The Risk Of Buying Followers on Instagram. Beware of These Risks

Getting fake followers on Instagram is the easiest thing in the world. There are a number of reasons people might buy followers. Influencers, for instance, can often get paid more for collaborations when they have a higher number of followers. Brands, businesses, and thought leaders might want to seem more reputable by having a bigger following. They also might be trying to hit the 10,000 follower count to access the swipe-up feature.

But let us admit something these followers are FAKE.

You can buy Instagram followers. There are plenty of cheap services available that allow you to buy 10,000 followers for as little as $100.

But you’re only paying for a number. When you buy Instagram followers, you’re paying for a number alone. Engagement is not guaranteed.

Here are the risks of buying followers.

INSTAGRAM BOTS

Instagram bots are services that allow a company to acquire followers onto their Instagram profile. These bots will follow other accounts, like posts, and leave comments on targeted lists of Instagram accounts to help increase reach, followers, and engagement on a companies account.

Instagram bots are everywhere. There are companies out there who have automated the process of creating bots so well that they can then sell these bots as followers. In some cases, the bots may even assume the identity of a real person, using stolen images and names.

Some can even be programmed to produce content. However, because they’re not real people, they will not have an organic-looking following-to-follower ratio. As a result, the engagement they do produce will have little impact.

GHOST FOLLOWERS

Ghost followers are followers who don’t interact with your content. Having a large following with a small reach is less than ideal! It doesn’t look normal if someone has thousands of followers but only gets a few likes on their posts.

Ghost followers aren’t inactive followers on Instagram.An inactive user is someone that has stopped using Instagram and doesn’t open the app anymore. Ghost followers are people who follow you but don’t engage with your content. This could be for multiple reasons including:

• the person simply isn’t interested in your content
• your content doesn’t show in their feed anymore
• the user is a spam account and therefore, doesn’t engage with any content

YOUR CREDIBILITY

Having a lot of followers could convince users to follow you organically, but it’s not a guarantee.
These followers will probably never like or comment on a post, and if you’re caught with a ton of fake followers, you could ruin your credibility with your real audience.
Users might notice you don’t have a ton of engagement on your posts, which could deter them from following you. If you have 10,000 followers but only four likes per post, it won’t take people long to realize something is up.

INSTAGRAM IDENTIFIES & PREVENTS FAKE FOLLOWERS

Instagram identifies and prevents fake followers. Recently, Instagram has updated its terms of use to identify and remove inauthentic accounts from its platform. Instagram is removing any likes, follows, or comments from third-party apps that are designed to artificially grow accounts’ audiences. By buying followers, you violate Instagram’s community guidelines and it may trigger a reaction from Instagram moderators.

Instagram is looking to maintain genuine interactions on its site, protecting real accounts and experiences.

Overall here are the risks of buying followers.

• Low Engagement
• Lack of social credibility If you buy Instagram followers
• Follower drop off
• No sales or website traffic
• It’s against Instagram’s terms of service

Here Alternatives to Buying Instagram Followers

1. Make your account public.
2. Give users a reason to follow you by publishing quality content. ( for example, to have high-quality live videos go live from your Mac or PC)
3. Use hashtags
4. Engage with Other Instagram Users

Everybody wants to be popular on social media.
There are a lot of bots and services out there you can use to buy Instagram followers. You are just paying for a number, not for engagement.