You can now buy “likes” for your Instagram account at vending machines in Eastern Europe. But buying likes hasn’t been a good idea for small businesses before. And it doesn’t get any better when you buy about 200 of them from vending machines in a subway.
Why You Shouldn’t Buy Instagram Likes From a Vending Machine
Buying likes or fans doesn’t give you any real engagement on social media. People who like or follow pages for pay only do it for that reason. They don’t actually care about or even read what you have to say. It offers no benefit to your business.
Scott Yates explains, “Remember the kid who thought that if he bought candy for classmates he’d get more friends? It didn’t work for him, and it won’t work for you. Better a hundred real fans than 100,000 fake ones.”
Building up a real base of fans on social media can take a lot of time. So shortcuts like this can seem tempting to a lot of businesses. But it isn’t worth it. It doesn’t add anything to your social media presence. And if you instead focus your energy on building real engagement, even if the numbers don’t look as exciting right away, your business will benefit much more over the long run.
Vending Machine Photo via Shutterstock
This article, “Instagram Likes Sold from a Vending Machine? A Bad Idea Gets Even Worse” was first published on Small Business Trends