As Instagram has become an increasingly popular way to reach customers and promote businesses, many users and companies are turning to a short-cut to increase the visibility of their accounts; buying followers. But is it really worth it, or are the drawbacks greater than the potential benefits?
The main appeal of buying Instagram followers is the potential to quickly and easily increase your follower count. This could make your profile appear more attractive to potential customers, and it could send a signal to Instagram’s algorithm that your content should be featured more frequently in people’s feeds. In the short-term, this could provide some increase in visibility and reach.
But the benefit of buying followers generally only applies to the appearance of your account, not the impact. The followers you purchase are often non-active accounts, or ‘bot’ accounts, which means they won’t engage with the content posted, or be likely to purchase products you may promote. Ultimately, the followers you purchase will not contribute to your bottom line, and this renders their purchase pointless.
Furthermore, buying followers could land you in hot water. Instagram regularly cracks down on users and accounts who appear to have bought followers, and could suspend or even delete your account. It’s also increasingly easy for customers to spot bought followers, and this could lead to a loss of trust in your brand.
In conclusion, while buying followers may provide some quick gains in terms of follower numbers, it is ultimately an expensive and ineffective way of increasing engagement with a genuine audience. Instead, it is better to focus on organic growth tactics such as regularly posting engaging content and interacting with other accounts. You and everyone who has a business profile on Instagram is looking to increase your number of followers, right?
After all, this is one of the main social networks in the world, which makes it a key part of many digital marketing strategies. Many want a large number of followers because this can give credibility to those who have just arrived at their profile. In many cases, this race to increase your numbers on the network ends up resulting in buying followers: a quick and cheap way to achieve this goal, but is this strategy worth it? Check out our article and draw your own conclusions to decide if buying Instagram followers is worth it or not.
Why do people want to buy Instagram followers?
Entrepreneurs and professionals who do not have a deep understanding of the importance of Instagram for their business can take risky actions. Therefore, having a professional specialized in the area or having your own specialization is so important to achieve results on the social network. If you want to understand the importance of having real followers who are engaged with your profile, try to go deeper and study more about social networks. Our specific recommendation is the Insta for Business course, which covers commercial use of the platform and can help you create strategies for your business.
What is the real importance of followers for your profile?
Instagram has an algorithm that makes it smarter and more efficient with every update. Changes come and go on the social network, this is what made it start to prioritize the relevance of profiles over the number of followers. That’s why it’s so important to have active followers. People who watch, comment, send and save your publications generate relevance for your profile, making Instagram recognize these interactions and highlight your content, increasing its reach. In contrast, purchased followers may specifically increase just this stat on your profile, but this likely won’t reflect in improving your other Instagram data. This is because, in general, purchased followers are either uninterested in the types of content being offered or are largely fake profiles. Which will result in little or no engagement, not bringing improvements to other metrics that are more important. For Instagram, quantity does not always mean quality and credibility.
Know the risks and disadvantages of buying followers on Instagram
In addition to bringing objectively lower results, buying followers also brings disadvantages to your profile. It is essential to know the negative points of this strategy before making any decision. Check below how this practice can affect your brand on Instagram. Disrespects the Terms of Use and may bring penalties Buying Instagram followers is a practice that violates the Community Guidelines and Instagram Terms of Use, which can lead to penalties and even banning your account. This is an extension of the policy against fake profiles and spam that the company applies on its platform. Instagram’s own algorithm is prepared to find and eliminate these fake profiles, eliminating their likes, comments and interactions. Buying followers on Instagram puts you at risk of having a large base of followers with fake profiles, due to the very nature of the service offered, which is usually filled with profiles of this type and can make your account a target of the algorithm. The company seeks to preserve and generate true human relationships, keeping its strategy within these guidelines will help maintain your business’ profile on the platform, in addition to generating valuable content for your brand. Does not generate relevance or engagement We’ve just seen that the risks of this practice are really high, even when buying real followers, but are the results worth it? Well, apart from adding the number of digits in a specific metric, this practice has no other benefit. It is very likely that the profiles that follow you are fake or have no interest in what is offered. This means that this new audience will interact very little with your publications, without generating relevance or engagement. The content produced may even be of very high quality, but if your audience does not interact with it, its relevance will continue to be low and your Instagram will continue to reach few people. As much as displaying a large number of followers is a tempting metric, you need to remember that fake profiles will not become leads. Investing in them can be a big flaw in your strategy because they won’t buy from your business. It puts the credibility of your profile at stake It is not very difficult for Instagram users to identify a profile that adheres to this type of practice. Accounts with many followers but very few interactions tend to indicate that the brand or personality in question is buying their Instagram follower base. This can be interpreted in negative ways by network users, customers and even business partners, decreasing your opportunity to close new business on Instagram. It can confuse your metrics and reports The tide of new followers will get in the way of analyzing your data as it will be intermingled with your organic profile growth. Engagement reports, conversion rate and several other metrics related to your performance on the network will only become illustrative values, as they will not reflect the real performance of your strategies and the reaction of your true audience. Creating digital marketing plans with confusing data can even harm future strategies and campaigns, by using information that does not really reflect who follows and is interested in your brand and content. Well, now you have the knowledge to decide if buying followers on Instagram is worth it or not for your business, but before making any decision and starting to walk your way on the network, check out what are the practices and alternatives to buying followers.
What you can do instead of buying Instagram followers
Seek to gain new followers through ways that do not violate Instagram’s terms of service. This is how real connections are made with your audience, ensuring that those who follow your profile value your brand and content.To grow your profile in an organic and healthy way, check out some tips that will help you gain real followers. Create an editorial line and publish quality content Use the information you have from your audience and create personas. From there, choose themes, interests and content that speak directly to each of the created personas. Try to vary the content formats and always use Stories to interact with your audience and let them know about new publications. Use hashtags correctly Don’t overdo the hashtags! As much as Instagram allows the use of up to 30 of them, using 4 or 5 brings the best results according to research carried out by TrackMaven. Keep an eye on the competition Monitoring the profile of the competition is a healthy strategy that helps you keep up with trends and find new opportunities for your business. This does not mean imitating them, but bringing new ideas to your content. Interact with your audience Interact with your audience and be active. Respond quickly to questions and comments, show that your profile cares about your followers. Thus, new people interested in your content who reach your Instagram will see the importance you give to your audience and will be able to follow your profile.
Sponsor your content
You already have everything you need to produce quality content, so sponsor your publications and find possible new followers who are interested in what is being offered on your profile. Analyze your data frequently Analyzing your data and generating reports frequently helps you understand where you need to improve, either to reach more followers or to generate more engagement through content. It is also through these analyzes that the personas created for your page will be improved and updated. Choose the best days and times to publishAfter checking the statistics and metrics of your Instagram profile, it will be easier to understand your followers and see new opportunities. One of the main ones is choosing to publish on days and times with a higher engagement rate. This way you guarantee the optimization of your content, achieving the best possible results.
Are you going to plan your new strategy to gain followers on Instagram?
After checking this content, always be suspicious of sites that teach you how to buy followers on Instagram and promise a lot of results. But with all these tips you already know whether or not you are going to buy followers. We hope you put our content to good use, choose the best path for your business, and greatly increase your following in the best possible way. If using Instagram as one of your e-commerce sales channels is part of your plan, be prepared to receive leads from your profile. A great option is JivoChat, install it on your page and approach visitors through proactive invitations directly through the online chat.
