Buying Instagram Followers: Should You Buy Instagram Followers? | Mailchimp (2024)

Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps used today. In fact, Instagram has over 1 billion users each month. We constantly find ourselves aimlessly scrolling through our Instagram feeds and taking Insta-worthy pics whenever we get a chance.

But Instagram isn’t just for personal use. Many businesses also use the platform to promote their products and services and connect with their customers. And often, the success of your Instagram is measured by how many likes you get and the number of followers you have.

Gaining Instagram followers is no easy feat, and it could take months, if not years, to get to the follower count you want. With that said, you may be wondering if it's possible to buy Instagram followers.

In short–yes, you can buy Instagram followers, but it’s not always so simple. Buying Instagram followers isn’t cheap, and these followers are often bots who don’t engage with your profile by liking and commenting on your posts. So, if your goal is to increase engagement, buying Instagram followers might seem like a good idea, but it can do more harm than good for your business’s reputation.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the practice of buying Instagram followers and discuss how it could impact your business. Continue reading to find out more.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is a photo and video sharing social media app. Instagram was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and acquired by Facebook in 2012. You can take, edit, and post photos and videos directly from the app, as well as upload them directly from your camera’s photo album. Instagram started off as a platform for sharing videos and photos with your followers, but it’s expanded significantly over the years. You can now post Instagram stories, which disappear after 24 hours, as well as Instagram Reels and Instagram DMs. Businesses can also sell products directly from the app, giving them a new platform for making sales.

Users can engage with content in several ways, which makes Instagram a powerful social media app for businesses. Users can like, comment on, share, and save content that’s posted by brands. Having an Instagram presence is crucial for all businesses, as it can drive brand awareness, boost sales, and engage customers.

Can you buy followers on Instagram?

Yes, you can buy followers on Instagram from a wide range of sites at different price points, such as $10 for 1,000 followers. However, these followers typically aren’t real, and they’re either bots or inactive accounts that won’t actually engage with your profile. So although your follower count may be going up, your engagement will stay the same.

But why would a business want to buy Instagram followers? Typically, profiles with a lot of Instagram followers are considered successful because more followers usually means more recognition, trust, and popularity. For businesses, this can also mean more sales. The more followers you have, the higher your engagement is, which increases your chances of making sales. So if you’re just starting off with Instagram for your business and are looking for ways to increase engagement, you may be wondering if you can—or should—buy followers.

It’s often not recommended to buy Instagram followers. This is because most followers you buy tend to be Instagram bots. Instagram bots are common to see and are often just sold as fake followers to people or companies looking to increase their follower amount. Because these bots are not real people, they can’t actually interact with your content. The same goes for inactive accounts. While inactive accounts are not bots and are actually genuine accounts, they likely still will not engage with your content. Some Instagram accounts are made for the sole purpose of acting as a “fake follower” that people or businesses buy to increase their follower amount.

How do you buy Instagram followers?

There are several options for buying Instagram followers. On the web, you can find websites that offer different services to boost your follower amount. A lot of these websites are scams, so if you choose to go this route, it’s crucial to choose a safe website that will deliver what you’re paying for, which is more followers. Every website will offer different services and price points, so it’s up to you to decide which is best.

To buy Instagram followers, you first have to find a provider that is safe and reputable. Most providers offer a variety of different plan options, so your next step is choosing a plan. For example, you can choose a basic plan, which is typically the cheapest option, but also consists of the most fake followers. A premium plan will be more expensive, but the provider will likely advertise these followers as “100% authentic.” Whether or not that’s true is up for debate, so it’s important to be wary during this process.

Some providers may also offer a managed growth plan, which is the most expensive option. This plan will typically offer services that will increase your engagement over time, but to do so, you’ll need to provide your account information, which isn’t recommended.

Once you’ve chosen a plan, you then need to determine how many followers you want to gain. This will depend on your budget, as more followers is naturally going to cost you more money. Although you might be tempted to buy as many followers as you can afford upfront, this isn’t a recommended idea.

Going from 50,000 followers to 100,000 followers overnight doesn’t often happen naturally, and doing so can raise a red flag to Instagram. So, if you do decide to buy followers, you’re better off taking it slow and buying small amounts of followers over time.

After you decide how many followers you want to buy, you’ll then finalize the transaction by actually paying for them. The price will differ depending on the plan that you chose and how many followers you want to buy, but typically, buying followers is not cheap.

Should you buy Instagram followers?

There’s no denying that having a lot of Instagram followers is desired by most Instagram users. More followers means more engagement, and more engagement means your sales will likely increase. But does having more followers mean you’ll get more engagement? If those followers are real, it does! But in the case of buying followers, that likely won’t be the case.

If you’re looking to increase your engagement, you’re better off increasing your followers naturally. While this might take a lot more effort than just buying them, at least you’ll know your followers will be real and be more likely to engage with your content.

There are a lot of reasons why you should not buy Instagram followers, such as:

• Instagram can penalize you: You might think that buying Instagram followers won’t be noticed, but that’s not the case. In fact, Instagram can penalize you for buying fake followers. Buying Instagram followers breaks Instagram’s terms of service, which you sign when creating an account. If you buy fake followers, you’re running the risk of your account getting suspended.
• Users lose trust: While buying Instagram followers might make your profile look reputable, it can hurt your credibility as a brand. One of the main benefits of using Instagram is that you get to build trust with your followers, but when you buy fake followers, it can damage your relationship with your current followers. In turn, these followers might engage with your profile less and refrain from liking or commenting on any of your posts.
• Inaccurate analytics: Tracking analytics is very important for a brand as it gives you an idea of what you’re doing right and wrong. But if you have fake followers, it could completely skew your data. Fake followers can result in mismatched engagement compared to your real followers. It’s difficult to measure your analytics when a majority of your followers aren’t real, which can make it challenging to create effective social media marketing campaigns for your real followers.
• Instagram purges fake followers: If Instagram suspects you bought fake followers, they’ll take it upon themselves to purge them. Since buying fake followers violates Instagram’s community guidelines, they have the right to remove those followers. They know all the signs to look out for and can catch on quicker than you think, which means all that money you spent on these followers will be lost.
• Spam: When you buy fake followers, you’re opening your account up to spam. Most of the accounts that follow you will be bots or inactive accounts, which means they’ll likely bring spam with them, which can hurt both you and your followers by compromising personal information. You can end up receiving inappropriate spam comments on your posts, which real Instagram followers can catch.
• Decreased engagement: The primary purpose of buying followers is to increase your engagement, but doing so can do quite the opposite. For example, if you have 100,000 followers, but only get 1,000 likes per post on average, this will decrease your overall engagement. Having an inconsistent follower-to-like ratio can signal to real followers that your account buys followers, which can damage your brand reputation.

How do you get more Instagram followers organically?

So, you’ve decided that buying Instagram followers isn’t the right move for you, but you still want to gain more followers. How can you gain more followers organically?

• Create a public profile: If you’re using Instagram for business purposes, your profile should be public. A public profile means that more people can see and interact with your content, even if they don’t follow you. It also means that your content is more likely to show up on the explore feed, which will attract more users to your page.
• Interact with other accounts: One of the best ways to get the word out about your Instagram account is to simply just interact with other accounts. Comment on, like, and share Instagram posts from accounts related to your brand that your target audience follows. The more you engage with other accounts, the more likely it is that your content will show up on other people’s feeds.
• Host giveaways and contests: Giveaways and contests are a great way to engage with your current followers, but it’s also a good way to reach new audiences. When your followers see you’re hosting a giveaway, they’re going to tell all their friends, who will then tell their friends, and so forth. Before you know it, your engagement will start going up, and so will your followers.
• Produce quality and engaging content: One of the best ways to increase your follower amount is to consistently post quality and engaging content. Posting one picture or video a month will show Instagram that you don’t actively use its services, which can prompt its algorithm to keep your profile off of the feeds of your target audience. You need to consistently post and make sure each post is engaging and relevant. From Instagram Stories to Reels, there are countless ways you can create quality and engaging content on Instagram, so have fun with it and get creative.
• Use hashtags: Hashtagging is a great way to increase your follower amount. Using hashtags is a good way to find your target audience and attract new followers. However, you shouldn’t add irrelevant hashtags to your pictures. Instead, ensure the hashtags you use are related to your content so that you attract the right people who will want to follow you.
• Create Instagram Reels: Instagram Reels is a recent addition to Instagram, which mimics the concept of TikTok, which is a social media app where users post short-form videos. With this new addition, many users have found it beneficial for increasing engagement. Instagram Reels is a great opportunity to reach more users who already interact with content that’s similar to yours.
• Post Instagram Stories: Instagram Stories is one of the best ways for a brand to interact with its followers. You can post polls, quizzes, and questionnaires on your Instagram story, which anyone can interact with. Users can also share stories with other people, which will also help to increase your engagement.
• Buy Instagram Ads: With Instagram Ads, a business or person pays to have their content marketed on the app. This is a great way for brands to advertise new products or services and reach new audiences. You can also get more creative with Instagram Ads, like with videos and pictures.

FAQs: Instagram followers

How can you tell if someone buys Instagram followers?

It’s fairly easy to tell if someone’s Instagram followers are fake. To do so, you can look at an account’s followers to see if they are bots or real people, look at their “likes” compared to their follower ratio and amount of likes on other posts, and look at how many accounts they’re following. Any outliers in these can indicate that their followers are fake.

How much does it cost to buy Instagram followers?

The price of buying Instagram followers depends on your service provider and the plan you choose, but it can range anywhere between $10 to $50 or more for 1,000 followers. This can quickly add up over time and can end up costing your business large sums of money.

Can Instagram ban you for buying followers?

No, Instagram won’t ban you for buying followers, but you can get penalized. If Instagram notices a lot of suspicious activity with your account, your account can get suspended or deleted.

The bottom line

Having a lot of Instagram followers is something brands strive for, but taking drastic measures to get there isn’t necessarily a good idea. While buying Instagram followers might be a quick fix, it can have long-term consequences. So yes, you can buy Instagram followers, but it can do a lot more harm than good for your brand. Instead, you’re better off gaining followers organically. It might take more time and require more effort, but at least you’ll know those followers are real and not just bots that you paid to follow you.

Creating compelling content for Instagram so you can gain followers might seem overwhelming, but you can use Mailchimp to help you out. Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that can help businesses with everything from email marketing to creating an effective Instagram advertising strategy.

Having Instagram for small businesses is crucial so that businesses can reach new audiences and connect with their customers, but using Instagram isn’t always so easy. This is where Mailchimp comes into play. With Mailchimp, you’ll get access to a variety of helpful resources and social media marketing tips, so that you can create compelling content that increases your engagement.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your content and take your social media to new heights, Mailchimp is the way to go.