An Agent Told Me To Buy Instagram Followers. Don’t Do It!

be authentic

In an attempt to take this blog to the “next lev,” I recently met with a legit blogger agent. Yep, those actually exist for bloggers and digital influencers. Quit laughing, you naysayers! Agents basically broker lucrative endorsement deals for top influencers with leading international brands for a piece of the pie. My particular meeting with said agent went something like this…

“Your blog numbers look great. You consistently get media attention. You were voted #1 Miami Fashion Blog by several outlets. You’re witty. Zany. A bit crazy at times, which is a good thing. Your pictures are aspirational. But there’s a BIG problem here. HUGE. You only have 15,000 Instagram followers. You need to buy at least 35,000 for me to even touch you.”

“Buy? That’s so inauthentic! My followers are organic,” I pleaded.

“Most brands don’t care about that. They just want to see higher numbers.”

I was nonplussed. Gobsmacked. I was completely surprised by this agent’s alarming advice. I mean, who PAYS for followers? I kept telling myself that I wouldn’t never buy followers from sites like Fiverr.com because it’s against my morals. Besides, it’s cheesy AF.

But this little shitty voice in my head said, “Well, don’t buy Instagram followers, just install one of those robots that ‘likes’ other like-minded individuals’ Instagram posts” via a platform called Instagress.com. I tried this for a month and gained 1,000 followers (yay!) — but at a humiliating price (boo!). You see, my robot was merrily clicking hearts on pornographic images of fleshy vaginas, watermelon-sized tits and gnarly dick pics. I DIE. Two friends called me and said, “Maria! You’re such a pervert. Quit liking raunchy porn on Instagram!”

Um, can you say, “mortified?” I mean, porn isn’t even my thing. I felt like a loser.

So that plan clearly bit me in the ass. Thanks, agent! While I didn’t outright buy 35,000 followers, the mere notion I utilized Instagress to “like” other images made me feel really shitty. And worst of all…inauthentic. That’s so not me. I really pride myself on being honest and real. And here I was being the complete polar opposite: A fucking fraud.

Here’s the thing — if one buys followers on Instagram — and Lord knows so many bloggers and digital influencers do — it’s deceitful. They’re duping people into believing they have this massive following when their actual audience are plethora of ghost accounts with zero value. It’s a sham.

And these cheaters ain’t fooling anyone. Brands and people who do their homework can see that their Instagram accounts are a hoax because there’s a lack of genuine engagement. For example, I know a blogger with over 100,000 Instagram followers and a recent video of hers received 1,350 views. I, on the other hand, boast 15.4K followers and a recent video of mine garnered 3,411 views. How ‘bout them apples?

So my point is: It’s appalling that leaders in the industry beckon bloggers to pay for influence. And when I bought 1,000 followers, it was deceitful and embarrassing. And I’m profusely sorry. As for those of you thinking of buying influence, don’t do it. Be you. Stay credible. It’s about quality over quantity. Because authenticity is priceless. Besides, being a sellout is LAME!

Photo by Karla Garcia

14 Comments

  1. Sandra v
    September 19, 2016 / 12:28 pm

    You always make me smile. Love you, Maria!

  2. September 19, 2016 / 3:39 pm

    So so good. Stay true. Be authentic. Words to live by.

  3. Liane A.
    September 19, 2016 / 3:50 pm

    Keeping it real & authentic. Kudos to you. I agree that you can tell when people pay for influence. Oh, and you just gained an instagram follower because I assumed I followed you and I didn’t. Love your snaps! Keep, keepin’ it real.

  4. Vivian
    September 19, 2016 / 4:19 pm

    Always keeping it real. bravo

  5. September 19, 2016 / 4:50 pm

    I so agree And def think about it being a fraud but I’m quite proud of my 2k ? The struggle is real but at least it’s REAL ?

  6. idalia
    September 19, 2016 / 4:58 pm

    lol.. We need to talk about this. No legit agent I’ve worked with (including myself) would ever recommend to any digital media influencer to buy followers.
    🙁

  7. September 20, 2016 / 9:44 am

    Girl – preach! This is something I deal with on the reg, too. It’s so hard for me to see bloggers that started at the same time as me BUY all of their followers and get paid gigs over me. At least we’re staying true to who we are.

    XO,
    Alyssa

  8. September 20, 2016 / 2:31 pm

    Great post! I totally agree and often tell this to others. It’s not quantity, it’s QUALITY that counts! If you have 1000 followers and a lot of them are liking and commenting that’s SO much better than 35K followers who don’t interact at all! Thanks for sharing. Sorry about the porn thing!

  9. September 20, 2016 / 3:07 pm

    YES, YES, and YES.

  10. Tawnya
    September 20, 2016 / 3:53 pm

    You are the only blog I follow and the reason is exactly what you said. You are honest and you keep it REAL!!! Good for you! In this tech world where so many people are not what they say you stay true to yourself!!! Class and Style!

  11. Diana
    September 20, 2016 / 4:00 pm

    Love this! So true! Someone once wrote me to share my pictures on their outlet. I was so flattered. Turns out they wanted me to pay for them to share my pics on their instagram (they have 34K followers)! And guaranteed me more followers on mine. I thankfully declined and get this… literally two days later Chef Cesar (over 1 million followers) shared my arepa picture for FREE!! Just wait and your time will come 😉

  12. September 22, 2016 / 2:25 am

    I’m dying at this. I’m all for manual tricks, like hashtags, supporting your blogger friends with engagement but anything that automates the process and removes you from it just seems so lame to me. It’s so funny to me that so many people are willing to ruin the market, thereby forcing themselves to resort to automated things like this to standout. Vicious stupid cycle.

    xx

  13. Chanty
    September 28, 2016 / 7:33 pm

    LOL You are absolutely amazing. #ThatIsAll!

  14. February 9, 2018 / 3:16 pm

    *This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want?HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!

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