Instagram has turned out to be one of the most famous social media platforms in the world. Many businesses have now realized the importance of a social media presence, especially on Instagram as it is a place where most of the people and business’s target audiences are present.
As well all know, followers are really important when you are on Instagram as an influencer, have a business account or blogger. Follower count is the one thing which can make or break your business venture. It creates a good impression on the visitors of your profile, gets you higher on the search bar and sometimes these followers are your marketers who spread the word about your business.
You can increase your follower base in two ways. One is increasing your followers organically. This means you will have followers that are interested in your brand or business and have followed your page by choice. The other option is to purchase Instagram followers by an external source. A lot of businesses are using this option to gain advantages of a high follower count. It can be considered as a shortcut to success but if it is effective then why not try it? If you also want a fast growth of followers, go to BuySellShoutouts.com which sells and deals in Instagram followers and likes.
Organic Vs Purchased Followers:
It is important to weigh the pros and cons of whether purchasing followers is a better option or having organic and real followers is more beneficial.
- Faster growth:
One reason why businesses prefer to purchase Instagram followers is because it gets you a desired number of followers a lot faster than attracting the same number of organic followers. You can pay for 1,000 followers and get those in an instance. However, your way to organic 1,000 followers can be a lot longer and you have to work a lot harder for it. Purchasing followers is a smart way of gaining advantages of a large follower count. Some people feel it is not right but if you own a business, you might have to use this tactic and strategy to show that you are a shrewd businessman.
- Attract more followers:
Having more followers means that your posts and Instagram profile will be recommended to other people and you will also appear higher on the search results. This means that initially if you start off with purchasing a few followers and then gain advantages of a huge follower base, you can have quite a balanced Instagram profile. In this case, the purchased followers can eventually help you to build an organic follower count.
- Brand Image:
A problem with buying followers is that sometimes it is quite easy to identify if a profile has purchased followers. You obviously do not want that with your profile. However, if the people that visit your profile get to know that you have fake followers, they might question your credibility and this can lead to a fall in brand image. People are not a fan of businesses that lie and are dishonest with the public. This means that although you will have a good amount of followers, you will not get the followers that will genuinely help you raise revenue levels.
- Illegal Activity:
Purchasing followers is considered illegal by Instagram. If Instagram gets to know that the majority of your followers are fake, you might have to face serious consequences. Your profile might get deleted directly from Instagram and you might not be able to recover it. This means that the money you spent in promoting your product through posts and stories and even your purchased followers will get wasted. Another big loss will be some of the organic followers that were interested in your business.
- No feedback or reviews:
When you have a large number of fake followers, all you have is a number which shows you your follower base. It does not help you to make potential customers and in turn there will be no loyal customers that will be attracted to your brand. Furthermore, these fake followers cannot give you feedback or reviews like organic followers can. Social media is a place where you can connect and interact with people and know about their likes and dislikes. If you as a business do not know what improvements your product or service needs, you can be in some trouble.
- Create an impression:
Purchasing followers can do one thing very well and that is create a great impression on the people who visit your Instagram page. When they come to check out what you offer, they will first see your follower count. When they see a good amount of followers, they will be twisted into thinking that a lot of people are already interested in your product or service and they will be forced to check out what you offer. However, it is important that you play this strategy carefully and the visitor does not get to know that you actually bought followers.
- No advertisements or collaborations:
If you have a majority of purchased followers, you would not be getting many sponsorships, advertisements offer and collaborations with other influencers or bloggers. This is a huge loss for you and your business because you would not be getting extra income which could have been used for something else. You also lose the chance of promoting your business or motive to new audiences as there will be no collaboration offers on the table. Hence, this can be a huge disadvantage for you.
Bottom line:
Purchasing followers is a shortcut of gaining the advantages of a high follower count. However, a lot of people are doing it and many of them are getting away with it.
Hence, many people are of the opinion that it is smarter to use a combination of the two options. You can purchase followers and then see how many people get interested in your product. Having a combination of the two will let you enjoy advantages of both organic and purchased followers and minimize the disadvantages.