I often get asked by small business owners if it is worth it to buy followers or likes for their Instagram accounts. Many people aspire to have 100K or more followers and hundreds of likes on posts, so buying followers or likes would seem like the easy way to make this happen, right? Wrong. Here’s why.
Most accounts are inactive or bots.
Many followers that are purchased are actually not real accounts. They are bots; therefore, no real-life people are seeing your content. They can also be inactive accounts. Therefore, there will be no engagement from these inactive accounts. If you want new followers, don’t you want them to interact with you?
It could hurt your credibility.
If you have a lot of users and you are not getting a lot of engagement, your faithful followers may notice. They could also see that you had 100 followers one day, and a few days later, you now have 100K, but you have hardly posted anything. Your loyal audience might notice this, and it could hurt your credibility.
Buying Instagram followers messes with your metrics.
If you buy Instagram followers, there is no way to measure how your “real audience” is interacting with your Instagram posts. Instagram’s algorithm is largely based on engagement and not so much on followers. So if you have a large audience that is fake followers, how can you measure how your target audience engages with you?
The Instagram followers you paid for will eventually disappear.
Instagram is very serious when it comes to fake or inactive accounts. When Instagram discovers a fake or inactive account, they will delete it, making your follower count eventually shrink. Remember, when you buy followers, you purchase many bot accounts and inactive accounts. So Instagram will eventually discover these accounts and delete them.
If you decide you want to buy followers or likes, you are technically violating Instagram’s community guidelines. This could also threaten your own Instagram account. Stay away from the temptation of buying followers and focus more on the quality of the content you are sharing. If you are using Instagram as part of your marketing strategy, be authentic, consistent, and entertaining, and you will see your follower count and likes increase naturally. Focus more on your engagement metrics and less on the number of followers and likes you have, and you will see a better return on your time and effort.
If you are a small business looking for an Instagram strategy, reach out to Your Media Squad. We can manage your Instagram marketing or create a customized plan for you!
Want more marketing tips and tricks for your small business that you can implement immediately? Sign up for our weekly newsletter. I promise we won't spam you!