Special thanks to River Island for partnering up on this post!

Why Buying Followers Is A Major No

In all honesty today’s post is going to be somewhat of a rant. Not because I feel that I need to use this space as a way to vent (although you guys are amazingly supportive when I do need to vent) but more so because I genuinely feel like this is an extremely important and relevant topic that needs to be talked about more. So if you’re trying to grow your personal brand, or if you’re just interested in this facet of the social media world, read on to find out why I think buying followers is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

How Will You Sleep At Night?

I get that this might sound dramatic, but I honestly wonder how people who buy hundreds of thousands of fake followers sleep at night. The ethical issue of pretending to be someone you are not, scamming your way to “success”, and keeping up with a false persona is extremely alarming to me. When having the “fake follower conversation” with people I typically point out that I think people buying their followers are borderline sociopaths. Again – very dramatic. But that’s me. And that’s honestly how I feel about it. To be able to walk around pretending to have worked your a** off and earned the honest attention and loyalty of any number of people without doing so is insanely slimy and disturbing in my opinion. Not to mention very alarming from an ethics point of view.

Think of it this way – have you ever told a little lie (or a big one)? If so you know it’s extremely tricky and draining to keep up with that lie. Say you told someone you couldn’t go somewhere because you were sick – but you werent. And then you have to make sure to pretend to have been sick that day every time you see that person, and to not post on your social media that day to reveal you’re not sick, and to make sure your story adds up to anyone else you talk to that might talk to that person. etc. etc. You get the point right?

It’s an insane amount of effort to keep a lie alive. And to lie about a following is to lie about a lot – your work ethic, your career, your success, even your persona. Again, I will reiterate that I’m very dramatic about this topic. But it sparks anger and passion in me because I have genuinely worked my a** off (and continue to every day) to get where I am in this industry. To have others try to scam their way to the top is disappointing, frustrating, and highly offensive to me.

I also find myself wondering when people buy their followers who they let in on the truth. Like do they tell their mom “I made it, let’s celebrate I got 100k followers over night!” Or what about their spouse or photographer or best friends? Do they all know the truth or do they think their friend earned this accomplishment? What a strange way to live your life right? Therefore, this is my number one concern with buying your followers – living with it. That alone could be enough to keep some people from making this mistake, but in case it’s not I’ve got a few more reasons!

This Will Never Fulfill You

This is my second biggest concern when covering the topic of buying followers – the fact that it will never fulfill you. The most rewarding part of this job is the impact you have on others. To connect with you guys is invaluable. Your kind messages, inquiries, and the general relationship us bloggers are able to have with our audience is seriously the best part of our jobs. When you buy your followers you won’t have any of that. When you talk on your story about a hard day or an amazing accomplishment how do you feel knowing half of more of the accounts you’re talking to are bots and not actually people? Probably not very good.

And realistically how long can you keep up a fake persona? If you think you can pretend to have achieved something you haven’t for 10+ years you’re either crazy or seriously disturbed. It’s just not sustainable. To be an influencer you have to pour your heart and soul into everything. You have to be authentic, vulnerable, and raw. Faking you’re way to success will not sustain you or your audience. So just DON’T do it. But if you’re still not convinced…I’ve got one more major reason below!

It Will Come Back To Bite You

As technology has improved so has the ability to investigate the authenticity and integrity of a following. Platforms like Fohr Card have made these stats readily available for companies to review. Fohr Card also created a badge that verifies your following as authentic. To be able to showcase that badge is both an honor and a feat. If you aren’t able to do so…you know better than anyone else why.

It’s also easy to see the general graph of an influencers growth through other platforms such as Social Blade. Although once in a while something will go viral or the repost of a huge account will give you a slight spike, the general line of your growth chart should be a steady growth. No extreme highs or lows. Not to mention, it’s pretty easy to see from a consumer’s standpoint too. If someones following is large and their engagement and content isn’t great…there’s something fishy there.

Not only will companies not want to work with you if you’ve attempted to cheat your way to a following, but you will also be attempting to scam companies by pitching yourself as a person who has a said 100K following when only 10K of that is real people. Again – how in the world will you sleep when doing something this shady? Not to mention you will also lose the respect of your colleagues (i.e. other bloggers). The blogging community is full of beautiful, talented, creatives that are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. To potentially tarnish your relationship with these people simply because you tried a sketchy short cut is really a shame don’t you think?

If you’ve already made the mistake of buying followers I would suggest starting over or going through and deleting as many fake followers as possible. To have a fresh start full of integrity, honesty, and hard work is going to allow you to sleep like a baby at night, feel fulfilled and inspired by your work, and allow you to grow great relationships with readers and companies alike.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this rant. If you have any questions on this topic or suggestions on future industry talks DM me on Instagram or drop a comment below. Happy Friday! Xx

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Photography by Clayton Wenner @clayhendrx