growth assistant working on fully managed manual, organic growth to take your Instagram to the next level.
Your Instagram account can be a success, so give it the best with AiGrow.
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