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Purchasing Instagram followers is a risky strategy for inflating your follower count and it can backfire. When you choose this option, you not only risk damaging your credibility on the platform but might also get your account banned. If you're contemplating buying Instagram followers, here's why that wouldn't be a good idea.

1. Your Engagement Rate Is Set to Plummet

Engagement rate is an important metric for determining how engaged your audience is with your content. It enables you to assess how many of your Instagram followers are actively engaging with your stories, posts, reels, and more, which can help you tailor your content strategy to cater to your audience's preferences.

Most fake followers you buy won't engage with your content because they are either bots or inactive users. Because of that, you'll likely see the same level of engagement as you did before purchasing followers. Despite having a higher follower count, the lack of interaction will cause a decent decrease in your engagement rate.

A drop in engagement rate can also discourage your loyal audience, as it suggests waning interest in your content.

2. You're Paying for Bots and Inactive Users

The followers you purchase are not authentic Instagram users. They are either bots, which are accounts created automatically without any real user behind them, or inactive accounts that were once used by real people but are no longer active on the platform. These accounts may no longer be owned by their original users.

If you anticipate gaining genuine audience traction by purchasing Instagram followers, it's an expectation that won't be met. Be cautious of websites that promise genuine Instagram followers who will engage with your content; such claims are often deceptive and should not be trusted blindly.

3. Your Account Might Get Banned or Restricted

Any artificial growth, like purchasing Instagram followers, goes against Instagram's community guidelines. The Instagram algorithm can detect this if your follower count experiences a sudden, exponential increase. If flagged by the algorithm, your account may face restrictions or even temporary or permanent bans.

To sidestep any potential problems with Instagram, you should refrain from purchasing followers from any source. In the worst-case scenario, your account could face a ban, risking the loss of all the effort you've invested in growing your Instagram presence organically over months or even years.

4. Fake Followers Won't Stick Around

Instagram actively fights against fake interactions to keep the platform clean. It takes action against fake accounts and restricts their activity. Also, it systematically purges fake Instagram accounts. As reported by Fraud Blocker, Meta, the parent company of Instagram, removes millions of fake accounts from its platforms.

If you have a decent number of fake followers on your account and Instagram starts removing those accounts, your follower count will inevitably decrease over time. This decrease could undermine trust among your genuine followers, which could potentially lead to a further decline in engagement.

5. Your Account's Growth Would Slow Down

Like other social media platforms, Instagram favors accounts with high engagement rates. A higher engagement rate prompts Instagram's algorithm to promote your content to a larger audience. This can help you get more organic followers and views, which can help your account grow naturally.

The decline in engagement rate signals to the algorithm that your content may lack quality. Consequently, this can diminish its potential for organic reach and traction on the platform.

6. Your Account Could Get Compromised

Websites that offer to buy fake followers may ask you to link your Instagram account to their platform. By doing so, you grant them access to your account, including your posts, conversations, and other personal information. This way, you could expose your data to third parties, which is a big security risk.

If you unknowingly use an untrustworthy service that lacks a proven track record or reputation, it could also put your Instagram account at risk of being hacked. To prevent this, you should prioritize the security of your Instagram account and personal data and avoid using services that request access to your Instagram account.

7. Account Moderation Becomes a Challenge

To maintain a balanced engagement rate, some automated Instagram bots are programmed to interact with your posts. However, their interaction is not genuine. They may leave irrelevant comments, spam your comment section with emojis, or repeat the same comment multiple times.

Therefore, you'll need to constantly monitor for abnormal interactions by spam bots and regularly remove these comments, which could turn into a nightmare for account moderation. 

8. You May Get Fewer Partnership Offers

Businesses today are savvy enough to avoid partnering with influencers solely based on high follower counts. Instead, they prioritize the metric that gets them conversion: engagement rate. If your engagement rate declines, companies may opt to promote their business through other accounts, even if they have fewer followers but higher organic engagement.

Growing your followers through inorganic methods could cost you potential and current clients. If you don't want that to happen, don't experiment with inorganic methods.

9Your Reputation Could Take a Hit

Besides Instagram's algorithm affecting your organic growth, rapidly gaining a large following can draw attention from your followers, business partners, and competitors. Because of that, your followers could lose trust in you, and your competitors could exploit the situation to discredit you. They may also report your Instagram account and get you banned.

To safeguard your reputation with your followers and prevent competitors from tarnishing it, it's wise to avoid inflating your follower count inorganically.

Considering the risks involved in purchasing Instagram followers, it makes sense to avoid this option altogether. Instead, consistently share valuable content, engage with your followers, optimize your profile, use relevant hashtags, and craft compelling captions to foster organic growth on the platform. Only the followers you gain organically will stick with you, engage with your content, and contribute to your account's growth.

source: MUO