In the last few years Instagram has become one of the largest social media channels, with millions of users all providing and creating content, posting content, building brands and sharing social action with their community of chronic socializing. With most accounts competing for reach and credibility, there are now many organizations providing buying followers. Although this is accepted practice for both brands and users, it is crucial to understand how this works, what the packaging looks like and the ramifications before acting.

Why Buy Followers?

 There are lots of reasons whether you are an individual or a business for buying followers on Instagram; the number one reason is social proof. All data suggests that followers influence the perception of credibility rather well. For example, if you have a good number of followers, you are likely to be viewed as more credible than accounts with fewer followers. This is particularly evident in competitive environments like fashion, lifestyle, and business, where growing followers is equal to a perceived audience and user identity. Although engagement may not link to followers from the outset, engagement is still the number one driver of long-term growth.

Different Types of Followers Offered

Services that sell Instagram followers typically offer two broad types of followers: real followers and bot-based or inactive followers.

• Real followers are accounts that belong to actual people and are sometimes able to engage with a post’s contents.
• Inactive or bot followers are robotic accounts that are used to increase follower numbers but do not really engage ever, if at all.

These are particularly important in your decisions because the type of followers you purchase will definitely affect your credibility because genuine engagement is often worth more than a high number of inactive followers.

Pricing and Packages

Services that sell followers typically have packages based on tiers. For example, these packages may include a small number of followers, such as 100, and ascend to a much larger number, like 10,000 total followers, with prices increasing based on the follower quantities. Smaller follower counts are typically included in cheaper packages and may be made for newer users that want to be able to test the service. Larger packages may be made for people that are already established as influencers or business users looking for rapid followers. The larger the amounts, the more the prices increase gradually, making it more within reach for different budgets.

Delivery and Speed

Most services will say that they will generally deliver relatively quicker than expected, but it can depend on how big the package’s total number is and will usually always be delivered in 24 to 72 hours. Smaller total follower packages will be delivered in the few hours. Some services will provide gradual delivery until the total number is received over time, or at least in time with an agreeable showing of growth to help create believable growth if desired. This can help with limiting scrutiny of activity increases or sudden jumps as well as other flagging issues.

Safety and Risks

An important factor to be aware of is if buying followers will violate Instagram’s policies. As mentioned above, buying followers is not illegal, but you might be violating Instagram’s community guidelines if the accounts were fake or generated by bots. The risks you will run into include:

Potential account limitations

Essentially you will get a drop in followers when Instagram removes most, if not all, the purchased accounts. Your credibility could take a hit if the engagement does not match the follower count. With that said, it is important to understand the risks from these services before engaging with them.

Long-Term Outcomes

Looking for followers may provide people with a short bump in visibility, but it won’t replace organic growth strategy and doesn’t provide real engagement. Real gains on Instagram happen through producing consistent content, selling your audience with content they enjoy engaging with, and community building through real authenticity. If people only rely on purchased followers without any real engagement, then the limits of actual growth will be subject to decline and ultimately credibility.

Conclusion

Buying Instagram followers is still a popular way to quickly increase numbers. It also has both advantages and risks. It is important to understand buyer information regarding the type of followers you will get, the cost, how quickly will you receive them, and what risk you are willing to accept. Buying Instagram followers is likely to boost visibility for a short time, but without implementing an organic growth strategy on Instagram at the same time, it is not sustainable.