Is it worth it to pay for hundreds or thousands of followers?

There's no question that your business needs a social media presence to raise visibility, credibility and, of course, sales. Right or wrong, accounts with large followings are seen as established and trustworthy so new businesses, and businesses just starting to invest in social media, want to grow their following quickly to be seen as a trustworthy option for customers.

Because of this, many business owners may be tempted to pay for followers but will it help, or hurt, your brand?

HOW IT WORKS

Fake follower companies generally ask for your login information (yikes) in order to like and sometimes comment on your behalf to accounts. Sometimes you have the option to select a specifc audience and other times not. The 'strategy' is to engage with enough accounts expecting they will follow you back. Some fake follower agencies will follow many accounts in a select hashtag which you can then unfollow after the account follows you.

Depending on the company, your follower count will grow with dummy accounts the company created itself or with accounts that followed you because you followed them but then will likely unfollow you when they notice you unfollowed them.

THE COST

The cost of working with these companies can range from $15 - $40 per 1,000 followers they claim they can secure for you so if you are looking to secure 100,000 so you could pay $1500 to $4000.

THE DOWNSIDE(S) OF PURCHASING FOLLOWERS

1. Though the followers are inorganic there is still effort that needs to be put into obtaining fake followers. The time and cost of purchasing fake followers is time and money that could be put into real followers who look forward to your content and engage with comments, likes and shares.
2. Because many of the companies providing fake followers are located outside of your general area or country, you will receive a number of security alerts from Instagram when the company logs into your account and you may receive alerts from your bank as well.
3. You could end up spending money but not receiving the service
4. Fake follower companies are contracted to try to get you followers but they may not deliver and you could end up paying your hard earned money for 300 or so followers. For the money you invested, you could have invested in an effective social media strategy to get real, qualified leads.
5. Savvy customers and potential partners use tools to find out if a business's followers are real, and finding out that most of your followers are fake can hurt your brand. Of course every account  has some bots through no fault of their own but having an unusually high number of bots is a red flag and having a low comment and engagement ratio makes partners not want to work with you and new followers not want to follow you.
6. Having fake followers messes up your analytics. A normal comment and engagement ratio is usually 1% to 5%. If you have fake followers, they are not going to engage with your content and the likelihood of hitting that level of engagement is nearly impossible.

WHAT TO DO INSTEAD

1. Make great content. No "good" content, GREAT content with a good combination of photos and videos. Make your followers thirst for your content and want to engage with it. Do not post what YOU find interesting but what your audience does. Share behind the scenes information, new menu options, "did you know?" posts and polls to entertain your audience.
2. Promote your Instagram account. Put your Instagram account on all of your marketing assets. Online make sure your social media accounts are hyperlinked to make it easier for someone to follow you. If you are on a platform that only allows one link, consider an option like Linktree which will allow you to use one link to promote your website, Instagram account, contact information, blog links and more (Ex: Marquita's Linktree)
3. Run a contest. To get new followers fast, an Instagram contest can boost your following fast. Getting users to follow your account, tag friends, and share your business's content to their own accounts in order to participate will attract new followers and broaden your reach.
4. Use social media ads. If you are going to spend money for new followers, do it by creating ads. In this case, Instagram ads but also Facebook, Google, Youtube, or Twitter ads to reach new followers who are actually interested in your content. Social media ads are most effective when created by experienced marketers. If you would like help in this area, let the team of copywriters, graphic designers, and social media experts at Marketing With Marquita create an ad for you. Big brands pay $10,000 a month on in-house marketing teams but we can do the work for you for as little as $600 a month. Email us to discuss.
5. Follow trends. Almost every day, there is a new trending sound, dance or challenge on social media. As a business owner, you do not have to do silly dances to promote your business but consider using trending music or hashtags applicable to your business to get in front of new followers. Also use pop culture happenings and comment on your social media. As a tax preparer, did something happen during the Super Bowl you could post about? As a pet groomer, did a popular celebrity get a new pet that you can give insights on? In both instances, you could get in front of a new audience by creating the aforementioned content and use hashtags like #rihanna #superbowl #popularcelebrity #cutedog etc to get your content in front of hundreds of thousands of new eyes.

Marketing With Marquita is a marketing training, strategy and fulfillment agency providing solutions for busy entrepreneurs looking to exponentially increase and close leads. Marketing With Marquita provides workshops, 1:1 strategy sessions as well as social media management and lead generation.