Purchasing Instagram Followers, Is it Worth It? Survey Says…

A little less than a week ago, I decided to start an Instagram account strictly dedicated to this blog (@influencingtheinfluencer). It wasn’t long before I started receiving comments and messages from accounts asking me to sign up for their services where they would offer me a GUARANTEED growth in followers. I myself am not particularly interested in receiving a large following on Instagram because this blog is more of a hobby than anything. For me the only followers I am interested in having are those who are genuinely interested in the content I have to share. Nonetheless, I thought I’d do a little homework as to services such as these and whether or not they are worth the investment. Let’s take a look…

Why People Purchase Instagram Followers

There are a number of reasons why people may be enticed to purchase Instagram followers. In the Instagram community, the number of followers you have dictates how much you are worth. Many brands look to your follower count when determining whether they are interested in working with you and how much they are willing to pay per post. Cultivating a significant following on Instagram takes time, work, and effort. While purchasing Instagram followers is fairly quick, easy, and inexpensive.

Instagram Automation vs. One-Click Purchase of Followers

It’s important for us to take a minute to differentiate what Instagram Automation is as opposed to just straight up purchasing followers. With automation, you’re basically handing over your Instagram account to a company that will most likely use a bot to follow, comment, and like on your behalf. Although they may advertise that they these bots are strategically looking for accounts that are relevant to your niche, truth is you’re inevitably going to end up following a ton of spam accounts. An article by Evan LePage on Hootsuite, “I tried Instagram Automation (So You Don’t Have To)” pretty much sums up the pitfalls of Instagram Automation. Here were his personal findings:

“Lessons learned from using Instagram automation

There are a few clear lessons that stand out from this experiment.

First, if you want to use Instagram bots, be prepared to lose your home feed. I wasn’t, but if you don’t use your feed to learn about your followers you may be alright with this.

You can’t automate comments. The potential for awkward or damaging situations is just too great. You don’t want to be posting on teenager selfies. You just don’t.

Prepare to live in fear. Using these Instagram bots to comment or follow for you goes against Instagram’s terms of service. I was constantly worried they were going to suspend my account, which is really a photo collage of my life for the last four years. For a brand, losing an account is obviously an even bigger issue, one probably not worth the risk.

You will gain followers, but followers don’t equal engagement. You still have to put in work to earn engagement on your photos. You can’t automate the kind of human interaction users will expect from brands.”

So what about purchasing followers? What does that look like? Well, not any better. Although purchasing followers is quick and inexpensive, it too comes with an added price which you may not be willing to pay. When you choose to opt in and purchase “1,000 new followers for $10” you’re really purchasing a ton of fake/bot accounts. Most of these accounts are completely irrelevant to your niche and you are basically saying hello to a lot accounts with questionable content. Quantity over Quality.

So What’s the Verdict?

So when you decide whether or not you should buy into Instagram Automation, or purchase followers consider this: what is the purpose of your Instagram account and why did you choose to start it? If you are working your way up to becoming an influencer, then you need to consider the fact that you should actually be influencing your audience to like, comment, click, and buy. With a shell of an audience and relatively zero engagement on your posts, your account loses all integrity. Plus, Instagram is cracking down on all of this as well – don’t expect brands to do any less. Brands cannot risk trusting their products in the hands of influencers who hand over their accounts to bots. Even if you’re not interested in working with other brands but rather are working on developing your own company or brand – consumers are not likely to trust your brand/product/service when they see you’ve cultivated a fake following.