Can you buy followers on Instagram?

Today, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. Almost everyone loves using Instagram, watching reels, and scrolling feeds. Now, let’s have a look at some interesting stats about Instagram.

As most people use Instagram, many businesses have started promoting their business there. Instagram has become a platform for connecting with target audiences for businesses. Most often the success of the Instagram business account is measured by the number of followers and likes it has. However, getting followers and likes is not easy as it might sound.

Nonetheless, having a good number of Instagram followers and likes can help you to establish credibility. People tend to believe other people more than they trust a business online. On Instagram, people look at the following and likes of a business account to know its worth. Therefore, having Instagram followers and likes can give you an advantage.

Now, you must be thinking is it possible to get Instagram paid followers? Yes, you can get Instagram paid followers but it’s not that simple. These Instagram paid followers are often bots that don’t engage with your profile. Basically, it means they don’t like or comment on your posts like real Instagram followers. 

Buying Instagram paid followers might seem like a shortcut. But is it good for your business in the long run? In this blog, we will look at various aspects of buying followers for Instagram. Continue reading to learn about the best ways to get Instagram followers organically.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is a free photo and video-sharing app that was founded in the year 2010 by Kevin Systrom. People can upload their photos and videos on their accounts and share them with their friends & family or followers. Their followers can view, like, and comment on their Instagram posts.

Instagram has become popular over the last few years with annual revenue growth of 1028% from 2015 to 2022. The platform has also grown in terms of its features like stories and Instagram reels. Now, businesses can even sell from the platform which gives them an opportunity to boost revenue.

Instagram has become overall a popular platform as the number of users has increased significantly over the years. People engage with Instagram content in different ways. They post, like, and share content with other people. Therefore, it has become crucial for brands to establish themselves on the Instagram platform. It can help them to grasp people’s attention, bring brand awareness and increase sales.

Can you buy Instagram followers?

Yes, you can buy Instagram followers from different websites at distinct price ranges. Keep in mind that these followers aren’t real and won’t act like real Instagram followers. They are actually bots or inactive accounts that won’t interact and engage with your Instagram profile. They will just help to increase the count of followers but not the engagement rate. Thus, Instagram paid followers aren’t an effective way for growing a business in the long run.

Why do businesses need to buy IG followers? Most of the time, people tend to think of businesses with thousands of followers as successful. More followers make people believe that the business is popular and credible. It also means that you’ll have a higher engagement rate and more sales.

This is where the question arises, when you are starting your Instagram business account – if you should buy Instagram paid followers or not. Most experts suggest that you shouldn’t buy Instagram followers as they are just bots. As per the statistics, Instagram bots make up to 9.5% of Instagram’s monthly users.

The companies that sell fake Instagram followers generally sell Instagram bots. These bots can just help you to increase your follower count but not the engagement rate and sales. Therefore, you should carefully consider the decision of getting Instagram paid followers.

How much does buying Instagram followers cost? 

Buying Instagram followers can cost you from a few dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the number of Instagram paid followers you want. There are different plans available that you can purchase from different vendors. But remember that buying Instagram followers is against Instagram’s terms of service. Thus, it can cost you more than just the monetary amount you pay. You can end up losing your Instagram account along with the decrease in reach and engagement.

How to buy followers on Instagram?

Here, in this section, we will tell you different ways in which you can get Instagram paid followers.

1. Fake follower vendors 

Buying IG followers is not easy as it was earlier. Now, Instagram is tracking and closing down the accounts that violate its terms of service. To buy Instagram followers cheap, you need to get in contact with a vendor that actually provides fake followers or bots.

Look for a legitimate vendor that can deliver you fake followers for your Instagram account. Most of the time these vendors or sellers don’t give all the Instagram paid followers in one go. They roll out followers within a time period so as to not alert Instagram.

Once you get Instagram paid followers, don’t expect your engagement metrics to change. Everything will remain the same, except for the Instagram followers count on your profile.

2. Instagram bots 

You might have heard of the term Instagram bots. There are companies that create Instagram bots and sell them as followers to people. They have automated the entire process of making Instagram bots and selling them with just one click. These bots look so similar to real accounts as they use names and stolen images.

The dummy accounts seem original and run on automation to follow, like, and share the content. Now to your surprise, they are even programmed to create content. The only way to identify these Instagram bots is by looking at their following-to-follower ratio. You’ll see they’ll have huge following and fewer followers. The engagement rate of these accounts is also very less.

Even with thousands of Instagram bots, your content will have the engagement of real Instagram followers only. Also, these bots won’t discuss your business with their friends and family as they don’t exist in real life. Therefore, you can’t expect miracles in terms of having an increase in sales just by having many Instagram paid followers.

3. Inactive accounts 

Not all vendors sell bots some sell followers with real accounts as well. However, these accounts are just created with the purpose of following a specific account. These followers might show engagement in the early stages but later when they go inactive, it might affect your performance metrics.

Since these accounts are created with the sole purpose of becoming a follower of a specific account. They won’t engage with the profile and the content being posted. They won’t either purchase the goods or services being promoted. Thus, these Instagram paid followers won’t bring any value to your business.

4. Demographic accounts 

How to increase followers on Instagram? Instead of Instagram paid followers, you can pay services to follow accounts on your behalf and bring followers. They can strategically follow accounts based on your preferences like location, hashtag, account type, gender, etc. Many times these accounts will follow you back increasing your follower count.

From this method, you can get genuine Instagram followers but still, there’s no guarantee of getting good engagement. Even, one can’t be sure if these accounts will follow back. However, if they do, the probability of them being loyal and active followers is less.

Steps to buy instagram followers

Now, we will give you simple steps following which you can buy Instagram followers. But keep reading the blog till the end to know if Instagram paid followers are worth it or not.

Step 1: Choose your Instagram paid followers provider 

There are many companies that provide Instagram paid followers. You have plenty many choices in this way. If you go on Google and just search, “ buy Instagram followers”, you’ll find many vendors out there. However, now these businesses work differently than earlier.

In 2018, Instagram closed down its public API so that third-party apps couldn’t post. This had an influence on the companies that used to sell fake Instagram followers and likes. Millions of bot accounts disappeared overnight and many third-party services were shut down.

However, later these Instagram paid followers providers came back again. Now, the way they worked has slightly changed. In the next section, we will give you a list of some well-known retailers from whom you can get Instagram paid followers.

Step 2: Select the right plan for your business

As you’ll discover different fake follower vendors, you’ll know that you have many options available to choose from. Many companies provide you with a choice between basic followers, premium followers, and managed growth. These plans rely on the use of click farms that utilize poorly paid laborers. This gives you one more reason to avoid using Instagram paid followers. 

1. Basic Followers 

This plan provides you with fake followers that are easy to recognize. These are false accounts with no profile photos or posts on their feed. They are the cheapest to get and are often caught by Instagram. Therefore, the chances of them being deleted by Instagram are high. Also, till the time they exist, they won’t like or comment on any of your Instagram posts.

2. Premium Followers 

Premium followers are also called active followers. These followers look realistic as they have profile photos and posts on their feeds. Many times companies say that they are real people but you never know. Similar to basic followers, they won’t engage with your Instagram content.

3. Managed Growth 

Managed Growth is the most expensive fake follower service. It can be offered on a one-time fee or monthly subscription basis. Managed growth services work to improve your engagement and grow your following. But for this, you need to hand over your account to the managed growth agency. You need to provide details about the audiences and hashtags you want to target.

The growth agent will then use your account to like, follow, and comment on your behalf. This way you’ll get better and more genuine followers. It is an expensive service but there’s no guarantee that it will increase your engagement rate.

Step 3: Choose the number of Instagram paid followers

Do you still want to pay for followers on Instagram? If yes, then choose the number of Instagram paid followers you want. Depending on your budget, you can choose a plan for buying Instagram followers. The basic Instagram followers plan is pretty cheap. You might think of buying 5k to 10k followers at once. But keep in mind that it can be risky and give red flags to Instagram.

Many companies provide instant and gradual delivery options. You can opt for a gradual delivery option as it is less suspicious. Make sure to keep your real-to-fake followers ratio in check as your engagement rate is going to remain the same.

Step 4: Add some views or likes if you want 

Most of these Instagram paid followers providers also offer likes and views on your post at some price. If you want you can also purchase likes and views on your Instagram posts. This will help to add credibility to your Instagram account. It will also aid you in matching up the followers and engagement rate.

Step 5: Take the final step 

Once, you have selected the vendor, it’s time to checkout. Be sure with whom you are sharing your credit card details. No company should ask for your Instagram account password until and unless it is managed growth. You can pay with PayPal or cryptocurrency to avoid the chances of financial scams.

Step 6: Decide your time 

Tell your Instagram paid followers provider when you want the followers to appear. Most of the companies start giving new followers within 24-72 hours of the payment. The expensive growth services take longer to provide followers as they want to gradually increase your account through the right engagement.

Where to buy Instagram followers?

In this section, we will tell you about the retailers that provide Instagram followers. (Note: We do not guarantee that you can trust any of these vendors with your credit card details)

Mr. Insta:

This fake followers site has the largest menu of offerings. It is quite more expensive than most of the sites given in this list. Mr, Insta claims to provide the highest and most realistic-looking followers. They give customers the option to pay using Dollar General or CVS gift cards.

GetInsta:

This site mostly provides sales offers. You can choose between instant followers and daily followers. For daily followers, you need to take up a subscription plan that gives you a certain number of followers every day. On this site, you’ll find an Instagram caption generator. You can create captions for your Instagram posts and create better engagement.

Social Boost:

This site offers only growth management at a heftier cost. However, they don’t guarantee a specific number of followers within a time period. They assure to target and engage with Instagram users and build your followers over time.

Buzzoid:

This service claims to provide the fastest delivery of followers within hours of payment. They offer an “automatic likes” subscription service from which you can get likes and video views from real users on every new post. This way you can also hide the fact that you have purchased followers.

Kicksta:

This tool is completely different than the services we have mentioned above. They claim to provide organic growth through artificial intelligence. You have to provide Kicksta with a list of accounts like influencers and competitors who have followers you would want. Kicksta will like the posts of those followers and the chances are they’ll follow you. But it might happen that Instagram users might get annoyed by your activity and end up just blocking you.

Should you buy Instagram followers? 

From all the information above, you might have understood that it’s not a great idea to buy Instagram followers. The purchased followers are usually bots or inactive accounts that won’t impact your engagement. It means that your posts won’t reach Explore pages or real audience feeds.

Buying Instagram followers won’t provide long-term value to your business. The purchased followers might give you likes, views, and comments in the early stages but later they would be dormant. What is the use of having 10k followers when they won’t engage with your profile? Instagram’s Algorithm shows the posts to the audience’s feeds when the engagement of a post is high.

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t buy Instagram followers that we have mentioned below.

Credibility 

Having a lot of followers can make people believe that it’s worth following you. Remember that fake followers aren’t going to engage with your posts. This puts you at risk of losing your credibility with real audiences. People might notice that you have tons of followers but very less engagement. They might find out that most probably you have fake followers or bots. This way they might think you aren’t loyal and end up unfollowing you.

Engagement metrics 

If you add up a lot of fake followers then it might become difficult for you to identify the real audience engagement. You might not know when the real audience is engaging with your posts and when the bots & inactive accounts are screwing the ratio. If you won’t be able to track your real Instagram followers, you won’t be able to convert them into customers.

When you invest in buying Instagram followers, you don’t get any real followers. Instagram’s algorithm work on the basis of the engagement you get. Therefore, buying followers is not a long-term solution. Instead of putting time and money into buying Instagram followers, you can focus on building real and long-term relationships.

Instagram identifies fake followers 

Instagram has updated its terms & conditions of use and it identifies and removes fake accounts from its platform. Now, Instagram is also removing likes, follows, and comments from third-party apps that are intended to artificially grow the audiences of certain accounts.

Buying fake followers is also against Instagram’s community guidelines. Therefore, it might happen they shut your account permanently. Instagram is devoted to maintaining genuine interactions on its site and protecting real accounts & experiences.

The best ways to get real Instagram followers organically 

Now, you know that buying Instagram followers is not right for you. You must still be thinking about how to get more IG followers. Here, we will tell you how you can get more Instagram followers organically.

– Make your profile public: If you’re using Instagram for your business, then you should make your account public. Having a public profile can help you get more interaction and engagement from real people. It also increases the chances of your content being seen on Explore and Feed. This way you can attract more people to check out your account.

– Connect with other accounts: To create your brand awareness, you can interact with other accounts by simply connecting with them. Like, share, and comment on Instagram accounts that are related to your brand. You can also connect with your target audience and inform them about your business. The more you interact with other accounts, the more your content will appear on other people’s feeds.

– Host contests and giveaways: Conducting contests and giveaways is one of the best ways to engage with your existing followers and attract more. When people see that you are hosting a contest or giveaway, they tell & share about it with their friends and family. This way your engagement and the number of followers will increase.

– Create unique & good-quality content: The best way to increase your Instagram followers is by producing unique & good quality content. When you post good content continuously, the Instagram algorithm notes that you are active and constantly using its services. It automatically shows your profile in Explore and the news feed. Therefore, it’s necessary that you post good quality and engaging content on Instagram as stories or reels.

– Use hashtags: Using hashtags is a good way of increasing your follower count. These days people also follow hashtags and by using hashtags you can bring your content to maximum people’s feeds. Make sure that you use hashtags relevant to your content.

– Post Instagram reels: Instagram reels are similar to TikTok which enables you to post short videos. Instagram reels are a great way to reach out to new audiences and increase your engagement. It has been seen that video content has more engagement than Instagram posts.

– Instagram stories: By posting Instagram stories you can interact and engage with your followers. You can post polls and quizzes on your Instagram story to know people’s opinions. It is a good way to engage with people.

– Run Instagram ads: If you want to reach out to a large audience in a short time and increase engagement then you can opt for Instagram ads. It is a great way to market and advertise your products or services to more people.

The Bottom Line 

Most of the businesses aim to have a large following on their Instagram account. However, getting tons of Instagram followers is not an easy task and requires work. One of the major benefits of having a good following is that it helps to establish credibility. That’s the reason many brands think of buying Instagram followers. But gaining followers organically is much better than getting fake ones. In the blog above, we have given major reasons why you should avoid purchasing followers.

You can also use WebMaxy eGrowth to manage, schedule, and analyze your Instagram posts. You can analyze the interaction and engagement of your different social media posts in one place. This tool has many other features like a KPI dashboard, marketing insights, audience segmentation, social media management, email marketing, marketing automation, Whatsapp marketing, and retargeting ads. Schedule a call with our experts to learn more about WebMaxy eGrowth or email us at info@webmaxy.co.