Why You Should Not Buy Instagram Likes and Followers
Brands and influencers that buy Instagram followers and likes may reap the short-term benefits of having a higher follower count, but the long-term ramifications of buying followers can be damaging.
It’s natural to want more followers, but should you pay for them? The real question to ask yourself is if artificial engagement and a higher follower count are worth sacrificing real engagement.
Buying Followers is Never the Answer
Contemplating purchasing likes and followers? Here are a few reasons why it’s just not worth it:
- Low Engagement
Buying followers will initially make your brand look popular on Instagram, but it will ultimately kill your engagement. When brands choose to buy likes or followers, they are essentially purchasing ghost followers. These ghost followers are fake accounts that are created to follow people that buy Instagram followers and likes. Typically, these accounts can be spotted by following thousands of accounts, while only having a handful of followers themselves.
Brands may sell themselves on the idea of buying followers with the thought that no one will know, but that is far from the truth. Anyone can visit a brand’s profile and compare the likes and comments on their posts with their inflated amount of followers. For brands claiming to have thousands of followers, this will be a clear sign of low engagement.
This is why when marketing one’s brand on Instagram, it is more important than ever to pay attention to the quality of one’s followers. When Instagrammers pay for Instagram likes and followers, they will quickly see that their ghost followers provide no real value.
- Spamming Becomes Apart of Your Social Media Campaign
When brands turn to certain companies to buy followers, they usually allow them to make posts from their accounts. These posts are typically advertisements to use these services to buy followers. This type of spam will encourage real followers to unfollow Instagram brands and influencers that they had otherwise admired.
Even though buying followers isn’t necessarily wrong. Many Instagrammers view this to be a dishonest practice. While many brands and influencers may be frustrated with the rate that they attract new followers on Instagram, choosing to take the easy route of purchasing followers is a fast way to lose respect in the eyes of their followers.
- People Will Find Out
While a large number of followers on Instagram can initially seem impressive, the truth will eventually come out. Certain influencers and brands see nothing wrong with purchasing followers, but other Instagrammers that rely on their reputation would do best to steer clear of purchasing likes or followers.
In addition to calculating people’s engagement rate, other Instagrammers can use tools to see what type of accounts are following their favorite brands. Moreover, after these ghost followers are cleaned out with an Instagram unfollow app like Unfollowgram, it will be painfully obvious that a significant amount of these followers were never actually real people.
Want more followers? It’s best to do it organically, rather than buy Instagram followers and likes. With all of the negative consequences of buying followers on Instagram, it’s best to stay above board and do what you can to improve your engagement with quality followers rather than inflate your number with ghost accounts.
