“1000 followers for just £7!”
“Triple your following in 10 minutes!”
Emails and offers of services like these are pretty tempting.
But you see, the thing is…it’s just not worth it.
What does buying followers involve?
It’s easy to buy followers these days. A simple click of a button can turn tens to tens of thousands, and there are a few ways this can be done:
- Buying followers in bulk
- Subscribing to a service that drip feeds followers to your account
It is understandable that those who fall for this type of hype believe, in good faith, that having more followers will result in a credible-looking, thriving business .And that this will, in turn, attract the same volume, or more, of new customers. Unfortunately we can say with absolute confidence that this will result in a 100% failure.
Why not to do it
You may have all the followers in the world, but if they don’t engage with your content, what’s the point? None of these followers will become meaningful customers and they certainly won’t be investing any money into your business. You are not only opening yourself up to spam posts, but they may also spam your followers too.
Furthermore, as a business, you could lose a lot of valuable credibility. Genuine potential customers will be instantly put off.
Distortion of your channel’s performance and data
When your channel is flooded with fake accounts, it dilutes your ability to introduce any metrics and therefore gain any understanding of your target audience, or the market at which you should be aiming. Having no access to real and measurable performance data is incredibly dangerous for your business and hinders your ability to make any truly informed decisions, or plan with any certainty for your business’s future. .
Instagram will know and find you!
Fake Instagram accounts have been around for ages and Instagram are finally getting wise to this (and removing them). Not only does Instagram find and and delete fake accounts (and any associated likes, comments and follows), they are also able to penalise those buying them. At worst, banning you completely.
What you should be doing
You should absolutely be focusing your time and efforts on producing high quality, relevant and engaging content, utilising all of the cool features on offer from Instagram, to optimise your reach. This is truly the key to attracting the right attention, organically.
And finally…
As tempting as it can be, just steer clear from buying fake followers. It’s more than just a waste of money, it is totally detrimental to your business. Focus instead on building a structured approach to social media marketing by posting regularly, posting well and accurately measuring audience reaction.
Want to know more or need some specific advice? As ever, The Digital Studios is here to help.
