Are you a small brand looking to expand engagement? Do you want more followers and likes on your posts? Some may think you can solve this problem in one simple step: to buy followers. What people don’t tell you are all the negative results that buying followers can lead to. It can be tempting to solve something so quickly and easily but do not be tempted. It will lead to more problems than success.
Here are five reasons why you should NOT buy followers:
Fake followers do not lead to genuine engagement
When you buy followers many of the accounts are not actual people, but are fake robot accounts. What does this mean? This means you can buy followers, but it will not lead to an increase in likes, comments, or shares.
Genuine accounts follow similar engagement patterns. For example, people with more than 1000 followers typically have an engagement level of 8% while accounts with 1,000 to 10,000 followers typically have a 4% level. This means that if an account does not match these averages, it can be suspicious to the public. The more a person is suspicious of your account, the less likely they will want to follow your account. This is just one example of the negative results the action of buying followers could lead to. Buying followers, does not mean you will be able to continue to grow your amount of followers if they do not trust your account.
Inappropriate comments
Sometimes fake accounts do interact with your account, rather than simply following it. When this occurs there is a chance of inappropriate comments being left on your post. By inappropriate we mean two different types of situations. The first is that an actual comment discussing inappropriate content is left on your post. A huge problem that no one wants. The second is the comment is a generic message that does not match the content of the post. For example, your brand could create a post discussing a tragic event and the fake account could leave a comment saying “nice post” or “love that”, that is completely inappropriate based on the topic of the post. They could also leave comments in different languages that many of your other followers would not understand. All of these options lead to continued suspicion from your followers.
Results in increased spam
While some of the accounts used for purchasing followers are fake robots, some produce actual posts, spam posts. By following these accounts, your account could be overloaded with spam content. These accounts also have access to some of your personal information (email, phone number, etc.) which could lead to increased spam content across many platforms. One major negative that comes along with this, is these accounts have access to all of your followers. This means that they can bombard them with spam content as well. Your followers may be enticed to follow the fake accounts simply because you follow them, but once they determine that your account is the reason for the overload of spam they may be tempted to unfollow you completely.
It is against Instagram’s Terms and Services
Buying followers is against Instagram’s policies. They work hard to fight against this action because they care about their client’s experience with the platform. This means they are consistently searching for fake accounts and delete accounts that are fake.
Based on this, that means those followers that you spent precious money on could easily disappear at any time. They also look for accounts that are following fake accounts or are believed to be buying fake followers. If they determine that your account is involved, they have the right to suspend your account. If this happens to your brand, it would lower your credibility significantly.
Does not lead to actual business success
When looking into this, think about why you wanted more followers in the first place. Do you want them simply for the number or do you want them to spread awareness about you and your brand? It’s the latter of course. But remember, fake accounts are not possible clients. They do not purchase products or tell their best friend about this amazing brand they know about. They are simply there to increase the number. Overall, genuine brands build their following organically. They put in the necessary time and work to increase engagement. You should use social media marketing to gain more possible clients, in order to do this it takes time and work. You should be looking for other accounts similar to your own, creating a cohesive social media plan, and increasing engagement by liking and commenting on posts that correlate with your brand. Fake accounts cannot do that, fake accounts only increase your follower number. This effort will be worth it for your brand because it will not only increase engagement but will build credibility alongside it. If you buy followers, your account will look unusual to other accounts.
Whether it's a large number of followers versus a low level of likes on posts, more comments than likes on posts, or even an account suspension, the public will notice and be suspicious of your activity. This could lead to people not being enticed to follow your account or even worse, force people to question if you are being dishonest in any other area of your business practices. Buying followers destroys your credibility, plain and simple.
Basically, the only route we suggest for earning followers is the old-fashioned way, by curating great content and connecting with followers authentically.
If you’re still struggling to decide if you should buy followers or not, feel free to drop us an email at hi@swellmediaco.com.