Buying followers is no longer Instagram’s dirty secret– It’s now the norm for influencers and brands needing a little boost to buy Instagram accounts. While it may be normalized, and in some industries an expectation, is it really a good idea to buy Instagram accounts? Depending on one’s goal for their social media, buying followers can result in disaster or success.
What Happens When You Buy Instagram Accounts
Social media fraud is the treacherous line that may be crossed when purchasing followers. When taking a deeper look into the business of buying and selling Instagram accounts, things get a little complicated and potentially unethical. The companies that sell the accounts essentially create fake profiles using the real information of other users.
These accounts are then sold several times again and again in order to give customers the high follower count that they’re paying for. These shady dealings are what allows brands that pay for followers to have hundreds of millions of followers.
Since these accounts are built off of actual people, they are, in reality, a sort of socially accepted identity theft. While most of these accounts are actually bots, they still take the information from real users, virtually personifying them.
This is why Instagram has taken such a hard stance against the use of fake accounts. However, the problem isn’t just these companies selling fake accounts. It’s convincing buyers that purchasing followers just isn’t worth it.
When Reputable People Buy Followers
While the companies selling fake followers can be shady, oftentimes, brands that partake in purchasing followers are often just trying to compete with similar brands in their niche that have gained success due to their high follower count. While it may seem like the simplest fix to gain popularity on Instagram, buying followers can have lasting consequences.
In an attempt to uncover why reputable people choose to purchase Instagram accounts, the New York Times ran an Investigation into the company Devumi. Allegedly based in New York, Devumi was the go-to company for anyone from a celebrity to the average person that was looking to grow their following overnight.
In the case of Devumi Instagram accounts for sale, influencers like professional athletes, television stars, TED speakers, models, and pastors have all been outed as having paid to increase their Instagram following.
What does it mean that the need to appear Insta-famous is more significant than investing in organic engagement? Essentially, it boils down to living in an era of instant gratification. Brands and influencers recognize the benefits of having a large number of followers, but don’t want to spend the energy, time, and money to attract real followers.
This is why buying followers has become almost second nature to some people. In the case of one Devumi customer, Deirdre Lovejoy swears that “Everyone does it.” While most people that have purchased fake followers admit that they think the practice is wrong, they still choose to purchase their followers.
James Cracknell of Olympic gold medalist fame, another purchaser of Instagram accounts, agrees that paying for followers is fraud. After purchasing 5,0000 followers for himself, Cracknell points out that many people purchase followers because people judge others based on their follower count and that, “it’s not a healthy thing.”
Other people like Kathy Ireland rely on their follower count to fuel their sponsorships. With her millions of followers, Ireland was able to secure several sponsorship deals that she was then paid to promote. However, it was later discovered that Ireland spent $300,000 on fake followers. While Ms. Ireland denied it, she revealed that her branding agency was the culprit.
Is Your Reputation Worth the Risk?
While most of these famous influencers denounce their employees for paying for inflation process, more still spend time and money trying to purchase followers. Such was the case with Marcus Holmlund. Holmlund purchased followers for Wilhelmina’s social accounts after he was told that he’d be fired if he didn’t take the fake follower plunge.
Out of fear of damaging his reputation and career, Holmlund made the purchases with his own money. However, after he left his position, he made it a point to tell everyone he knows that buying followers for Instagram isn’t worth it.
Despite the attraction of growing one’s number of followers almost instantly, it isn’t worth it. Where many people assume that their higher follower count will lead to an increase in real followers and engagement, this isn’t the case.
Real Followers Lead to Real Engagement
Whether you have fewer posts than you have followers or it is discovered that you are followed by one or a few of the countless fake accounts running rampant on Instagram, there is always a chance that you will be outed if you have purchased fake followers. For most brands, and influencers, this kind of exposure is an embarrassment in itself. What’s worse is that being outed makes real followers doubt the authenticity of brands that would’ve otherwise provided real engagement.
Instagram accounts that purchase followers will realize that they’re analytics are off. While they may have hoped that an increase in followers would have resulted in better metrics, the truth is that these fake accounts will only tank a brand’s analytics. Instead of having an accurate reading of what kind of followers are online and who and when people are viewing and engaging with the content, having an inflated number of followers will only skew these numbers.
The Final Verdict
The same reason that so many celebrities, industry leaders, and brands buy followers is the very reason that they shouldn’t. Instead of using the quick and dirty method of gaining clout on Instagram, it pays to do the work to earn your engagement.
Willing to sacrifice your brand’s reputation by buying followers? Don’t. A high follower count may get you a second glance on Instagram, but when it comes to taking a hard look at your analytics and engagement, investing time and money in organic growth is worth so much more.