If you look up the definition of fake you’ll get: “not true or real. counterfeit, sham.” Don’t be fake. I mean, you wouldn’t want people to view you as a fake person, so don’t go out and buy fake followers for your business Instagram account. Please!

I know it looks better to have 100K followers versus 1,000. I know some of your competitors may have way more followers than you. But do not, I repeat, do NOT buy fake followers. If you aren’t listening to my warnings or have wax in your ears, make sure you read the next half of this blog before you run off and be fake.

Here’s Three Reasons Why You Need to Keep It Real

1. Low Engagement

I know this is pretty obvious but fake people don’t do anything real. You want REAL people following you because REAL people will spend REAL money. REAL people will tell their friends and family how awesome their experience with you was. REAL people will engage with you on your Instagram account and give you valuable feedback that can make your biz even better. A fake account is called a bot. A bunch of bots in your follower count means you have lower reach, lower engagement rates, and a worse ratio for interactions. Yeah, I don’t like this either.

2. It is against Instagram Policy

Since 2014, Instagram has been cracking down on fake accounts. In fact, millions of fake accounts have been thrown in the trash, where they rightfully belong. If you previously bought followers, you’ll know the fake accounts have been caught by Instagram when you strangely lose a large number of followers over night. If they don’t catch all the fakes in the first purge, they’ll probably get them in the next one. Even worse than losing followers, if Instagram sees you are purchasing followers, they may even suspend your account.

3. Your Integrity Is Questioned Okay maybe this may seem harsh but I’m just keeping it real. You are basically lying if you have fake followers. You don’t really have 100k followers if they aren’t even real people. People may not know that you’ve bought followers, but going from 30 followers or likes to 30,000 in the space of a couple of days is bound to get people suspicious, and then your integrity and reputation could well be in tatters.

Buying followers may be tempting, but it will do you more harm than good in the long run.

So please keep it real. Not sure what you should be posting on your business account? Contact us for a social profile audit.