There’s an assumption that more people will follow a private Instagram account. First, let’s find out whether that’s the case.
You’ve probably encountered the situation when someone sent you a link to a hilarious Instagram meme, but the account that originally posted the meme was set to private. Well, that’s too bad. You had to follow the account and then wait for the owner to approve your follow request before you could see the message.
Nonetheless, many influential people, not just meme accounts, hide their identities online in order to build their fan bases. In this article, we will explore the question of whether or not it is beneficial to make your Instagram profile private in order to attract a larger audience.
Distinctions Between a Private and Public Instagram Account
Beside the obvious distinctions in how you may control who sees what in the account, there are a few more factors to keep in mind:
Company and Creative Instagram accounts cannot be made private in this manner.
If you have a public Instagram account, you get access to Instagram Insights (analytics).
You may toggle between your Company and Creative profiles on public profiles.
Instagram allows public accounts to pay to promote their content and gain more followers.
As you are the only one who can decide who follows you and views your posts, your public account is private.
Instagram: How to Make Your Profile Invisible to the Public?
Go to your Instagram’s settings and toggle the private account option on.
In case you were wondering, Instagram Business and Creator accounts can’t be made private. First, you’ll need to go back to your Personal account, and then you may take the aforementioned steps.
What happens if you tag a private post with a hashtag or a location?
If you set your account to private and then add hashtags under your posts, only your followers will be able to see your material when using those hashtags to search. Similarly, only your chosen followers will be able to view your geotags and Reels.
The reasons why Instagrammers choose to make Private Account
Users may want to limit access to their accounts for a variety of reasons. Several examples are shown below.
Get a larger number of Instagram followers
Popular meme accounts and influencers in the years between 2018 and 2020 sometimes choose to keep their profiles secret, although their fan bases expanded anyway. Making an Instagram account private is thought to increase its popularity among users.
To read the material, users must follow the accounts and then send each other direct messages containing links to the postings. Then, if the material is no longer engaging, you may easily overlook the need to unfollow it.
Safeguard the material they’ve put out
Only the individuals you’ve approved as followers may view your posts while your account is set to private. Those who aren’t already following you will not be able to see your posts, Reels, or stories, even if they are shared with them by someone who is.
Don’t lose any of their current fans
Some data suggests that the percentage of people who choose to unfollow a public profile is higher than that of a private one. One cause was the confirmation window that appeared when users tried to unfollow a private account; this window has now been removed. Several folks were encouraged to stay because of this.
Avoiding being reported, of course.
Sometimes it is annoying when competitors or haters complain an account or content placed on the profile to Instagram, causing the account to be blocked. Influencers, meme accounts, and corporations may prevent this by setting their profiles to private and managing the follow requests themselves.
Safeguard their account from automated attacks
A rival who has never heard of fair competition may believe it’s a good idea to buy bots and use them to damage your account. This may be avoided by making the account private.
What Happens to My Instagram Followers If I Make My Account Private?
First, we’ll look at the possibility that consumers could want to protect their privacy. Some people think that limiting who may view the profile would boost its popularity. Does that make sense?
When an account’s information is readily available to the public, it may seem unnecessary to continue following it. When users click on an ad or receive a direct message (DM) that links to a private account, they end up following that account even though it doesn’t provide the content they were looking for.
But if the material itself ceases to be interesting and engaging, all the intrigue in the world won’t bring back the consumers. This is why, after following a private Instagram account and perusing its posts, users often decide to unfollow it if they find the content to be irrelevant to their interests.
In conclusion, temporarily hiding your identity by hiding your account may help. For instance, after teaming up with a major account that drives visitors to your site. Yet, in the long run, you’ll miss out on a lot of prospective followers who won’t stumble across your profile otherwise.
Should I Make My Instagram Account Private to Get More Likes?
The aforementioned advantages of locking down one’s account are substantial, and they should not be overlooked.
But there is a major downside that will impact how well your Instagram account does: you risk losing a lot of prospective followers.
The Explore page and the results of searches using hashtags and location tags will include your posts once you’ve made your account public. Not everyone feels comfortable enough to follow a new account, even if a buddy recommends it in a direct message. Some people find it bothersome.
Moreover, private profiles do not provide profile statistics, making it impossible to evaluate progress and performance. In order to expand your account successfully, analytics may point you in the correct way by revealing which metrics are most important to focus on.