To Buy Followers or Not To Buy Followers?
For businesses looking to quickly build their social media following, the thought of purchasing thousands of new followers might seem like a dream come true. But will it actually help your business in the long run? Keep reading to find out!
The Perks
Buying followers is quick and easy: Within just a few hours or days, your follower count can go from single digits to four figures or more. If you’re looking for a quick fix to build your social media following, buying followers seems like an obvious answer. (But is it a wise one? We'll get into that.)
It’s surprisingly inexpensive: Buying followers is cheap. For instance, if you use the service StormLikes, you can get 2,500 followers for $24.99.
Increased followers can add legitimacy to your brand: If your business is just starting out on social media, you might be disappointed that your follower count is below 10, while some large companies have accounts with millions of followers. A quick way to make your social media account look more established and legitimate is to increase your follower count, and buying followers is a quick solution.
The Drawbacks
Your new followers are often fake: While a lot of services claim to only get you high-quality, legitimate followers, this often isn’t true. Follower purchasing services frequently create fake social media accounts to follow your page with. While some of your purchased followers might be real people, there’s a good chance that a majority of them are fake accounts, otherwise known as "bots."
It’s a little dishonest (but technically legal): While it’s not against the law to buy followers for your social media platforms (as of November 2020), it’s definitely a little dishonest. Many people and businesses who have built their social media following from the ground up might see purchasing followers as cheating, which is certainly a fair point to make.
Purchased followers often don’t engage: Although your follower count might go up, that doesn’t mean your likes or shares will follow suit. As previously mentioned, a lot of your new followers are fake accounts set up by follower purchasing services. There’s a chance that none of your new followers are even real people, which means they won’t be liking or sharing your posts. Just because your follower count goes up doesn’t mean more people will engage with your content.
The Best Services
After doing some research on the various services that allow you to purchase followers, we’ve narrowed the list down to a few of the best options. Before purchasing anything from these sites, make sure to do your own research and determine if they are a good choice for your business. Furthermore, make sure that you’ve thoroughly thought about the perks and drawbacks of purchasing followers.
Growthoid: Out of all of the services, Growthoid definitely looks the most legitimate, and this is reflected in their cost. This service claims to help people organically grow their social media following, as opposed to getting a bunch of fake followers. The main drawback? Organic social media growth, even with the help of a service like this, takes longer than simply buying followers.
SidesMedia: This service promises to deliver your new followers within 72 hours of purchase, all at a very competitive price. You can purchase followers, likes, and video views on a variety of social media platforms, including LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.
Up-Social-Media: Up-Social-Media allows you to purchase followers, likes, and video views on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and SoundCloud. Perhaps the best part of this service is that it offers a 100 percent money-back guarantee, as well as secured payment processing via PayPal.
StormLikes: StormLikes only works for Instagram, so if you’re looking for a one-size-fits-all service, you'll be better off elsewhere. You can buy Instagram followers, likes, and video views, all for a reasonable price. They claim to only provide users with high-quality followers, meaning legitimate accounts that actively engage with your content.
Our Take
While organic social media growth might take some time, it’s always better to have engaged followers as opposed to ones you simply paid for. If you’re interested in growing your follower count without purchasing followers, please contact us today to learn how we can help!
About the Author
Annie Astraikis is Parklife’s Social Media Manager.