Buying Facebook followers has become an increasingly common practice for individuals and businesses looking to inflate their follower counts and appear more popular on the platform. While buying followers may seem like an easy shortcut to grow an audience, this practice directly violates Facebook’s terms of service and can result in account suspension or termination if detected. So can you actually get banned from Facebook for buying fake followers? Let’s take a closer look at how Facebook monitors fake followers, the risks and potential consequences, and tips to grow your followers organically.
How does Facebook detect fake followers?
Facebook has sophisticated algorithms and machine learning tools that constantly analyze accounts and follower patterns across the platform. Some signals Facebook looks for to detect fake followers and inauthentic activity:
- Accounts that have a disproportionate number of followers compared to engagement
- Followers that are inactive or have little to no visible content
- Sudden spikes or drops in your follower count
- Followers concentrated in certain countries or regions
- Multiple accounts following you in bulk over short periods
Facebook conducts regular sweeps looking for accounts with inflated or suspicious followers. So while buying followers may temporarily increase your vanity metrics, it’s only a matter of time before Facebook detects the inauthenticity.
What are the risks of buying followers?
Here are some of the potential risks and downsides to avoid with buying fake Facebook followers:
- Account suspension or termination – This is the most serious consequence, as it means losing access to your account, followers and all your content.
- Reach and engagement drops – Fake followers won’t actually engage with your content, so your real reach and engagement metrics will plummet.
- Poor targeting – Bought followers are unlikely to be real people genuinely interested in your niche or content.
- Lower organic growth – When Facebook detects fake followers, your content reach can be severely limited, hindering real audience growth.
- Losing trust and credibility – Followers and potential partners can see through inflated numbers and lose trust in you.
Essentially, any perceived benefits to buying followers are short-lived and outweighed by long-term negative impacts. Focus your efforts on attracting real, targeted followers that actually care about your brand.
Can your Facebook account get banned for buying followers?
The short answer is yes, Facebook can absolutely ban your account if you are caught buying fake followers or engaging in other inauthentic behavior to inflate your popularity. This applies to both personal accounts and Facebook Pages.
Here are some key points on Facebook bans related to fake followers:
- Facebook regularly suspends or disables accounts that have a significant percentage of inauthentic followers.
- The first ban is often temporary (i.e. 1 week), but repeat offenses can lead to permanent disabling.
- Pages with over 25% fake followers may get banned without warning, even on first offense.
- Buying Facebook likes or using bots to boost engagement can also trigger bans.
- Appealing a ban is difficult if Facebook has clear evidence of policy violations related to fakes.
Overall, since fake followers directly violate Facebook’s terms, bans are within Facebook’s discretion. Relying on bought followers is a risky, unsustainable growth tactic that jeopardizes your entire presence.
What happens when your Facebook account is banned?
Getting banned from Facebook can significantly disrupt your brand, business and ability to connect with real audiences. Here’s what happens after Facebook disables your account:
- You are immediately logged out and cannot access your account.
- Your profile, Pages, groups and all content is hidden from public view.
- You cannot post content, comment, interact with others or use Facebook ad tools.
- Existing followers, friends and group members cannot see your account or contact you.
- You cannot create a new account or as an admin on other Pages.
- length of the ban depends on severity and violations, ranging from 1 week to indefinite.
Essentially, you are completely shut out with no ability to rebuild your organic presence and relationships. This makes buying followers extremely short-sighted for growth.
Tips to grow your Facebook followers organically
While buying Facebook followers may be tempting, focusing on organic growth strategies is far more effective and sustainable in the long-run. Here are some best practices:
Post engaging content consistently
- Share a mix of content types – video, images, lives streams, Stories
- Craft compelling captions that spark comments and shares
- Respond and interact with followers
- Analyze best posting times for your audience
- Use relevant hashtags so you content is discovered
Great content keeps people coming back and builds real relationships with followers.
Leverage Facebook ads effectively
- Create ads to promote your best content or offers
- Target your ads based on ideal buyer demographics and interests
- Test different placements – News Feed, Stories, Marketplace
- Monitor performance data and optimize for conversions
- Retarget engaged users and website visitors
Paid ads done right can help expand your reach exponentially.
Interact and engage with other Pages
- Join Facebook Groups related to your industry
- Follow complementary brands and influencers
- Like, comment and share content from relevant Pages
- @mention others to start a discussion
- Partner with non-competing Pages on giveaways or promotions
Being an active member of the Facebook community gets more eyes on your brand organically.
Make your Page inviting and discoverable
- Fill out your Page Info and About sections
- Use branding elements like profile/cover images
- Add buttons like Contact and Shop Now
- List your Page on your website and other profiles
- Claim your Page username and get a personalized URL
A polished, professional Facebook presence encourages followers to engage.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, buying Facebook followers is an unsustainable shortcut with major account risks. While growing a strong organic follower base takes more time and effort, you’ll build credibility, loyalty and meaningful relationships. With smart strategy and quality content, you can get thousands of real followers that actively engage and help promote your brand’s story.
| Risks of Buying Followers | Benefits of Organic Growth |
|---|---|
| Account bans | Long-term sustainability |
| Poor reach and engagement | High reach and engagement |
| Low trust and credibility | Strong trust and credibility |
| No targeted audience | Relevant, targeted audience |
| No real connections | Meaningful connections and advocacy |