The fake Instagram followers industry is based on a very tempting offer: spend a little money and get a lot of followers. You can go from a few hundred followers to 10,000 or more in no time. With this incentive, the profits and affiliates will surely follow.
Sorry to shatter your illusions, but no. While buying Instagram followers is cheap and easy, the hidden costs can be high. You can ruin your reputation, alienate your real followers, and even lose your account if Instagram discovers your fraud. If you want to become famous on Instagram or grow your business, buying followers won’t get you there.
In this article, we’ll explain the fake followers industry and show you what happens when you buy Instagram followers. Instead of cheating your way to success, we’ll also show you how to get more Instagram followers using tried-and-true tactics.
How to Buy Instagram Followers
Let’s first take a step-by-step look at how to buy Instagram followers. Then we’ll explain why you should protect your money and your dignity.
1. Choose Your Provider
Many companies are offering fake Instagram followers, giving you plenty of options to choose from. Google “buy Instagram followers” and you’ll discover a whole new world of companies with very questionable ethics. These companies operate a little differently than they did a few years ago. In 2018, Instagram closed its public API, preventing third-party applications from being published.
This has had huge implications for all types of businesses, including those selling Instagram followers and likes. Countless bot accounts disappeared overnight, and third-party services that liked and followed the accounts stopped working. As the fake followers industry recovered, a few things changed: Services stopped asking for your login details and started emphasizing that all followers were “real” and “authentic” and not bots.
2. Choose your plan
As you explore the fake followers offerings, you’ll notice that there are many options available to you. Some companies give you the choice of regular or “premium” followers, while others offer “managed growth.” All of these plans are based on the use of click farms, which exploit low-paid workers who often work in sweatshop-like conditions. This is all the more reason to avoid them.
Basic
The simplest options are also the most obvious: they don’t have profile pictures or messages in their posts, but they exist—at least for now. They’re less expensive, even if they’re described with superlatives like those you see at a farmer’s market: high quality, natural, free… in fact, that last one could just refer to eggs. Because these fakes are so obvious, they’re usually removed from Instagram very quickly. As long as they exist, they won’t like or comment on your posts.
Premium or active followers
Then you have “premium” or “active” followers. These accounts tend to be a bit more serious with profile pictures and posts in their feed. Companies promise that they are “100% real people!” but we take that with a grain of salt. And just like regular followers, they don’t interact with your content in any way.
Managed Growth
Finally, we have “managed growth.” This is the most expensive fake follower service and can be offered as a one-time fee or as an ongoing monthly subscription. Managed growth services essentially implement your engagement strategy and reach out to other Instagram accounts to grow your audience.
Managed growth services require you to provide your account information (easy as pie!) and provide a “growth agent” with detailed information about the audiences and hashtags you want to target. The agent (or its automated software) will like, follow, and comment on your behalf. In theory, this will get you more followers. In practice, it’s just a more expensive way to empty your feed and lower your overall engagement rate.
3. Choose your number of followers
Still interested? Okay! Next, you can choose how many followers you want to buy.
This depends on your budget and the package you choose. Simple fake followers are pretty cheap, so you might be tempted to buy 5,000 or 10,000 at once. Why not? Well, because a huge increase in your Instagram follower count is likely to set off alarm bells.
This is why most companies offer “instant or phased” delivery options. A more gradual delivery is theoretically less suspicious. But the ratio of fake followers to real followers is important, so think twice before buying a large number.
4. Throw in some likes or views
Many of these companies pride themselves on being a one-stop shop for all types of fake interactions. So you can also buy likes on Instagram for your posts or views for your Instagram stories. In theory, this adds credibility by balancing fake followers with fake engagement. In practice, this is unlikely to fool anyone.
5. Take the plunge
You’ve looked at your options and, against your better judgment, decided to checkout. It’s time to provide your Instagram name, email address, and credit card information.
Some companies may require you to create an account or skip straight to the basics: payment information. If you’re hesitant to provide your credit card information, you may be able to pay with PayPal or cryptocurrency. Important note: If you don’t opt for managed growth, you won’t be asked for your Instagram password.
6. Bide your time
Most companies promise that you’ll see new followers within 24 to 72 hours of your credit card charge being approved.
Premium growth services tend to take more time, as they focus on gradually expanding your account through targeted interactions or automated processes. What does this mean for you? It may take longer for you to realize that you’ve spent your money.
Where to Buy Instagram Followers
Many companies sell Instagram followers. And while you can peer into the abyss and see what’s staring back at you, we’ve picked out a few of these options for you.
Like any illegal industry, sellers tend to change their names and URLs to hide bad reviews or customer complaints. You’ll also notice that each company’s website looks very similar in layout, language, and price. So, honestly, it’s hard to tell the difference between them. But we gave it a try:
Socialbudies.com: Socialbudies promises “fastest delivery” and guarantees new followers within hours of payment. They also have a “Likes” subscription service: for a monthly subscription, you can automatically receive likes on every new post and see videos from “real users.” Seems like a good way to alert Instagram to your suspicious activity by getting hundreds of likes on a post instantly.
Socialbuddy.uk: Like many of its competitors, Socialbuddy promises “Real users, real accounts, fast delivery!” » Socialbuddy provides a selection between “real” and “premium” followers but does not offer managed growth services.
