Seven Reasons Buying Twitter Followers is Bad for Business and What to do Instead

July 12th, 2021

I hate to say it to you, but the truth is, being a brand in the digital age is a lot like being in high school. There is insane pressure to appear really popular with a huge number of followers.

We get it! If you are reading this article, you are at least doing your due diligence to discover the pros and cons of buying fake followers. When you are building a brand, you have A LOT going on. It is appealing to take a shortcut or cut corners, particularly when creating your social media presence.

But don’t. It will cost you in the end, I promise. But, it is worth it to do this the right way. So, let us prove it to you.

The myths about buying Twitter followers

Follower count is the most important form of social proof

This isn’t entirely true, especially as a blanket statement without some caveats. Now, I will acknowledge that even if your followers are fake, the higher the Twitter following, the more clout you will have in the social space. Particularly when users are debating whether or not you are worth the follow.

Be warned, though, in 2019, Twitter went through and purged thousands and thousands of fake accounts in an effort to decrease spam. It’s not a good look to lose that many followers overnight. It basically proves you didn’t have a real following.

Not to mention, it will become evident to real followers that you have purchased fake followers as your engagement will be extremely low. You can’t pay these followers to like, retweet, or otherwise engage with your content.

All algorithm metrics are the same

When it comes to the Twitter algorithm, it is not looking for social proof alone. It is also analyzing other metrics to measure the strength of your account and whether or not it should end up in people’s suggested accounts to follow. The algorithm is really what you need to pay attention to, not your brand’s desire to present a certain image. Twitter looks at the following metrics, alongside follower counts:

How many people engage with you regularly
The number of Twitter lists people have added you to
The amount of leads and sales your social media is driving
How much traffic to your website your social efforts are driving

7 reasons it isn’t worth it

It’s an empty number. It won’t do anything to raise your social media influence score as Twitter scores are based mainly on engagement metrics. Fake followers do not interact. The whole point of social media is to interact, engage, and share content and ideas with your community. Trust us, it will be worth it in the long run.
Fake followers can damage your real Twitter followers. Having many fake bots following your account exposes the real accounts following you to phishing, spam, and other unpleasant situations.
It can ruin your reputation if you get found out (and it’s pretty easy for people to find out).

The fake accounts can’t retweet, comment, or like your tweets. As a result, your engagement numbers will drop, lowering the authority of your account.

Being discovered with tons of fake followers shows the following to your real followers:

You’re deceptive
You think you are smarter than your followers (“They’ll never know *evil cackle*)
You’re not confident in your own brand’s abilities.
You inflated your follower account to trick people into thinking you are worth a follow instead of creating content worth sharing.

Now, obviously, a lot of this will be untrue. Still, it is essential to acknowledge the impression it will give to others.

Your business can get your account suspended if you violate Twitter’s rules by buying fake followers.
They’ll never be real customers for your business, no matter how many followers you buy, so what’s the point?
Following fake accounts limits the number of legitimate accounts you can follow. On Twitter, there is a following limit. You can only follow up to 2,000 accounts when you are getting started. After that, you will be able to follow more accounts, but only when your ratio is positive (i.e., 2,000 Following vs. 2,250 Followers).
You end up wasting your time when trying to interact with or follow fake accounts. It is important to engage with your followers to build a community. Still, with a lot of fake accounts, it can be challenging to figure out who’s worth interacting with.

In summary, when you buy your fake Twitter followers, it will come back and haunt you when you get your account downgraded and lose most of your reach.

Ways to increase your Twitter following organically

Ok, now you know the many reasons not to buy your followers. But that doesn’t provide you with the solution to your problem; growing your social presence on Twitter. Here are the top tips for encouraging organic growth:

Follow people regularly
Tweet at peak times
Promote your Twitter handle on your other platforms
Share things of value – something worth a retweet
Attach links to your tweets
Use hashtags (the right way)
Target other accounts in your niche

Buying followers vs. paid promotion

Hey, we understand that organic growth can take a long time. You may be looking to up your follower count a little faster. Luckily for you, there are legitimate ways via paid promotion to increase your follower count.

Create a followers campaign

Twitter offers you service directly from their platform to buy followers. This service is unique to Twitter. The campaign is auction-based; you tell Twitter how much you are willing to pay per new follower.

Twitter uses an innovative and targeted ad system to get your brand in the Who to Follow area at the top of Twitter search results. Of course, there will be a mark that the tweet is promoted. After all, honesty is the best policy. (The whole point of this exercise).

Promoted ads and follower ads

On most social media platforms, you can pay to promote your high-quality content to extend your reach past your own following. In addition, promoted ads can support various media formats, so it’s easy to get creative and draw new followers in.

Follower ads increase the visibility of your account to your target audience and attract new followers. The difference between follower ads and promoted ads is simply goal and content.

Promoted ads tend to look for engagement and can promote a specific product or offering from your account. Follower ads are promoting the brand account itself and are meant for increasing followers.

We believe in providing rapid growth with real followers

This is something we at Nowadays are super passionate about. That is why, when we design viral campaigns for brands, we keep it all organic, so you know that your results are legit. To keep epic results coming in, we use our secret sauce.

Social Scripting is the fine-tuned conversation that grabs attention online. It’s how we get people feeling the FOMO. As a result, your views, followers, and installs are of top-shelf quality.

Capture influence with content that makes a mark. And spend less in the process.

Let’s do this.

Sources:

The Twitter rules: safety, privacy, authenticity, and more | Twitter

The Best Times to Post on Twitter for Maximum Effectiveness | The Balance

Hashtag best practices on Twitter The dos and don’ts of hashtags | Twitter