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IG: How to deal with friends who don’t follow back
Sorry if this has been asked before. I do photography – to give context I have about 2500 followers on Instagram, not very much but I‘m also not someone who is extremely active trying to get more followers. I also won 12 awards so I‘d say my work isn’t rubbish.
There’s just one thing I struggle with: close friends I engage with, but who either:
1. do follow back but don’t engage back and are otherwise active2. same as above but their last post is from 2 years ago
3. who don’t even follow back
So far I‘ve been following the paradigm: they are friends / family (or at least friends of family) so I‘m just going to accept it.
But lately I’ve been feeling like purging my list of accounts that aren’t interested in my work.
So what is the best practice? Would you consider IG to be „just business“ and unfollow? Or is IG still a place where friendships should count?
Thanks ????
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1 Reply
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What’s the goal of your account? If it’s just to show your work to friends + some others as bonus, then why does it matter if they don’t follow you back?
If you’re trying to promote your photography, then you should probably be following other photographers and people in your industry
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You shouldn’t force anyone to follow or engage. You should create content and be consistent and followers will happen organically.
Asking your friends to follow or engage with your work is tacky, they might not find your work appealing as we dont all LOVE everything our friends do.
I have acting friends who I personally think their work kinda suck.. I support em from a distance. I also have musician friends who absolutely suck at music but keep going regardless as its their passion and im not gonna pretend to like it by going to their shows or like/comment on stuff.
Do you, grow your skillset and have fun in the process
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I’m in the same boat, I would love some more friend/family likes and engagement. I sat through their MLM meetings, I bought the $$$ cookie dough for their kids fundraisers, getting some support in return would be nice!
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Instagram can honestly be considered as one of the most toxic platforms ever. I suggest you download the app UnfollowPro from GooglePlay. It allows you to keep track of those who unfollow or doesn’t followback. This way you don’t have to stress about looking up the people who don’t follow you back in your Following list! This was a game-changer for me allowing me the option to click the unfollow back button. There are other similar apps like Unfollowers&Followers, you just gotta find the best ones that work for you. #notsponsored
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I think this is less of a social media question and more of a personal question. I see it on tiktok a lot.
Personally I wouldn’t put too much energy into worrying about it.
I’d say if you aren’t interested in seeing your friends/familys content and they aren’t following you back – I’d just unfollow.
There’s no reason for anyone to get upset – 1. They aren’t following or engaging with you anyway. 2. It’s a photography account not a personal account. The unfollow isn’t personal, you are just cleaning up. 3. They probably won’t even notice.
It sounds like you are taking this account more seriously and that may mean you don’t follow family/friends on it. I see nothing wrong with that.
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WTF it doesn’t matter either way, it sound like a weird petty pity party for yourself. lol
Don’t expect stuff from friends, they aren’t your target audience. lol -
From your point of view I used to feel this way and instead just focused on my friends who do support me. On my page I literally only post my business or motivational content so I don’t waste time wondering why people don’t like or support. My own siblings never support me online and I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole life. There’s a saying that goes people want to see you doing good, just not better than them.
On the flip side I unfollow people who are my friends in real life if I feel like their content is toxic. For example a guy or girl always posting sexual content or bashing the other gender. Besides that I try to show support and sometimes will go on a spree sharing my friends post on my story.
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90 percent of the time, they like you just as much as you suspect and are considered friends. I had a friend who was super jealous and it was magnified on IG. She refused to like anything I posted or celebrated but then would ask me things about the work I was producing because she really wanted to work up to that level. So for that person, I unfollowed them and made sure I steered clear of their antics. On the bright side of things, there are people who can not notice everything you do because well, tech. It is just tech and it is not completely reliable. Sometimes people notice your work days and weeks after the fact so why be upset with them?
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