Where to get a sufficient number of followers to make sense? Not all techniques for gaining them are bad. And why even 10k followers don’t always guarantee the status of an influencer? In this article, I will focus primarily on the social network Instagram, because these practices have spread the most there, but you can find similar ones on Youtube, TikTok or Facebook.
What is influencer marketing?
We consider as influencers people (but also other entities, such as fictional characters, animals, etc.) who have the ability to influence primarily the purchasing behavior of a certain group of people. Most often these are famous musicians, actors, athletes, models, bloggers, politicians and others who have a certain number of followers. But this is not always decisive.
Because being an influencer is not just about a specific number of followers, but rather about whether and to what extent they can influence their audience. That’s why everyone who has 10k followers on Instagram is not immediately an influencer. It also depends, among other things, on where their followers came from.
Is it worth buying followers?
For me, simply no, but everyone has to find their own way in this.
Nowadays, likes or interactions can be bought almost anywhere, in the Czech Republic for example on the website Stovkomat.cz, where followers and likes are offered in bulk, both on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and others.
Nowadays, getting 50,000 followers is not at all difficult and even a new Instagram user can handle it. There are various apps that use old, unused or stolen accounts, which are able to force you to be followed with just one click. In the past, Socialdroid.cz or Archie.co worked this way. Fortunately, Instagram is still fighting against this, and therefore none of these applications lasts long on the market.
But these accounts are almost unused, and if they are, only to a very small extent. Any purchased followers will more likely damage your account than help it. Why is this so? The first stumbling block is usually the ratio of a high number of followers but zero engagement (interaction with your post). As someone who works with influencers on a daily basis, I have to say that the first metric I follow is engagement. Because it shows what part of the audience (followers) is active and whether they are interested in the content shared by the given account.
That the purchase of followers cannot help you? On the one hand, yes, but at what cost. When starting a business and at the same time social networks, you start from scratch. And the beginnings are really tough. If you buy followers, then from a purely psychological point of view of users, it can help you, because a lot of users work and are still guided by the number of followers – a high number = interesting content. But of course, this may not be true. However, you should count on the fact that in the long run, it will rather harm your account.
If you’re not sure whether the account you’re following has purchased followers, there are various apps that can help you uncover it. I personally use hypeauditor.com, which is not cheap, but it helps you reveal the account’s statistics and even purchased followers. Plus, you can check your first account for free.
The ideal influencer? Different for everyone
How to avoid irrelevant influencers? It’s easy. Carefully watch the given account for a longer period of time. Notice what it does, how it behaves on the network – of course, you also have to know that you want to connect with that person. In short, it has to fit into the concept of your marketing mix. Because there are also publicly known personalities who can seriously damage your brand.
The basic limit for monitoring engagement for me is 10%, but of course it’s individual here. There are many influencers who have been on Instagram for years, and their numbers are based on that – their followers have often created a new account and not deleted the old one – so they still follow those people. On the other hand, new influencers, usually people targeting a younger target group, have quite high engagement, because a lot of people just like or comment, but don’t follow the given people.
Furthermore, you should definitely look at the focus of the given account. For example, insta-models who can take nice photos can have the numbers and can help in promoting the brand, but they can’t influence their audience as well as, for example, rappers, dancers, athletes, actors or business accounts with an educational focus. I don’t want to say that it has to be a complete failure and at the same time throw everyone in the same bag, but I recommend paying more attention to such accounts.
Of course, you should also think about your target group, i.e. if you have a product that is primarily for the older generation, who are of course also on Instagram, then the ideal influencer will definitely not be a TikToker who is followed mostly by children.
As one such case of an influencer I wouldn’t want to work with, I could mention one arrogant boy from Prague who (almost) attacked the police, which led to a Facebook group with almost 5,000 members contacting companies to renounce their collaboration with him. If they didn’t listen, they would downgrade ratings or report their posts across all social networks and other platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Google Business, etc.).
Also, be careful about how the given influencer got to you. Did you contact them or did they contact you? In addition to apps that can direct interactions to a given profile, there are also other apps that allow for mass messaging, even based on your interaction. There are also several servers that bring together influencers and publish companies’ demands for collaborations. On these pages, you really have to watch what kind of people are involved, because the only limit is more or less the number of followers. Of course, you can find interesting people there, I have started several successful collaborations thanks to that myself.
How to get relevant followers?
A proven way to get relevant followers is to build a base of followers with quality and interesting content, complemented by connecting with influencers or paid ads directed to your account.
An interesting and at the same time a method I consider well-suited is Insta POD – it means that a certain group of maybe eight people/accounts mutually hype up their profiles – after posting, they like, share and comment on each other’s posts, which catches the Instagram algorithm, and it recommends them much more. A great example of this is the Milion+ music label, which has about twelve members. They like, comment, share and save each other’s posts, so their numbers grow nicely. However, there are cases where this is done by several “friends” with at least one who has more followers, so they inflate the numbers. But again, without any real added value of the given audience.
Another option are competition profiles – we’re in the Czech Republic and people love to get something for free as much as beer or discounts. This way, profiles are created that promise competitions for luxury products (iPhone, Playstation and other consumer goods). In this case, however, the followers are largely made up of an audience that will not be continuously as active, because they are not following the given profile out of long-term interest, but for a one-time activity. There are also “big competitions” with 10 followers who have more than 100,000 followers and for a considerable amount guarantee the growth of your number of followers. I don’t have personal experience with this, but I don’t need to mention again what the audience will look like, do I?
In this case, there are also cases where the resulting Instagram account is sold after the end of the competition. To a person or company who will “build” their own business on it. On the one hand, it may look nice again, but renaming and a radical change of content has a bad effect on the Instagram algorithm.
You see, it’s not impossible or even difficult to select the right influencer or get the necessary number of followers. However, different criteria suit everyone, so even a person with 10,000 followers may not be an influencer for you. But both issues have one thing in common. It won’t be free. If you need help finding the right path to a higher number of followers or recommending or arranging a collaboration with a suitable influencer, let me know.
