What happens when your follower count starts to drop off? And what can you do? Losing followers can impact your company’s visibility and engagement on the platform. Let’s take a look at why follower count matters, how to track unfollows, and how you can regain lost followers to improve retention.
Why follower count matters for businesses
A growing follower base is a clear indicator that your brand is attracting attention and engaging the right people. For businesses, a high follower count can translate into increased visibility, trust, and potential leads. Each new follower represents someone interested in your content, products, or services. Conversely, losing followers can signal that something in your strategy is missing the mark.
A healthy follower count also boosts the algorithmic performance of your posts. LinkedIn’s algorithm tends to favor content from profiles and pages with higher engagement rates, meaning your posts are more likely to be shown to others if your followers actively interact with your content.
How LinkedIn company pages gain and lose followers
You can gain followers through a variety of means like organic reach, employee advocacy, paid campaigns, and regular posting. Organic followers typically discover a company through its content or by word of mouth, while paid campaigns may draw in new followers from specific target demographics.
Sadly, just as easily as followers can be gained, they can be lost (or sometimes even more easily). Unfollowing may happen for various reasons: followers may lose interest in your content, feel overwhelmed by too many posts, or no longer find your company relevant to their needs. A lack of engagement or inconsistent posting schedules can also cause followers to lose interest and hit the unfollow button. Understandably, overly promotional or repetitive content can also push followers away.
The impact of losing followers on engagement
As you might expect, losing followers directly impacts your page’s overall engagement rate. The fewer followers you have, the fewer people who will see and interact with your content. This leads to a negative cycle: with less engagement, your posts become less visible in LinkedIn’s feed, and this reduced visibility further diminishes opportunities to attract new followers.
How to track who unfollowed your LinkedIn page
Unfortunately, LinkedIn doesn’t provide a direct way to see who has unfollowed your company page. But there are ways to track changes in your follower count and use analytics to gauge shifts in engagement and audience behaviour.
Using LinkedIn Analytics to monitor changes
LinkedIn offers a suite of analytics tools that can help you monitor changes in your follower count over time. By accessing the analytics section of your company page, you can track both overall growth and drops in followers. This data allows you to see when significant changes occur, such as large numbers of unfollows after a particular post or campaign.
Signs that indicate a drop in engagement
There are several signs that can indicate a drop in engagement, often linked to followers unfollowing your page. For example, if you notice fewer comments, likes, and shares on your posts, it could mean that your audience is losing interest. If the reach of your posts also drops, it suggests that fewer followers are engaging with your content, which can be an early warning sign of unfollows.
How to regain lost followers and improve retention
Regaining lost followers is not impossible. You can win back lost interest and even attract new followers by making strategic changes to your content and outreach efforts.
What to change in your content strategy
Start by analysing your content. Are you delivering value? Is your content relevant to your audience? Ask for and listen to feedback. If you’ve received comments or messages from followers expressing dissatisfaction with your posts, take those critiques seriously and make the necessary changes.
Engaging past followers through targeted campaigns
Another way to regain followers is through targeted campaigns. By using LinkedIn’s ad tools, you can create campaigns specifically aimed at re-engaging users who may have followed your page before. This can include retargeting ads that promote new and improved content, highlighting company updates, or showcasing new products and services.
