A Competitive Platform

If you’ve spent a lot of time on social media in the last few years, you’ve seen the platforms evolve and become better. Instagram is no exception, and since its debut in 2010, the platform has changed significantly, growing to become one of the most widely used and influential social media platforms on the planet.

Estimates put the app’s monthly user base at around 100 million (in the US) and one billion globally. With a third of the US population on the platform, it would be foolish for a brand not to establish a presence on this bustling marketing hub.

As the platform has grown, so have its users. Brands and influencers from all over the globe are in constant competition for new followers and sponsorships. The competition has never been fiercer, and the opportunities that Instagram presents to growing businesses and influencers are simply unmatched elsewhere. Since Instagram was acquired by Facebook a few years ago, there has been a steady increase in the app’s traffic and the number of brands competing with each other for the coveted #trending spot.

With such fierce competition and new brands springing up all the time, it can be a challenge to differentiate yourself and your content from the rest of the market. Instagram presents a unique opportunity for brands to establish themselves as a household name by generating social proof, a vital component of any successful brand or business. We’ll go over this concept in the next section.

Instagram can also help you generate extra money by attracting the attention of other brands looking to sponsor your content. With so many opportunities to market to specific audiences, make extra money via sponsorships, and spread word of your brand across the globe, Instagram is truly one of the most versatile and profitable social media platforms on the web.

Instagram’s Future

Some experts predict that Instagram will continue to grow exponentially into the 2020s. As we approach this new era of social media awareness and growth, what will the platform look like? For one thing, Instagram is always working to improve the platform for its users. Purging fake accounts, creating a more welcoming and tolerant community, and making the platform more business-friendly are just a few of the improvements we’ve seen over the years.

Instagram already provides some data reports to its users, and those can be expected to improve with time. These invaluable analytics will be able to tell you how your posts perform across demographics like age, race, and gender, as well as in which geographic locations your posts perform the best. Activity tracking is perhaps the best tool that social media platforms offer, providing priceless information on followers and customers.

IGTV

With the launch of IGTV, Instagram is ensuring that it retains its place in the social media hierarchy. This optimized video service will likely compete with video giant YouTube, providing a stellar experience for content creators, businesses, and users alike.

The videos will fit within your phone’s screen better than ever and will be optimized for mobile data. Everyone you’re already following will already be on the app (which is separate from the Instagram app itself), so you won’t have to search for the content you want. Everything you need will be right on the first page!

Influencers

Instagram practically created the influencer niche, spawning a new generation of people who can appeal to the masses on behalf of major brands and outlets. These “micro-influencers” possibly have even more influence than high-value celebrities, which is mostly due to the fact that they’re more relatable to everyday people.

If you think about it, you probably have far more in common with the typical influencer than with a movie star. Influencers aren’t (usually) millionaires, and still share a connection with the common Instagram user. Furthermore, they care for their followers in a way that movie stars don’t. As Instagram continues to grow, it’s likely that influencers will become even more valuable to brands and businesses.

Instagram has provided the world with an easy-to-use platform where everyday people and celebrities alike can share their experiences and interact. With the app’s continued success and improvements, Instagram is will be a major powerhouse of marketing potential for businesses and influencers.

Fake Accounts Will Continue to Be Purged

Instagram takes no pity on fake accounts, effectively banning any they discover. Fake accounts make things more difficult for everyone on the platform, and only jeopardize those accounts that use them as followers. Wouldn’t you prefer a genuine interaction with a human to an artificial one with a bot?

Instagram has taken steps to ensure that it’s much more difficult to create fake accounts, and reporting them is simpler than ever. Instagram depends on the community to help identify and report these imposters, so if you find a fake account, know that reporting it is helping to increase the overall quality of the platform.

Synthetic communities of followers cause brands to lose money and credibility, something no self-respecting business should tolerate. Only real followers can purchase your products, so no matter how many fake followers you have, you’ll be stuck at your current revenue level.

What Is Social Proof?

Social proof is a concept that every brand should be familiar with. It comes in many forms, from customer testimonials on your website and social media pages to business credentials to social media following and interaction. Social proof is vital to your brand’s success, as it lets potential customers and followers know you’re a legitimate business with real followers who trust your products and content.

Social proof is as important to small up-and-coming businesses and influencers as it is to established content creators. Social proof is pretty much a requirement in today’s world, and with a continuing focus on social media presence and validation, it’s a critical component to your brand’s success.

Examples of Social Proof

Some forms of social proof you’re likely already familiar with are:

1. Business Credentials

Having credentials to back your business is a great way to show your customers that you’re legally able to conduct business and are following the rules. Credentials might include awards and certifications the business has acquired or something as simple as an LLC after the business’s name. A shady business won’t offer credentials of any kind. The better your credentials are, the more likely you are to attract the attention of new customers.

New customers are inherently taking a risk by trusting a new service, so offering some kind of credentials to ease their skepticism can be incredibly valuable. The new customers don’t know anything about you or your brand, so offering some kind of credibility in the form of certifications will demonstrate that you have made an effort to further legitimize your business.

 

2. Expert Testimony

When experts stand behind your products, it can say quite a lot about what your business or brand has to offer. Consumers want to know that the things they’re purchasing are safe, and with expert testimony, you’re providing a trusted voice to reassure them. If you’re selling any kind of food, beauty products, health and wellness products, or anything else that involves the human body, expert testimony can be helpful to establish credibility.

 

3. Celebrity Approval

It’s no secret that celebrities have quite an influence on their fans. Whether it’s Oprah suggesting a book by a specific author or a movie star endorsing specific beauty products, the testimony of a well-known public figure can make or break a customer’s decision to purchase your products or follow your pages.

With a well-known celebrity standing behind your brand, you’ll skyrocket to levels of success you’ve never known before. You’d be amazed at just how much influence actors, talk-show hosts, and other celebrities have on their fans. Best-selling authors have reached stardom thanks to Oprah’s book club, and brands have jumped to national recognition simply because a movie star sported their handbag or used their health products.

 

4. Social Media Credibility

Last but not least is social media credibility. This type of social proof is arguably the most important in today’s digitalized world. The more followers your pages have and the more likes, shares, and views your content gets, the more credible your brand will seem to potential customers or followers. People respect numbers, and when you’ve got 100,000 followers, you’re going to get a lot more attention than someone who only has 50. If thousands of people trust your brand or products, you’re establishing a reputation on the platform that can be verified with the click of a button.

Social media credibility is pretty much the starting point for any business, brand, or influencer. Since so many people are active on social media, starting there can open the door to the other types of social proof. Once you’ve established a large enough following, you’ll attract the attention of celebrities, other influencers, other brands, experts, and more.

Why You Need Social Proof

Let’s be honest: going “dark,” or not participating in any social media whatsoever, is about the worst thing you can do for your business or brand. Social proof is essential to creating that first level of trust between you and your potential customers. Without the social proof to back your brand up, you have nothing to verify your brand’s authenticity. Without social proof, establishing a large and trustworthy customer base can be nearly impossible.

Leveraging Social Proof

Aside from establishing trustworthiness among potential and current customers, you can leverage your social proof for other purposes. Influencers use social proof to generate profitable sponsorships from established brands looking to promote their products. Influencers with enough followers can generate multiple sponsorships, increasing their income and social proof simultaneously. Influencers can help persuade followers to purchase specific products they’ve endorsed, and those endorsements can help social media pages earn further credibility.

When you buy Instagram followers, you’re ensuring your content reaches the people who will be interested in it. Marketing is difficult enough without the added challenge of trying to reach the right people on sites like Instagram. Buying your followers helps you circumvent the long and arduous process of finding the right audience, getting your content in front of the people who are most likely to follow your page and engage with posts.

Leveraging social proof to grow your brand is a good practice, and can help you reach celebrities or experts in your industry. You’ll naturally draw attention once you begin leveraging your social proof for endorsements; from there, it’s all about staying consistent with your level of quality and the services or content you’re providing.

Followers, Likes, Views

You can purchase followers, likes, and video views from most Instagram growth services. The prices of each will vary based on the service you choose, the amount you want, and when you want them delivered. Most services offer an instant-delivery option, as well as a gradual-delivery option for more organic-looking growth. Depending on your needs, you’ll be able to get Instagram followers overnight or within the course of a few days or weeks.

 

If you’re running a special promotion or launching a new product, the instant-delivery option is a good way to go. You’ll get followers, likes, or views sent to your page so you can boost its visibility, which will encourage other users on the platform to follow your page or check out your content. If you’re just looking to gain a larger following in a way that doesn’t make your account look like it was boosted by bots or fake accounts, gradual delivery can help you achieve that growth over time.

 

The more likes and views your content has, the more appealing it is to potential customers and followers. This form of social proof helps solidify your content’s value in the mind of social media users and critics alike, simultaneously boosting your brand’s reputation and drawing more attention to your products. Likes have a tremendous impact on the popularity of your posts, so don’t underestimate the power of purchasing a few thousand real likes from legitimate Instagram users.

 

Likes are essentially the currency of social media, and the richer you are in likes, the more you’ll be able to leverage your social proof for increased growth and engagement. Users gravitate toward posts that have a lot of likes, as the likes add credibility to what they’re seeing. If you see a post with only 10 likes and one with over 15,000, you’re probably going to look at the one with more likes first. More likes will set your content apart from the reams of endless posts that exist on social media.

 

Sponsors like to see more likes on posts, as it lets them know that people are genuinely interested in the content and are actually stopping to press the like button. People usually only press the like button when something in the post evokes an emotion, humor, or some other human connection, and once you’ve got them engaged, they’re more likely to follow your page as well.

Credibility Is Key

When you boost your likes and followers, you’re establishing the all-important credibility your brands needs to be successful. Credibility is what separates successful brands from those who are on the threshold of success. With social proof, your credibility will skyrocket. Let’s say you’re looking to become the number-one clothing brand in your city. Without a successful social media presence, you won’t reach as many people, and you’ll be lacking a crucial component of your brand’s credibility in the industry.

If you want to be the authority in a certain industry, you can’t just expect people to believe you. New customers and professionals know nothing about your brand, products, or values, and they certainly aren’t willing to take a major risk on something they know nothing about. If you have a thriving Instagram or social media account and a good website to direct those new customers to, you’ll have a platform that can attest to your brand’s credibility.

This is where the issue of purchasing likes and followers from bots or fake accounts arises. In the past, illegitimate services have sold followers, likes, and views from “bot” accounts, which are essentially computer-generated social media accounts that hold no real value. These accounts would boost the pages’ follower counts and likes, but the interaction was minimal, confined mostly to senseless emojis on posts.

Bot accounts serve only to reduce the crucial social proof and credibility we’ve been talking about. If a potential customer visits your Instagram account and finds nothing but bot accounts, they’re going to stay away from the page. Bots don’t interact with, share, or otherwise endorse your brand or products; they simply fill space.

With Instagram’s newest updates, bots and fake accounts have been severely reduced, and your account can be flagged, penalized, and even deleted for using bot accounts or fake followers. In a world of increasing competition, using bots simply isn’t a good idea. Your potential customers will be able to spot bot accounts, and you’ll reduce your overall credibility.

Credibility also comes from being consistent with the quality of your content, products, and customer-follower interaction. If you never respond to comments, messages, or other interactions, you may come across as callous. Now more than ever, customers want to feel a connection to the brands they’re subscribed to. Establishing that all-important human connection will boost your credibility and help you form more personal relationships with followers and customers.

Great Content Sets Your Page Apart

Perhaps the most effective way to boost your page’s credibility and appeal to new users is to create great content. Engaging, informative, and entertaining content will always appeal to users more than dull, poorly crafted content. The higher the quality of your content, the more people will engage with it, increasing the potential for sharing and subscribing.

What sets great content apart? A few factors that apply to social media content can make it stand out from the competition. When you’re crafting your page’s content, follow the rules below to maximize the effectiveness of each post.

1. Remember Your Audience

When you’re posting on social media, you’re posting for your audience. When you buy Instagram followers, your audience is already predisposed to enjoy your content, so you’ll want to be sure you’re tailoring your posts to meet their interests. Gather feedback or pay attention to user comments and messages, as they’ll tell you everything you need to know about whether your content is appealing or not.

Remember to avoid open conflict with your users. It can be difficult to deal with an openly aggressive user or customer on your social media accounts, but you should recognize that everything you say is being saved and posted online for anyone to see. Remember social proof? A good way to massively reduce yours is to say the wrong thing to an angry user on your post!

2. Use Smart Keywords and Hashtags

Without hashtags and keywords, your posts won’t appear in Google or other search engine searches. If you want to be the authority in your field, you must use the right hashtags and keywords. For instance, if you’re an influencer that specializes in technology reviews, you want your account to show up on any searches (Google, Instagram, or others) as one of the first results. This process is called SEO (search engine optimization), and is one of the most important components of a successful social media account or website. Don’t underestimate the power of a great hashtag!

3. Trigger Emotion

Triggering emotions with your posts helps users become personally invested in what they’re seeing, and when you create a personal investment, you’re all but guaranteeing that people will come back to your content. Emotion is a powerful motivator, so if you can make your users feel something with your content, you’re appealing to a central human attribute; one that can help them decide that your content is worth following.

4. Incentives Can Create Buzz

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Incentives such as giveaways, sweepstakes, and promotional coupons can help boost your posts and increase your brand awareness. Even if someone’s never heard of your brand, a free sample or promotion can often be enough to convince them to try out your products or content. Offer something users will want, then ask them to like, follow, or share your page in order to win. This simple but effective tactic is used by some of social media’s biggest influencers, with great success.

5. Humor Appeals to Everyone

Another great way to generate buzz and increase the quality of your content is to include a bit of humor. Laughter is the universal language, and there’s no reason not to induce some laughter with your content. People are more likely to share something that made them laugh or experience emotion than a post that was riddled with sales pitches. However, ensure you keep your jokes clean!

6. Videos Are Even More Effective Than Written Posts

Upgrading your video content can help you boost the quality of your page and keep users engaged. Videos can convey enormous amounts of information in a short period of time, and they’re more likely to catch people’s attention than static posts. When you buy Instagram followers, likes, and views, your videos will be seen and liked by more people, and your view count will skyrocket. This will help your content reach more people and increase the overall credibility of the videos and everything else you post.

Videos are highly versatile. You can choose a humorous skit, a heart-wrenching story, an emotional journey, or a quick and simple promotion (though these should be limited to a few per month). Video content is one of the most popular mediums through which people obtain information, and if you can make videos work for you, your content and your page will prosper.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking longer videos are better, though. In fact, a shorter video often holds the attention of a viewer more effectively than a longer one. Keep your videos under three minutes. For maximum effectiveness, shorten them to around 30 seconds. Remember that today’s world is incredibly fast-paced, and most users aren’t going to want to donate more than a few minutes of their time to a promotional video.

7. Stay in Touch with Trends and Pop Culture

Staying up to date with pop culture and trending information is crucial to maintaining top-notch content. Users don’t want outdated information (unless we’re talking nostalgic posts), and sometimes outdated humor can cause people to disengage. Try to keep your content relevant and updated to keep users from tuning out.

While it’s important to stay updated on popular culture, you also want to ensure that your content is original. Obviously, blatant plagiarism won’t be received well, but a nod to your influences isn’t a problem. Keep your content modernized and relevant to appeal to a great number of users, and you’ll get more follows and views on each post.

8. Add Value to the Viewers’ Engagement

Most of all, your content should add value to the users. When someone watches a video, likes a picture, or scrolls through your content, they’re donating their time to you. This should be rewarded with content that adds value to their lives and makes that time worth it. Keep your content high-quality, engaging, and inspiring for a more successful social media experience.

You’ll want to be sure you’re appealing to your audience’s interests and the things they care about. If you have an audience that is interested in a specific topic, you need to hone your content to appeal to that interest (provided it aligns with your brand and message). It’s also a good idea to ask for feedback from your audience now and then to ensure your content meets their needs and to acquire new information on how to improve your page. The audience knows best what kinds of things they want to see, so don’t be afraid to ask!

9. Keep It Fresh

Similar content becomes stale after a while. Let’s be honest: none of us wants to see the same thing posted day after day. It’s boring and clogs up the feed, which can cause users to unfollow or unsubscribe from your page. Keep your content fresh, but still related to your market or niche. This will take some thought and serious work, but it will pay off when your followers remain engaged throughout the duration of your social media lifespan.

Great content is always more effective than generic or overused content. Keep your content original and engaging, and ensure it appeals to the human nature of your followers or customers. Emotion inspires action, and humor can help a person relate to what they’re seeing, forming that all-important bond between creator and viewer. Diversify your posts so as not to continuously recycle the same material, and don’t forget to offer free stuff once in a while!

Social Media Marketing

Why should a business care about social media? We’ve already discussed the benefits of great content, social proof and credibility, and the fierceness of social media competition. More than anything else, social media is an essential marketing tool for any business or brand. Social media can help you reach a bigger audience than you could ever dream of. The days of newspaper ads, billboards, and magazine ads are on their way out as social media becomes the number-one marketing platform in the world.

Instagram is one of the most downloaded and used apps on both the iTunes and Google Play Stores. Millions use the app daily, posting and sharing content, liking new posts, and following new accounts. The bottom line? Your brand can’t possibly survive and thrive in today’s world without effective social media marketing.

Social media marketing lets you target specific people and market your content directly to users who may already be interested in it. That way, your efforts are twice as effective as blanket marketing on the platform. Sure, you can share your posts and ask friends and family to do so, but this will only take you so far; eventually, you’re going to have to decide how to best reach the people who actually want to consume your content or purchase your products.

Your Customers Are on Instagram and Social Media

Why should you use Instagram as a marketing platform? Because that’s where your customers are. Instagram has over 100 million monthly active users in the US alone. That’s a third of the entire population! At least 70 percent of the global population has some kind of social media account, which amounts to billions of people worldwide.

When you buy Instagram followers, you get access to people from all over the country who are active on Instagram and engage with your content. Take advantage of the fact that billions of people use social media, and get your content out there! Instagram is full of shoppers looking for the next great product. Yours could very well be it.

It’s Free in Most Cases

Nearly all social media platforms are free of charge to join. What better marketing tool could there possibly be than a free platform that gives you access to millions of people on a monthly basis? It simply can’t be beaten! Instagram saves you time and money by putting your content where the customers are.

Some platforms, like Facebook, offer paid ad campaigns, where you can pay for a promotional post to run for a specific amount of time. These paid ads will increase your reach and appeal to your desired audience, thus furthering your efforts and getting your content out there. Campaigns can cost as little as a few dollars to as much as a few thousand, depending on your specific needs and the platform you’re operating on.

Growing Your Other Accounts

Growing your other social media accounts is easier when you have a solid following on Instagram. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, so the two platforms are already connected. With thousands of followers on Instagram, taking advantage of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media services will require less effort. You can combine efforts for the ultimate network to help boost your social proof and your revenue.

Brands that successfully unite their social media efforts and achieve equilibrium can experience a greater level of success than those that aren’t savvy to the benefits of such a union. It’s a proven fact that utilizing social media increases a brand’s visibility and attracts new customers. Not to mention that social media is used by billions of people all over the world, so you’ll essentially have an unlimited number of people to appeal to.

Why Buy Followers?

Buying followers is a safe and effective practice as long as you’re being cautious and using only legitimate services. There is plenty of skepticism about buying followers, mostly due to the abundance of scam services posing as legitimate businesses. Unfortunately, the web is an easy place to run a scam, as it takes away much of the accountability that occurs naturally with a brick-and-mortar business.

That being said, there are plenty of legitimate Instagram growth tools out there. It’s important to know the difference between a legitimate service and a scam, and we’ll discuss how to spot a scam later in this article. For now, let’s bring the focus on why you should consider buying followers, likes, and views for your Instagram page.

Faster Growth

We all know it takes months or even years to build a platform on any social media site. You’ll spend a lot of time liking posts, promoting your content, and practically begging people to follow or share your content. This process is exhausting, challenging, and downright inefficient. The old days of “like for like” or “follow for follow” social media growth are over; it’s time to move on to a brighter and more efficient future.

Let’s say you’ve spent the last six months trudging through old methods of growing your Instagram page. You’ve done everything right: marketed your page as best you could, offered incentives for follows, and even reached out to other Instagrammers in the hopes of making a connection. What’s missing? You simply don’t have enough followers to help draw attention to your content or products.

The more followers your page has, the greater the chance that they’ll share your content with their followers, thus creating an expansive network of people who have all seen your content. Furthermore, as we discussed earlier, a high follower count helps to boost your social proof, which you can then leverage for all manner of benefits for your brand.

When you buy Instagram followers, you’re circumventing that long and exhausting process of manual growth. Some call it a shortcut, but in truth, buying Instagram followers is more like a “life hack.” You’re essentially paying for access to active Instagrammers who are interested in your type of content already, so you won’t be getting random accounts or bots sent to your page.

Your account will begin to grow overnight, and you’ll notice that over the course of the next few months, that growth will continue. As your content reaches more people who enjoy it, they’ll share it with their followers, who will share it with theirs, and so on.

Appeal to a Wider Audience

Through this increased sharing of your content, you’ll be able to appeal to a much wider audience than you once did. You might find that your new audience is completely different from what you imagined was your target audience, and that’s great! It means your content or products appeal to more people from different backgrounds. The potential for growth is then limited only by how many followers you want to buy.

When you have a wider audience tuning into your content, you can shake things up a bit by experimenting with different posts to appeal to individual subcategories of followers. You can make posts directed at just one demographic, at multiple demographics, or at everyone at once. This versatility ensures you’re capturing the attention of everyone who’s following your page.

Increase Website Traffic

If you’ve got a website for your brand or even a blog for your content, buying Instagram followers will help increase the flow of visitors to your URL. You can tag your website in posts, feature products with a link on your page, or make promotional videos about what you’re selling. Increased website traffic not only means more sales and engagement from your followers, it can also grant you access to ad revenue on your site. When you monetize your website, you’re allowing other brands to post ads for their products on your home page, thus earning extra money for yourself.

Increased website traffic also helps to boost social proof. A highly trafficked website will attract more attention, and with the right keywords in your content, you can make sure your website appears on the first page of search-engine inquiries. Be sure to unite your marketing and SEO efforts for an all-encompassing approach that will help ensure your Instagram and your website appear in searches related to your niche or market.

Increase in Revenue

Higher traffic and more followers mean an increase in revenue as well. More people will see your content and will either purchase or share your products. If you’re not selling anything, you can still earn money by becoming an influencer. Once you have a significant number of followers, brands will reach out to you and ask you to either review or promote their products. Make no mistake, some of Instagram’s biggest influencers make thousands of dollars for simply promoting products on the platform. It’s a lucrative business as long as you can gather enough followers to make an impact on their purchasing decisions.

You’ll need to take the right approach to your Instagram account to ensure you’re not being overly promotional with your products, however. Even with thousands of followers, if your content only consists of ad after ad, your audience is likely to grow bored and disengage. Refer to the section “Great Content Sets Your Page Apart” for more on how to create engaging content that will keep followers engaged and sales high.

Increased Visibility and Credibility

With so many new followers on your page, your brand awareness and credibility will increase. We’ve already discussed the benefits of credibility and social proof, and increasing your visibility simply makes you accessible to more people. Remember, the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” absolutely applies to marketing. When your content and products aren’t in front of the people who are likely to purchase them or follow your page, they don’t know about it, and therefore can’t act on it.

Why Real Followers Make a Difference

When you want to buy Instagram followers, there are a few things to consider. First and foremost, you should be certain that you’re purchasing real followers and not bot accounts. Scam services will sometimes provide bot and fake accounts to customers as an easy way to provide growth services without having to enlist real and active accounts. Why do real followers matter? For one thing, a bot account simply can’t interact with your content as a real person can; for another, your account is actually put at risk when the majority of your followers are fake accounts.

Bots vs. Humans

A human Instagrammer can feel emotion, share your content with friends and family, and provide valuable feedback on your page and your products. A bot account can do none of those things. Bots don’t have friends and family they can share your content with, and they certainly can’t provide valuable feedback on your page, products, or content. Bots are strictly a placeholder, boosting your Instagram followers count without actually boosting your engagement or credibility.

Bot services have been offered by shady businesses all over the internet since Instagram’s founding in 2010, and unfortunately are still offered today. Even with the incredible advancements in AI technology, bot accounts can’t provide the level of high-quality engagement and feedback that a real human user can. Until we teach robots to feel emotion, bot accounts will never be able to match the quality of a real human user.

Credibility

We’ve talked about credibility several times already. Are you noticing a pattern? We’ve established that credibility is crucial to the success of businesses and influencers alike, and if your page is loaded with bots or fake accounts, your credibility is going to take a nosedive. Think about it: if a business’s Instagram account is populated almost entirely by bots, what makes that business’s content legitimate? Without real people to offer social proof to the content or products, the account is basically useless for marketing purposes.

Your credibility as an Instagrammer and a brand should be of the utmost importance. Without it, you’re not going to keep followers engaged or attract new followers and customers, and it’s going to be quite difficult to sell or promote anything. In an increasingly digitalized world, customers long for credibility more than ever. A genuine business is easy to differentiate from a shady one.

Instagram’s New Rules

While you can still buy Instagram followers from services that are entirely Instagram-compliant, it’s more difficult than ever to get away with using fake accounts. Instagram’s recent updates and changes to its terms of service have made it increasingly difficult for fake accounts and bots to exist. Instagram is focusing on purging these accounts to create a more streamlined and genuine platform for brands to operate on.

This means that using fake accounts can actually put your personal account at risk. You’ll risk flagging or penalties, up to and including account deletion. All of your hard work can be destroyed in just a few minutes when you pay for fake followers, so it’s vital that you choose only legitimate Instagram growth tools that offer real Instagram followers and likes. We’ve already discussed the difference in quality that having human followers makes, but now there’s the added risk of having your account deleted!

Engagement vs. Empty Follows

When someone follows your Instagram account, you expect them to engage with content. Likes, shares, comments, and even direct messages from followers are an important part of the brand-customer relationship. You want to hear feedback from your followers or customers, and you’ll also want to see them interact directly on posts to add more credibility to each content block.

Fake followers don’t interact. They don’t comment (or if they do, they’re generic computer-generated comments), share, like, or otherwise promote and discuss your content at all. After enough time with fake followers, you’ll start feeling empty, and it will feel like your content isn’t appreciated at all. Don’t opt for empty followers when you can have 100 percent real engagement from people who actually care about your content.

Potential Followers Know the Difference

Potential followers can spot an account with legitimate followers. If you’re attempting to appeal to a wider audience, you can pretty much guarantee that a page laden with fake accounts won’t do the job. Fake accounts are easy to spot; all you need to do is visit their personal page and you’ll see cookie-cutter posts or none at all. The generic comments or strictly-emoji interactions can also give them away. In other words, people will know if you’re using fake accounts to boost your numbers.

Don’t scare off potential followers with fake accounts! Every follower is a potential customer or promoter of your content. If they see that your only “credibility” is a slew of fake followers, they’re more likely to disengage and never return to your page.

It’s All About Value

When it comes to Instagram, it’s all about the value of the content and its followers. Valuable content simply performs better, as it speaks to the human experience and uses only genuine means to reach potential followers. The more valuable your content is, the more real people will be interested in it. If you use a legitimate service to buy Instagram followers, you won’t have to worry about bots or fake accounts, and your page will retain its value while growing exponentially.

Everything carries a value, including your Instagram account. Don’t jeopardize your value or your reputation. Keep things legitimate by choosing the right services and only buying real followers and likes. You’ll notice a difference right away, and your followers will too. The less time you spend building up your account, the more time you’ll have to focus on the value of your content.

Consistency Is Key

One of the key components of a successful social media account is consistency. This means uploading content on a regular basis and optimizing those uploads to coincide with Instagram’s highest traffic times. You want your posts to be viewed, and you want to post content frequently…but not too frequently! A few times per week is usually enough to keep followers and customers engaged without drowning them in promotional materials.

Consistency applies to the quality of your content as well. You don’t want your quality to be top-notch one month and drop off the next. Followers will likely spot the difference and wonder what happened, or else disengage with the page altogether when the quality of the content drops too low. Remember that you’ve got a reputation to maintain for the sake of your credibility and social proof, so be sure you’re consistently uploading high-quality relatable content.

Hard Selling Isn’t Helpful

Sales-oriented posts only serve to turn followers away from your content. People are tired of endless ads and sales pitches; they want relatable content. Customers expect to feel something for your brand before they invest money in it, which is why evoking emotion is so effective at inspiring action.

Avoid too much hard selling in your posts. A post with a story behind it is much more likely to sell the same products than a post that simply says “buy this product because…” Make your content relatable, avoid hard selling, and upload consistently for the best results.

High-Quality Photos

You can have the best content possible, but if your pictures look like they were taken with the world’s first camera, you’re going to lose out on some followers, likes, and shares. If you plan on being a professional influencer or simply want your brand to succeed on the platform, you need to take high-quality photos. This may require that you purchase a good camera, but it’s a worthwhile investment if you’re planning to stay on the platform.

A good camera will also show off your products better. Minor attributes will show up in greater detail, and followers and potential customers will get a better idea of what your products look like. You don’t want newspaper-quality photos on Instagram, especially since your competition could be using high-definition photos. HD should always be your goal when you’re posting visual content to the web.

Instagram offers in-app editing tools so you can tailor your photos to look exactly the way you want them to. You won’t need to invest in expensive photo-editing software, although a touch of professional editing can work wonders. Ultimately, it’s up to you whether or not you invest in these extras, but make no mistake, the level of quality your photos represent will reflect on both your brand and your products.

Your Account Will Not Get Banned

If you’re using a legitimate Instagram growth service, you don’t have to worry about getting flagged or banned. Instagram-compliant services don’t use those pesky bot accounts to boost your numbers; instead, they rely on real and active users. That being said, your account will get banned if you purchase fake followers. Instagram has worked hard to clean up the platform and has zero tolerance for such practices. According to Instagram’s own blog page:

“Recently, we’ve seen accounts use third-party apps to artificially grow their audience. Every day people come to Instagram to have real experiences, including genuine interactions. It is our responsibility to ensure these experiences aren’t disrupted by inauthentic activity. Starting today, we will begin removing inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that use third-party apps to boost their popularity. We’ve built machine learning tools to help identify accounts that use these services and remove the inauthentic activity. This type of behavior is bad for the community, and third-party apps that generate inauthentic likes, follows and comments violate our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.

We’re taking a number of steps to limit this kind of unwelcome behavior. Accounts we identify using these services will receive an in-app message alerting them that we have removed the inauthentic likes, follows and comments given by their account to others. We will also ask them to secure their account by changing their password. People who use these types of apps share their username and password, and their accounts are sometimes used by third-party apps for inauthentic likes, follows and comments. Not only does this introduce bad behavior into the Instagram community, it also makes these accounts less secure.”

(https://instagram-press.com/blog/2018/11/19/reducing-inauthentic-activity-on-instagram/)

You’ll also want to refer to Instagram’s Terms of Service and Community Guidelines to keep yourself updated on what kinds of posts can potentially get your account banned. The app’s development team is constantly working on increasing the overall quality of the platform, and purging fake accounts is just the beginning.

If you only use legitimate services to purchase likes, follows, and views, you’ll never be flagged or deleted. Remember that real human users not only make a difference in the quality of the interactions you share with followers, they also don’t put your account at risk as a bot will. Instagram’s continued purging of fake accounts makes the site better for everyone and serves to increase the quality of audiences that brands and influencers can reach.

What Does It Cost?

Naturally, one of your first considerations will be the cost of purchasing followers and likes. While the prices vary depending on what you need and which service you’re using, purchasing growth tools is actually quite affordable. Some websites even offer a free demo or trial period where you’ll get free likes, followers, and video views so you can get an idea of how the process works.

There are packages available for just about every need and budget. PayPal is usually the preferred method of payment for these types of service, but some will require a credit card to process your payment. Either way, be sure to use caution when purchasing such services. You shouldn’t have to give out your password for Instagram growth services, so you should probably stay away from any websites that ask for such information.

Essentially, Instagram growth only costs what you’re willing to put into it. If you want exponential growth in a short period of time, you’re going to pay more. Some services offer up to 50,000 likes or thousands of followers, which can cost hundreds of dollars upfront. If you think your budget can handle such expenses, they could be a great investment in the growth of your page!

Once you start generating thousands of new followers and more interactions, your investment can pay off in the form of endorsement deals and other monetary gains. The initial investment of a few hundred dollars for followers becomes well worth it when you’ve got brands asking you to advertise or promote their products to the tune of hundreds or thousands of dollars. Think of your Instagram account as a business in itself: it needs care and, at times, a well-considered investment in order to grow to its maximum potential.

How to Spot a Scam Service

Since we’ve covered the dangers of using fake accounts or bots, let’s talk about the scam services out there and how to spot them. Scam services will either take your money and fill your page with fake accounts, or they’ll simply take your money and never deliver anything. There are plenty of examples of both, so it’s crucial that you know what to look for when you’re hoping to buy Instagram followers.

Check the Service’s History

First and foremost, you should ensure the company you’re choosing to work with has a history of providing high-quality Instagram services. In the case of Instagram growth tools, it’s usually a better idea to use well-established services than to take a chance on a service with no reviews or verifiable customers.

Use the same caution you’d use with any online business, and never give out your personal information to a site you’re unfamiliar with. Most legitimate Instagram services won’t ask for your password, so it should be a red flag if the service requires your login info.

Look at Reviews from Past Customers and Critics Alike

Reviews are valuable resources for validating the legitimacy of a business, service, or product. Check the reviews on the service’s website and social media pages, and on sites like Trustpilot. A review can tell you a lot, including how well the service performed, what level of customer service was provided, and whether the service offered was worth the money.

If the service doesn’t have any reviews or has very few reviews, it’s best to steer clear. Pay attention to trends as well. If you see the same problem discussed in multiple reviews, there’s a good chance it’s a recurring problem with the company or its services. Bad reviews should be taken seriously, as should good reviews! Use common sense and avoid services with multiple bad reviews or poor service trends.

Check with the BBB or Other Credibility Services

Checking to see if the service you’re using is rated by the Better Business Bureau or other credibility services can also be a great way to ensure its legitimacy. The BBB was created for that very reason: to provide a resource for consumers to verify the credibility and quality of businesses all over the country. A good business should stand proudly behind its reputation, which should also be accessible to all potential customers.

The Press Is a Valuable Resource for Information

Let’s not forget sites like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Vanity Fair. The press is a valuable source of information on Instagram growth tools, and many online growth tools have been featured on these websites. You’ll be able to find reviews and verify the credibility of the service before you ever visit the actual website! That being said, you’ll want to keep an eye on which sources you’re using as well.

Pay Close Attention to the Website

Once you’ve sifted through all of the reviews and articles on your chosen service, visit the website. This should be your final quality check, and you’ll need to pay close attention to the site’s little details. The written copy on the site can tell you a lot about it, and the overall quality of the website’s design can be a dead giveaway. This isn’t always the case, however, as some scams will actually pay for a high-end website to further their agenda. Sometimes it can be almost impossible to tell the difference just by looking at the site itself.

The ViralRace Difference

We’ve established why buying followers is an important component of a successful Instagram account and for boosting your brand awareness. Now let’s look at what makes ViralRace such a great service. ViralRace offers only 100 percent real and legitimate services, and your personal information is always safe and secure on the site. Not to mention that your results can be delivered instantly or gradually, giving you complete control over how you grow your account.

High Quality

High-quality followers, likes, and views make all the difference in establishing credibility and encouraging engagement with your content. ViralRace offers 100 percent real and active users for all three of its services. Whether you want to buy Instagram followers, likes, or video views, they’ll always come from real users. Your account will never be put at risk, and you won’t need to provide your Instagram password to get your followers. Choose a package and your delivery speed, and sit back and watch your account grow and attract real users.

Sacrificing quality for quantity is never a good practice, especially if you’re running a business. Always remember that one real human follower is worth a million fake ones. Your business’s credibility and authority in your market will depend largely on your social proof, so don’t crowd your page with fake accounts and bots.

Great Customer Service

What sets most businesses apart from the competition is the level of customer service they offer. ViralRace offers 24/7 support with its packages, giving you access to friendly and supportive service staff at any time of day or night. Many of the industry’s scam services don’t offer customer service at all, and this is a great way to differentiate between a legitimate growth service and an illegitimate one. After all, if a business doesn’t stand behind its products or services, why should the customer?

Customer service is a top priority at ViralRace. No issues are left unresolved, and no customer is left without support for their new services. Purchasing Instagram growth services can be a little intimidating at first, especially if you’re new to the practice, but ViralRace’s customer service team can help ease the process and will instill trust. You’ll be amazed at the level of quality and service you’ll receive with ViralRace.

Instagram Compliant

Since ViralRace only offers 100 percent real users in their packages, your account will remain compliant with Instagram’s Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. This means you won’t be flagged for using bots, and your Instagram will continue to grow throughout its lifespan without the fear of deletion. Getting banned is not only inconvenient, it can be highly embarrassing and detrimental to up-and-coming brands. Don’t take such a risk; only use Instagram-compliant services to grow your account so you can utilize your Instagram for years to come.

Instagram is always updating its Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, and ViralRace is committed to staying in compliance so its customers can reap the benefits. Even so, it’s a good idea for users to be aware of the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines as well, so be sure to check those out following each new update.

Plenty of Reviews for Verification

You’re already well aware of the importance of customer reviews for establishing a brand’s credibility, and ViralRace has nearly 5,972 positive reviews on the site alone. High-end brands such as Canva, CouchSurfing, and Toast have reviewed ViralRace and attested to the legitimacy of its services. Nearly 6,000 people have agreed that ViralRace is one of the best Instagram growth tools available on the web today.

Serving Over 20,000 Customers

ViralRace has served over 20,000 customers over the course of its lifespan and continues to grow that number with each passing year. You’ll find an increase in your retention and engagement when you utilize ViralRace to grow your Instagram page, and chances are you’ll come back for more!

Very few Instagram growth services can boast such a high number of satisfied customers, let alone brands like Canva, who trust the service to help grow their social media presence. Let ViralRace’s customers speak to the service’s effectiveness and credibility; you won’t find reviews like these anywhere else.

Demo Available

Like any good service, ViralRace offers a demo of its products if you’d like to try them out before committing to a purchase. This will give you a better idea of how the service works, what you’re getting for your money, and whether or not it’s right for you. Chances are you’ll be satisfied with the demo and choose to move forward with a package of your own.

Competitive Pricing

ViralRace offers three different services, each with competitive pricing. Whether you need likes, views, or followers, you can purchase your preferred number for a price to match your budget. ViralRace offers up to 50,000 likes, 10,000 followers, or up to 50,000 views for your Instagram account, all from legitimate human users!

Whatever your specific need or budget, ViralRace can meet it. You can choose service packages that start as low as $2.99! Don’t let a tight budget hold you back from reaping the benefits of these amazing services. Grow your Instagram account today and start your journey to stardom with ViralRace.

Should You Buy Followers?

Buying followers ultimately boils down to personal preference, but overall, buying followers is a solid investment in your Instagram account. You’ll increase credibility, visibility, and potentially your revenue within a few days or weeks (depending on your delivery speed and number of followers). You’ll be in compliance and you’ll be able to grow your account in a way that won’t take years to provide tangible results.

Whether or not you should buy followers also depends on your goals for Instagram. Do you want to become an influencer and generate sponsorship deals? Are you looking to increase your brand’s already-established social media presence and visibility? Are you a content creator who is tired of your content not reaching anyone? Everyday users and mega-influencers/brands alike can benefit from purchasing followers, likes, or views.

The Bottom Line

• In this guide, we’ve discussed the benefits of purchasing Instagram followers, how to use caution when doing so, how social proof can increase your revenue and your brand’s credibility, and why quality and value matter. If you’re an established business or influencer, or a startup, buying likes is a quick way to legitimately boost your following and get people talking about your content or products. To recap, here are the key points:
• Quality beats quantity every time. Buying high-quality followers will always be better than buying fake accounts simply for the sake of boosting your numbers.
• Potential followers or customers can usually spot bot accounts and will avoid Instagram pages that are followed almost entirely by these accounts.
• Check reviews, press releases, articles, and other credibility services if you’re unsure of an Instagram growth service’s credibility.
• Buying followers, likes, and views won’t get your account banned as long as you’re using services like ViralRace. One hundred percent real and active Instagram accounts make for more organic growth and won’t put your account at risk.
• Great content sets your brand apart from the competition and keeps customers and followers coming back for more.
• Hard selling is usually a bad idea; choose compelling stories or other methods to evoke emotion among your followers and inspire them to take action (by following your page or buying your products).
• Unifying your social media efforts is the best way to make the most out of every platform; the more Instagram followers you have, the easier it is to grow your other social media accounts.
• ViralRace is one of the best-reviewed and most trusted services available today, with over 20,000 satisfied customers and over 5,000 5-star reviews to date.
• By keeping these things in mind, you’ll be able to purchase likes or followers from ViralRace knowing that you’re getting access to a legitimate service and real followers for your page. Experience exponential growth, increased social proof and visibility, and many other benefits by trying out one of three packages ViralRace has to offer.