Forums Forums White Hat SEO Social Media Why spending money to grow Instagram followers is stupid?

  • Why spending money to grow Instagram followers is stupid?

    Posted by seohelper on June 5, 2020 at 3:58 am

    As a person who has been in the business of Internet Marketing since last 8 years, I just would like to say that spending literal money to buy Instagram followers in this day and time is worthless.

    I recently saw a post which suggests why getting Instagram followers through Instagram ads is a good idea, but I disagree. With such posts it also should be made clear what kind of accounts are worth spending money on, and what kind of accounts should be allowed to grow organically without spending a single penny on them, cuz lets be real, you might never be able to make your money back even after having a certain number of followers.

    So look, if you are spending money for the sake of clout, or just because you want to brag in front of your friends that you have XXXX number of followers on Instagram? Go ahead and spend your money.

    But, if your aim is to make money through Instagram then focussing on Instagram ads for growing followers is worthless. Let me break down why-

    – Lets say you are a Trainer who wants to build an audience so you could sell your training courses online. The chances of advertising your profile to 100,000 people and then getting 1000 followers out of them is fine, but the number of people who would be buying your course out of those 1000 people are gonna be real low.

    What else can you do?

    Make a great sales funnel and try to directly market your course with a great ad copy, an amazing visual guide and a kick ass landing page. You would be spending the same money and 100,000 people would directly be looking at your training module and the conversions and sales would be much higher than what you would get from those 1000 followers.

    You also would be making your pixel stronger for future re-targetting which is going to help you build your own audience and get cheaper sales.

    Know your goal, be clear about how you want to make money from Instagram. Thinking of becoming an influencer by spending Instagram ad money is a very long term game and you may never see the returns.

    I always recommend people to be clear about how they want to use their Instagram account to make money and why do they want more followers. Numbers do not matter, sales do.

    Be honest with yourself, running a meme page for fun in 2020 is fine, spending $1000 to get followers on it, is not. The shoutout prices you get on small meme accounts is nothing compared to what you could have gotten if you decided to spend those $1000 in promoting a product of yours.

    If you have money to spend on your ads, experiment with physical products, affiliate products, personal modules and what not.

    I have made more sales through an account with 1000 followers in Affiliate marketing than what most people make from 100,000 followers. Spending money to get 100,000 followers first and then promoting your product, store, brand etc is just plain stupid in 2020. You should also know that because of Instagram algorithms, all your 100k followers may not even see your promotional posts ever in their lives.

    Now, if you are sitting on a huge chunk of money and you can spend a hefty sum without expecting any returns in the nearby future (Wanna play a really long term yet risky game) you can go ahead and try 🙂

    nothingsurgent replied 3 years, 9 months ago 1 Member · 15 Replies
  • 15 Replies
  • nonpornaccountii

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 4:32 am

    Is the title a question or a statement

  • brandonz1234

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 5:35 am

    Instagram is so broad of an audience that is hard to find a condensed niche of people even if you go to certain accounts.

    Without having a group of people with clearcut interests it is hard to get them off of the app and onto your site for the desired conversions.

  • d2smond

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 7:39 am

    Only reason I could think of is to get 10,000 followers so u can have swipe up on stories but still it’s not really worth it

  • shulkz1010

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 7:59 am

    Since Instagram is a business which would mean its sole purpose would be to make money off of its users then I would say that you would have to pay them to get the followers you need. Organic growth is great but because of algorithm you cannot always reach the audience you want for free. Instagram will always want money in order to help you get your account where you want it to be by the pure nature of Instagram being a business.

  • Saber101

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 8:35 am

    Do you have tips where affiliate marketing is concerned?

  • PROJECT2501_

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 10:51 am

    What would you advice to build an audience like how you described?

  • goldarkrai

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 11:17 am

    Honestly, those posts are well written but I don’t often see supporting evidence which makes me skeptical

  • bigsexualscandal

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 11:17 am

    For some people a 100k followers account is a digital asset.

    Maybe for your affiliate marketing offers makes no sense. But there might be some cases that can work.

    Maybe a new brand focusing on branding and reach and not sales and conversions.

    But I agree that a funnel with content + offer is a good option in general.

  • MilesWeb

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    That’s true! Earning followers organically is always good as they will be your true followers and will help in increasing your engagement by resharing posts.

  • PhlanxGlobalMktg

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 1:05 pm

    Spending money on IG should have a purpose other than just growing your following base. It’s okay to spend money on ads when you are expecting revenue from that, long term, or short term.

  • nothingsurgent

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    I completely disagree. Here’s why:

    1. With a simple, Instagram-oriented funnel, you can get real, relevant followers and make money at the same time.

    2. Followers on their own aren’t valuable as a metric, but they are valuable for 3 reasons:

    A. A long term relationship you can monetize in a lot of different ways.

    B. Branding, which is almost the same as A, but more about positioning yourself through content.

    C. Monetizable social proof. I wouldn’t say social proof if it’s own (I.e. the assumption that people will buy from me because I seem popular) is worth spending money,

    BUT

    We can’t deny the power of social proof. Even knowing that followers can be purchased or faked, we still judge account first & for most by follower count.

    This has many different advantage that are far more than immediate monetization:

    It open up doors: JV’s, collabs, sponsorships, press, etc. these are monetizable af.

    ——-

    The conditions for all these to work and matter are:

    1. You own your business / product, and brand.
    2. You’re thinking long term
    3. You know your target audience extremely well, how to target them, what to sell to them, and how to position yourself.

  • TheRizzleApp

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    I think growing instagram by paying is utter stupidity if ROI is zero

  • Samdaman636

    Guest
    June 5, 2020 at 4:38 pm

    Don’t forget. Followers = Social proof.

    Unfortunately we live in an era where we are judged by the amount of followers you have (Social proof)

    So you can run ads all day.

    But if you have 2k followers. The chances of people buying are lower than someone that has 10k+ following.
    And even more above 100k. 1m+ so on..

    Its about social proof more than anything!

  • MoronicFrog

    Guest
    June 6, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    I just follow people who like related content. Do that non-stop and it adds up. It’s free.

  • zilliamson

    Guest
    June 8, 2020 at 6:08 am

    Buying IG Story ads absolutely works, but you are correct that it will not work for every single person like that post was leading on. I’ve only seen it work for attractive female influencers and themed accounts. Im sure there are som brands leveraging it properly but i haven’t come across it yet