Have you ever experienced getting less likes on Instagram? Perhaps, you’ve witnessed some kind of unexplainable silence as you were on your regular day? If you’ve been consistently providing the same level of quality and value to your audience, and yet somehow, you get less likes and comments drastically, you may be experiencing a “shadow ban.”

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@1alexkhan”]Getting less likes on Instagram? Maybe you are shadow banned. Find out here…[/tweetthis]

What Is Shadow Banning on Instagram?

Shadow banning is a term used when a social media platform suddenly – accidentally or not – removes your visibility. In a nutshell, they just ban you without you knowing. On your end, everything will look exactly the same as before, but on your viewer’s end, they can’t see your new posts.

How to know why your account is getting less likes on instagram?

First and foremost, the most noticeable change you will see is the engagement rate you get. You and everybody else should experience a huge decrease in likes and comments – even if you used the same strategy yesterday or the hour ago.

The next thing you need to do is to first search for one of the hashtags you’ve used and look for your new post in the “recent section.” However, instead of using your account and device, you should use for another one. Remember, on your end; everything is fine, it’s on your audience’s end where there’s a problem.

Here is an example from PetaPixel from a photographer who is having this kind of issue:

As you see the first screenshot, using their uploader account, the circled post is still there. But when you see the second one using a different account, it’s absolutely missing.

Instagram’s Reaction

Believe it or not, there is a pinned post on Instagram for Business attending to this matter: https://www.facebook.com/instagramforbusiness/posts/1046447858817451

Here’s the first two paragraph:

“We understand users have experienced issues with our hashtag search that caused posts to not be surfaced. We are continuously working on improvements to our system with the resources available.

When developing content, we recommend focusing on your business objective or goal rather than hashtags. Having a growth strategy that targets the right audience is essential to success on Instagram.”

Although they did apologize, there are still so many users who are disappointed as this is still an ongoing problem for them.

Here’s one of the top comments from Bash Jelen:

“I’ve reported my problem literally 50 times to no avail. I’m an aspiring professional photographer, and I’ve been “shadowbanned” for the past 3 months. I have done nothing wrong, i use appropriate, unbanned hashtags and post ONCE a day, if not less. Please figure this out. Instagram account: @bashjelen”

In a few words, Instagram is asking the victims to focus more on their content and marketing scheme rather than using hashtags as of the moment. The fact that the biggest marketing element on Instagram is the hashtag system itself, it seems that it’s an ongoing loophole.

How can you find out if you are shadow banned on Instagram?

You are probably asking yourself, if you are getting less like on instagram because you are shadow banned, too? Here are three simple steps to find out.

Step 1: Upload a photo and use the hastag #wekhan and tag me with my username @1alexkhan

Step 2: Follow me @1alexkhan (Find more instagram growth tips there)

Step 3: Send me a message and I will reply back within 24 hours and let you know.

My Two Cents

For the time being, I sympathize for those with this kind of problem as there isn’t anything you can do to resolve it. Instagram itself is fixing this and – hopefully – progress should be on the way. The only thing you have right now is to be patient and adapt to improvise your marketing strategy on the platform. If you have any questions, please add me on instagram here.

I’d also like to stress out that even if you’re a victim, it would be in your best interest to avoid ranting or posting something disrespectful. I, or if not all, understand your situation, but cursing isn’t going to help your brand get more exposure – it’s going to let your audience see the wrong side of you. Remember, only a minority is having this kind of issue, and if you suddenly place a big rant on the platform, most people will just judge you.

Instead of wasting your energy on the negativity, why not engage in another approach such helping or praising your targeted audience out by placing long comments. Or, you can DM your followers and tell them the issue you. You can even leave them with a schedule as to when you’re going to post something new so they can manually check it out. Although you can’t fix the shadow banning issue, you can find other ways to manage through it and make the best of what you’ve got.

If you have more concerns, let me help you. You can contact me here or on my social media accounts. I’ll be more than happy to help you out.