Is my old Instagram follow-unfollow activity ruining my reach even now?

I genuinely want honest feedback because I’m feeling a little demotivated with Instagram lately.

Back in 2020, I created a travel account and at that time I did the stupid follow unfollow thing to increase followers. Right now I have around 1300 followers, but my reels barely cross 500 views most of the time.

I post faceless travel content / mini vlogs decent editing, good clips, aesthetic shots etc. But my account just doesn’t seem to grow. I also don’t have one fixed theme yet, it’s mostly travel related but not super niche.

Now I’m confused whether:
1.my old follow unfollow activity ruined the account permanently
2.faceless travel content is too saturated
3.my content is not good enough
4.or Instagram just takes time now

It’s honestly hard to stay consistent when you spend time editing and the reel gets stuck at low views.

Has anyone here experienced this and eventually grown? Should I continue on the same account or start fresh?

Comments

dhanushganta•2 months ago•1

Starting fresh usually doesn’t magically fix weak positioning or unclear audience targeting honestly.

Agreeable_Elk4529•2 months ago•1

Faceless travel content isn’t the problem, saturation only matters when you don’t have a clear angle or identity. At this point, the algorithm is less about your history and more about whether your content makes people stay and watch.

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Independent-Ant-7230•2 months ago•1

I really doubt Instagram is permanently punishing your account years later just because of follow-unfollow activity in 2020. Platforms care way more about current engagement behavior and content signals than ancient growth tactics from a small account

The bigger factors are probably:
faceless travel being extremely competitive now, lack of a recognizable angle/theme yet, and the reality that Instagram growth is slower and less predictable than people expect.

Aesthetic travel clips alone are harder to grow with now because the platform is flooded with beautiful footage. What usually stands out is either:
strong storytelling, personality, specific perspective, useful information, or emotional framing.

Also low views don’t automatically mean your content is bad. Sometimes it just means the content isn’t giving the algorithm enough behavioral signals early enough, especially retention and shares.

I wouldn’t restart immediately. A fresh account without a clearer strategy often ends up in the exact same place.

One thing that helped a creator friend in a similar situation was tracking patterns more systematically instead of emotionally reacting to each post individually. They started organizing hooks, retention drops, themes, thumbnails, posting windows, and video structures in Runable because after enough uploads, it becomes easier to spot what repeatedly underperforms versus what quietly gets stronger audience response over time.

dhandhebaajsaala•2 months ago•1

That could not be it many people do this kind of things and having 500 views on 1300 followers is not bad (considering these followers are from 2020) and I think u need to put your attention on gaining new followers and reach new audience.

Prasanth7799•2 months ago•1

Honestly, Instagram today is just much slower and more saturated than it was a few years ago.

Little_kitty_2822•2 months ago•0

I had the same issue and used Runnable AI to help audit my engagement patterns. It helped me identify which 'dead' followers were killing my reach so I could pivot my strategy without starting a brand new account.

Polish_Girlz•2 months ago•0

So you followed people so they would follow you and then unfollowed them ? Yeah that could be it tbh

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