Can you Buy Cheap Instagram Followers?
Yes, You can Buy Cheap Instagram Followers. There are plenty of cheap services that allow you to buy as little as 1,000 followers. But you're paying for a number. Many of those followers are either bots or inactive accounts, meaning they never engage with your posts. 1,000 followers seem a good deal for a small Starbucks latte. But if it was really that cheap and easy, everyone would do it. What's the catch? Is your business buying Instagram followers legal and safe? Is this a worthwhile investment?
How to Buy Instagram Followers
Most bought followers are either bots or inactive accounts. Here's how things work:
The Fake Follower Vendors
Buying fake followers on Instagram is now much harder than a few years ago. Why? Instagram has cracked accounts that violate their terms of service. What was fairly above-board is now an enigma. To Buy Cheap Instagram Followers these days, you'll need to know someone who can put you in touch with a vendor who will actually deliver the bots—I mean followers—they say they will (you'll also want to choose someone you trust with your credit card details).
But what happens once you pay for your followers? Assuming the vendor is legitimate (as legitimate as possible for this type of service) you'll wait from a few minutes to a few days for your followers to trickle in. Over time, sellers roll out your followers to not alert Instagram that something fishy is going on. Having your brand new automated followers, don't expect much. These followers won't do much to measure your engagement.
When you Buy Cheap Instagram Followers pay for a number alone. Commitment is not guaranteed or likely.

When you buy Instagram followers, pay for a number alone. Commitment is not guaranteed or likely.
Instagram Bots
Instagram bots are everywhere—you've probably found several of them alone today. There are companies out there that have automated the bots process so well that they can sell these bots as followers. In some cases, bots may even assume a real person's identity using stolen images and names.
Inactive Accounts
Not all fake followers are bots. Some companies selling followers are genuine accounts.
In this situation, accounts are created either because they are managed by users whose sole purpose is to be followed in return, or for the sole reason of offering this service. And while these followers may show early engagement, they ultimately become a drain on performance metrics of your Instagram account when their accounts go dormant.
Should you buy Instagram followers?
Buying Instagram followers isn't a good idea. Bought followers are likely bots or inactive accounts, so they won't engage with your posts. This means your posts won't appear on Explore Pages, or on the news feeds of your real audience. Measuring metrics will also hurt.
You'll get early engagement to taper over time.
Also, purchased Instagram followers do not provide long-term value to your profile content. The followers you buy may give you views, likes, and comments early on acquiring them as a follower, but you won't be there later when you start reporting on how your Instagram account performs.

And how helpful are 10,000 followers not engaging with you? Engagement is key to how Instagram displays user posts. Without likes or comments, your post may not appear on the news feeds of your audience, nor will it appear on any Explore Pages.

You might hurt your credibility.

Having many followers might convince users to follow you organically, but it's not a guarantee.

Remember the risks: these followers might never like or comment on a post, and if you're caught with a ton of fake followers, you might ruin your credibility with your real audience.

Users may notice you don't have a ton of engagement on your posts, which may deter them from following you. If you have 10,000 followers but only 4 likes per post, it won't take people long to realize it's up.

If you saw that most of their "loyal audience" were inactive accounts or bots, would you keep following an account? I don't guess. It might seem deceitful, and lead you to believe the brand alone couldn't get authentic followers through good content.

Bought followers can distort your performance metrics.

It's almost impossible to measure how well your target audience connects with your brand if a high percentage of that audience isn't real. How will you measure posts that do your real audience well if those bots and inactive accounts skew the ratio?

If you don't know how well your posts do or what your real audience thinks, you'll never convert your followers to real customers. Isn't that the point?

Ultimately, you don't pay for quality, real-life followers if you pay for Instagram followers. You're paying a blank number. And as Instagram's algorithm is largely tied to engagement, not followers, purchasing followers is not a long-term solution. It's not really a solution at all.

Take the time, energy, and money you'd spend on buying followers, instead focusing on building genuine relationships with real audiences. If your content is engaging and authentic, your loyal followers will spread the word and engage your brand without bribes.

Identifies and purges fake followers.

Recently, Instagram updated its usage terms to identify and remove inauthentic accounts from its platform. Instagram removes any likes, follows, or comments from third-party apps designed to artificially grow audiences of accounts. By buying followers, you break Instagram's community guidelines and it may trigger a response from Instagram moderators.

Instagram seeks to maintain genuine on-site interactions, protecting real accounts and experiences. Fake or bought activity infringes this mission and may have consequences, so it's better to grow your audience organically.