It may sound incredible but companies can purchase 500 new Instagram followers for merely $15 dollars for the "Selfie Capital" of the world, Instagram.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA, June 15, 2015 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Instagram seems to be, once again, in the spotlight of Internet marketers and advertising experts. Everyone knows by now that social networks are a massive communication channel, and small, medium and big companies are taking advantage of it to reach their potential buyers at a lower cost than advertising on television or radio, for example. But against the qualitative elements, social network users are committed mostly by the amount of following they have.

The problem seems to be the same as in the past says Imel Seda, CEO of AdvancedSEOfirm.com, a company that provides search engine optimization and social media marketing packages to worldwide clients seeking to rapidly optimize their social media numbers, "the high cost of targeted ads and advertising costs in the different social media platforms like on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, seems to be the main factor that's making small, medium-sized enterprises or business and even politicians and big brands look for another type of alternatives that offer the same results at a lower cost."

The act of buying social media followers has been a relatively quiet practice of the social media community for a few years now. While the trend to buy Twitter followers and Facebook likes has declined, paying for Instagram followers has reached a fever pitch since "Instagram has become such a huge social media platform," explained Alice Wright, the founder of blogger forum GOMI. Even big brands like Pepsi and Mercedes-Benz have been accused of artificially inflating their Twitter followers numbers, as have public figures like former ex presidential candidate Newt Gingrich back in 2012, and hip-hop mogul Sean Combs.

Recently, buying followers for social media has become so common in the blogging world that those on the inside have started calling out their comrades on the dubious practice and the temptation is even stronger when one considers how easy it is to buy Instagram followers and how little it costs to do so. A site like www.socialmediacombo.com charges as little as $15 per 500 Instagram followers, and AddTwitter-Followers.com charges $27 for 1000. These sites like the other thousands out there offering the same type of services, generally offer bot followers who lack engagement, something most bloggers and marketers shy away from.

One can even find sites with more advanced services like CheapSocialMediaSEO.com which also offers Instagram Likes packages ranging from $17 for 50 likes to $100 for 500 likes on any Instagram photo, a small price to pay for what brands and business owners, with lack of time to dedicate to their social media, believe it can do for them. Kirsten Jassies, a well known Dutch blogger openly wrote about her experience buying Instagram followers, explaining she was curious to see what the consequences would be and later said "Am I happy? Yes? Would I recommend this strategy? No, but I would not lie that it could work for your image."

Today, worldwide known brands are using social networks as a complement, and serious social media advertising campaigns can become the centerpiece if they get relevant effects but big-deal partnerships are always at stake when the ethical implications of buying followers are brought to the forefront. In one hand we have these major brands looking to invest in influential bloggers and in the other we have these influential bloggers buying social media followers themselves.

Dale Janee, a San Francisco fashion columnist, and founder of Savvy Spice, on an interview with Racked.com, said that the best thing to do is "Let your blog get big on its own, the organic way. If people would ever find out, you are purchasing followers for your social media channels you would lose all credibility and that is not worth it."

Janee, who also owns a small business, added that she understands why people and generally brands would rely on numbers when it comes to social media especially for start-up internet marketers and bloggers since there's an immense pressure to get as many followers as possible being the main idea to look better than one's competitors.

So, do numbers really matter in social media? According to Anita Hovey, a social media consultant the numbers do matter. Hovey added that, "We've all been trying to change it around, to say that quality matters more than quantity, but there are still so many clients out there that think purely about numbers." In the meantime Brian Oquendo, co-founder of AdvancedSEOfirm.com, also acknowledged that buying Instagram followers has recently become an increasingly popular practice among bloggers and webmasters.

In conclusion, the issue of buying social media following for whatever social network isn't exactly the biggest problem and should not be our biggest concern as a society. However, it may prompt the public to ask: Are these Instagram account's followers real and organic or were they purchased?



Press release courtesy of Online PR Media: http://bit.ly/1R16INY

Allan Robertson
Social Media 202
1888-409-4930
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