Have you ever considered buying followers for your social accounts? There are lots of accounts out there that have, and still are, but we are here to explain to you why this is a bad idea and how you can spot what we call a ‘bot actual followers’ (see what we did there?)
First and foremost buying followers is a way of growing the numbers without gaining any sort of engagement. These will be computerised accounts that have been set up for one reason only - to follow accounts. Here are five reasons why you should not buy your followers:
They will not engage with your account, and this means that they won’t like, share and comment on your posts.
Your posts won’t show up on the explore pages. This means that your posts will disappear into social space, because the social platforms won’t recognise you as genuine.
Metrics will be impossible to measure. Your insights are crucial to developing your social media pages, and without these being true to your audience you can’t rely on these.
Instagram doesn’t like you to buy followers, and it goes against their terms and conditions. It could lead to your account being limited, suspended or even banned.
It can destroy your credibility as an influencer, brand or business owner.
That final point is one we consider really important at SLBPR. We value the influencers we work with, and we can spot bot bought followers a mile off. To ensure we work with the right influencers and brands we look at the follower numbers in comparison to the engagement. For example, an account with 15k followers with an average post like of 52 is a cause for a concern for us as an agency. Brands want exposure with real audiences and not fake bought ones.
That brings us on to engagement rates. This is a calculation we use regularly to establish how an account is performing, and how posts are resonating with audiences. According to Hootsuite and account under 10k should be looking to have an engagement rate of between 1% and 5%. We suggest around 1.5% is a good benchmark. We have some clients who are smashing this stat! Brooke Evans is at an incredible 4.3% and Heffy is at 2.86%. Incredible!
“Slow and steady wins the race. My top tip to grow your social organically is to be persistent, good things take time. Post regularly, engage with others as often as possible – set aside even 10 minutes a couple of times a day to be engaging with other people’s social. . It’s called social media because you need to be social, there’s no point in having a page if you’re not being active. You need to be not only posting your own content regularly but engaging with other accounts – liking or commenting on posts and sharing content to drive your followers and engagement.
As soon as you start to buy followers it takes away your engagement. If you’ve got 10k followers and only 30 likes on a post it massively impacts your engagement and your accounts credibility.
Brands are now looking to micro influencers, the Instagram accounts with a lower following but high engagement which is received both by your audience and brands.
What matters more creating great content or gaining followers? I’d always choose great content that I know my audience will engage with and continue me to be able to grow organically.” Brooke Evans, B.E Ironbridge
So, if you are considering buying some followers this year because you think it will increase your opportunities - don’t! In fact it will do the exact opposite.
Buying followers - bot the hell are you thinking?!?
If you want to find out how to grow your follower numbers organically then get in touch with us. We offer social media management, strategy and audits to help you get seen by the right people.