Buying followers on TikTok has become an increasingly common practice as the platform grows in popularity. Many users are enticed by the idea of quickly growing a large, engaged audience to help promote themselves or their brands. However, there are risks involved with buying followers, and it goes against TikTok’s guidelines. This article provides an overview of buying TikTok followers – the reasons people do it, the potential benefits and risks, and whether it’s ultimately worthwhile.
TikTok is a short-form video app with over 1 billion monthly active users. As it competes with other major social platforms like Instagram and YouTube, many users aim to increase their follower count and engagement. This has led to a rise in companies and services selling TikTok followers, likes, and views.
Popularity of Buying Followers
Buying followers has become an increasingly popular tactic on social media platforms like TikTok. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, over 30% of TikTok users have purchased followers at some point. With over 1 billion monthly active users, that means hundreds of millions of people have bought followers on the platform.
Another report from Hypeauditor found that 80% of marketers have bought at least some fake followers for their social media accounts. This shows that buying followers has become a common marketing tactic, not just something done by regular users.
The popularity of buying followers likely stems from the fact that larger followings can increase visibility and credibility on TikTok. With its complex algorithm, accounts with more followers tend to get promoted more by the app. This motivates many users to shortcut the system by purchasing followers.
Why People Buy Followers
Many people buy TikTok followers in an attempt to quickly gain credibility, authority, and increase engagement on the platform. Having a high number of followers signals to the TikTok algorithm that an account is popular and worthy of being shown to more users. This can lead to real growth in views, likes, and comments.
For new or unknown creators, a lack of followers can look unappealing to potential viewers. Accounts with only a few hundred or thousand followers may be passed over, while those with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers attract more clicks. Buying followers can give the appearance of authority and popularity.
Increased followers may also lead to more real followers over time. The bandwagon effect causes people to be more likely to follow accounts that already have a substantial following. Having more followers makes an account look established and can encourage real users to hit the follow button. Some buyers hope buying followers will kickstart real growth.
However, many experts advise against buying followers. While bought followers can artificially inflate numbers in the short term, the practice violates TikTok’s terms of service and can lead to a ban if detected. It’s also expensive to sustain long-term as bought followers eventually drop off.
The best way to gain an authentic, engaged audience is by consistently creating high-quality content that resonates with viewers. This takes time and effort but leads to real, lasting growth. Buying followers rarely delivers the benefits buyers are after and carries significant risks.
Benefits of Buying Followers
Some of the perceived benefits of buying TikTok followers include:
Appear More Popular
Having a higher follower count can make your account look more popular and established. This may help attract real, organic followers who are more likely to follow accounts that already have a large following.
Reach More Users
Accounts with more followers tend to get more visibility on TikTok. Your videos may be shown to a wider audience if you have a higher follower count.
Monetization
TikTok has certain monetization prerequisites, like needing at least 1,000 followers to go live or 10,000 followers to join the Creator Fund. Buying followers can help accounts meet these thresholds faster.
However, research shows buying followers provides little long-term benefit and can actually damage your account. The followers are often bots or inactive accounts, not real users. This ends up hurting your engagement and reach.
Risks of Buying Followers
While buying TikTok followers may seem like an easy way to grow your account, there are several risks involved that you should consider.
One of the biggest risks is getting banned by TikTok. Their terms of service prohibit artificial inflation of followers and any kind of automated botting or mass following/unfollowing. They have sophisticated systems to detect these activities and will shut down accounts that violate the terms. Getting banned means losing your entire account and starting from scratch. According to TikTok’s Community Guidelines, “Accounts that use third-party apps or services to inflate or amplify content are prohibited.”
Another major risk is lack of engagement. Most services that sell TikTok followers provide fake, bot, or inactive accounts as followers. These accounts don’t actually watch or engage with your videos. Having a high follower count with low views and engagement looks inauthentic and turns off real users who visit your profile. Your content may end up getting suppressed in algorithms if there is low engagement compared to your follower count (source: https://www.dashhudson.com/blog/buying-tiktok-followers).
Buying followers also makes your account seem inauthentic overall. Most real TikTok users can recognize when an account has fake followers, which hurts your credibility. You want to build an audience that genuinely cares about your content. Focus on creating great videos that delight your real fans rather than shortcuts. As influencer marketing agency Fanbytes suggests, “Put your effort into devising smart content and think about how you can creatively market yourself…not by taking shortcuts” (source: https://fanbytes.co.uk/buy-tiktok-followers/).
How to Buy Followers
There are many sites and services that allow you to easily buy TikTok followers. Here are some of the top options:
Bulkoid (source) – This service offers packages starting at just $2.99 for 100 followers. They have options to buy up to 100,000 followers, with increasing discounts at higher quantities. Followers start delivering instantly.
FollowersUp (source) – Followers packages begin at $3.99 for 100 followers. They offer bulk discounts up to 1 million followers. Delivery is very fast, within minutes to hours.
SocialPackages – Their starter package is only $2.99 for 50 followers. Bulk packages go up to 100k followers, with prices as low as $39.99. Expect near instant delivery.
In general, prices range from $2-$5 per 100 followers from most services. Larger bulk orders tend to offer steep discounts. Speed of delivery varies slightly but is generally very quick, from minutes to 24 hours for larger orders.
Increasing Followers Organically
Growing an authentic and engaged following takes time and effort, but there are proven strategies to increase your TikTok followers organically:
Create good content. Posting high-quality, entertaining videos that resonate with your target audience is the most important way to grow organically. Use trends and viral sounds, but give them your own creative twist. Show your personality and tell compelling stories through your content. According to Entrepreneur, focusing on creating niche content tailored to your audience is key.[1]
Use relevant hashtags. Include a mix of popular and niche hashtags in your captions to make it easy for users to find your content. You can view hashtag performance in the TikTok app to find ones gaining traction. Social Pilot recommends using up to 5-10 hashtags per video.[2]
Collaborate with others. Doing “duets” or “stitches” with larger creators in your niche exposes their audience to your account. You can also guest post on bigger accounts. Search for creators in your niche and engage with their content to organically build relationships.
Maintaining Your Account After Buying Followers
After making the purchase for additional TikTok followers, it’s crucial to properly maintain your account to make the most of your investment. Simply buying followers without taking further action can lead to stagnant growth and raise flags with TikTok’s algorithm.
To maintain your account after buying followers, focus on consistently creating and posting engaging content. This gives the purchased followers more reason to interact with your profile. Try posting at least 1-2 times per day to remain active. Use relevant hashtags, trends, and challenges to reach new audiences organically.
It’s also important to directly engage with your new followers. Like and comment on their videos, follow them back, and reply to any comments. This helps cement their relationship with your brand and profile. You want the purchased followers to become genuine fans over time through active engagement.
Additionally, monitor your growth analytics over the next few weeks. Track follower count, likes, comments, shares, and overall impressions. This helps ensure the purchased followers are retaining and that you’re continuing to build your organic reach. If growth stalls, reevaluate your content strategy.
With consistent high-quality content, engagement with followers, and monitoring of your growth, you can maintain your TikTok account after buying followers and turn them into true fans.
Alternatives to Buying Followers
While buying followers may seem like a quick fix, there are better alternatives to grow your TikTok presence organically and authentically.
One alternative is to buy TikTok ads. TikTok’s advertising platform allows you to target your desired audience and promote your content directly to them. This can help expose your profile and videos to new potential followers who are likely to engage with your content if it’s relevant to them. Just be sure to set a reasonable daily ad budget.
Another option is influencer marketing. Identify influencers in your niche with engaged followings and reach out to do collaborations, shoutouts or takeovers to tap into their audience. This introduces you to real, targeted followers who will stick around if they like your content. Negotiate promotions that align with your budget.
You can also gain followers by running creative contests and giveaways. Encourage users to like, share or comment for a chance to win prizes relevant to your audience. This boosts visibility and can attract a swarm of new followers in a short time. Just be sure it complies with TikTok’s contest policies.
While buying followers seems like a shortcut, putting in the work to grow your account organically will pay off with real, engaged followers in the long run.
Conclusion
In summary, there are both pros and cons to buying TikTok followers. The main benefits are that buying followers can help you quickly gain social proof and credibility on the platform. It can also help boost your content in the TikTok algorithm, since accounts with more followers tend to get more visibility.
However, there are also risks, such as getting banned by TikTok if caught buying followers. The purchased followers are also usually bot accounts or inactive users, so they won’t actually engage with your content. This means the vanity metrics of having more followers won’t necessarily translate to more views or engagement.
In the end, while buying followers can provide an initial boost, the best way to grow a sustainable TikTok following is through continuously creating high-quality, relevant content that resonates with your target audience. Relying too heavily on artificial follower growth could undermine your long-term success.
The recommendation is to focus most of your effort on organic growth strategies such as optimizing hashtags, collaborating with others, engaging with your audience, and participating in trends. If you do choose to buy some followers to help get started, purchase them from a reputable provider in moderation.
