Why You Shouldn't Buy LinkedIn Followers

Last updated: March 15, 2025

Introduction

It's Will McTighe here. When I started my LinkedIn journey in February 2024, I had just 3,000 followers. My posts were getting 5 likes if I was lucky. I remember refreshing constantly hoping for more engagement. Fast forward to March 2025, and I'm now at >340,000 followers. At the start of my journey, I nearly bought followers. Thank god I didn't - let me talk you through it.

TL;DR

If you're thinking about buying LinkedIn followers, pause. While it might seem like a quick win, the consequences can be terrible: account suspension, damaged credibility, useless analytics, and continuous spending on replacement followers. Instead, we'll show you sustainable growth strategies that actually work.

What LinkedIn Metrics Can You Buy?
5 Reasons to Think Twice Before You Buy LinkedIn Followers
How to Spot Fake LinkedIn Followers
The Sustainable Way to Grow Your LinkedIn Presence
Why People Still Buy Followers on LinkedIn
How Saywhat Can Help You Grow Authentically

What LinkedIn Metrics Can You Buy?

The market for buying LinkedIn engagement is surprisingly diverse.

I've seen services selling everything from recommendations to endorsements. It's wild. I've received DMs from people trying to sell me everything under the sun. Things ranging from followers and connections to more specific engagement metrics:

Followers for personal profiles and business pages
Connections
Post likes and comments
Skill endorsements
Recommendations
Reposts

Sellers typically deliver these metrics through fake accounts, bots, or engagement farms. Some claim to provide "real" engagement by incentivizing actual LinkedIn users to interact with your content—but this manufactured engagement still lacks authentic interest in your profile or offerings.

5 Reasons to Think Twice Before You Buy LinkedIn Followers

The temptation to instantly boost your LinkedIn presence is understandable, but here's why buying followers creates more problems than it solves:

1. Your Account Could Be Suspended or Banned

LinkedIn's algorithms are increasingly sophisticated at detecting artificial engagement. Buying followers explicitly violates LinkedIn's User Agreement, putting your profile at serious risk. When (not if) LinkedIn detects this activity, you could face:

Temporary account restrictions
Complete profile invisibility in search results
Permanent account termination

For people who've spent years building their networks, the prospect of starting from zero should give serious pause.

2. You'll Attract the Wrong Audience

What's the point of 10,000 followers if none of them could become business partners, customers or future employers? Purchased followers are typically:

Inactive accounts
Bots with no purchasing power
Profiles unrelated to your target market
Users from demographics irrelevant to your business goals

These artificial followers actually dilute your engagement rate, which can trigger LinkedIn's algorithm to show your content to fewer people - the exact opposite of what you were trying to achieve.

I've seen accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers but getting 50-100 likes per post. It looks off.

3. It Looks Off To Your Real Audience

If your follower count and engagement metrics look off - people will notice.

Imagine having 50,000 followers but receiving only 12 likes per post. This discrepancy can raise red flags to potential employers, clients, and connections. Once your network suspects you've purchased engagement, everything else on your profile becomes questionable—your experience, skills, and even the authenticity of your recommendations.

Nothing screams 'I bought my followers' like having 50K followers and getting crickets on your posts. A customer once told me they stopped considering a vendor when they noticed this.

4. Your Analytics Become Meaningless

Serious LinkedIn users rely on content performance metrics to refine their strategy. When your audience or engagement is mostly fake, your analytics tell you nothing useful about:

Which content resonates with your actual target audience
The best posting times for genuine engagement
Topics that drive you real business
Content formats that convert followers to leads

This data blindness makes it hard to optimize your LinkedIn strategy to get real results.

5. You're Trapped in a Costly Cycle

LinkedIn regularly purges fake accounts through automated detection. After spending money on followers, you'll likely see your numbers drop within weeks/months as LinkedIn cleans house.

To maintain the appearance of a popular account, you'll need to keep purchasing new followers. This can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars annually with zero return on your money.

Think about it. $200 for 5,000 followers every couple months as LinkedIn purges fake accounts... that's nearly $1,200 a year you could be spending on actual marketing or tools that deliver real results.

How to Spot Fake LinkedIn Followers

The biggest telltale sign for me for fake followers is when someone has loads of followers and basically no engagement on their posts. Here are a few other things you can look out for:

Dramatic follower fluctuations: Sudden drops in follower counts often indicate LinkedIn has removed fake accounts
Engagement disparity: Large follower counts paired with minimal post engagement
Out-of-place comments: Generic, irrelevant comments like "Great Post".
Suspicious follower demographics: Followers predominantly from countries unrelated to the person's business or industry
Inconsistent growth patterns: Unnatural spikes in follower counts that don't correlate with viral content or increased activity

The Sustainable Way to Grow Your LinkedIn Presence

Instead of buying followers, focus on these proven ways to build a successful LinkedIn presence:

Create Content That Actually Helps People

The content that performs best on LinkedIn addresses specific pain points or knowledge gaps. Consider:

Simplifying complex business concepts into easy-to-understand visuals
Sharing genuine lessons from your professional experiences
Providing actionable advice that delivers immediate value
Sharing your professional journey with authentic storytelling

It's also important to write in a clear and concise style. If you're struggling for ideas, you can look at what is trending on LinkedIn for inspiration.

Engage with Your Target Audience

Quality connections trump quantity every time. I'd rather have 5,000 followers who are potential buyers than 100,000 random unrelated ones. You can build relationships by:

Responding thoughtfully to comments on your posts
Engaging with content from potential clients or employers
Using LinkedIn's search or Sales Navigator to connect with decision-makers in your target companies
Having real conversations in the DMs

Be Consistent On LinkedIn

LinkedIn's algorithm rewards consistent activity. Establish a sustainable posting schedule - whether that's daily, three times weekly, or whatever rhythm you can manage without sacrificing quality.

When I started, I committed to 7 days per week. Even when I only had 12 people engaging, I kept at it. Consistency before virality.

Use Content Formats That Drive Engagement

Experiment with content types that typically receive higher engagement:

Why People Still Buy Followers on LinkedIn

Despite the obvious issues, people continue buying LinkedIn followers for several reasons:

Instant social proof: A high follower count creates an immediate impression of "authority"
Competitive pressure: When competitors seem to have large audiences, there's pressure to match or exceed their numbers
Sales positioning: Some believe large followings help position them more favorably with potential clients
Employment advantage: Job seekers might think impressive follower counts will catch recruiters' attention

I get it. When you're starting out and have 45 followers while competitors have thousands, it's tempting. But I've watched this strategy backfire repeatedly. The short-term benefits of buying followers isn't worth the cost and potential long-term consequences. Just focus on making better content instead.

How Saywhat Can Help You Grow Authentically

Building your business on LinkedIn doesn't need to be overwhelming. Sometimes, small tweaks can take you to millions of views. Saywhat provides the tools and educational community to help grow your LinkedIn presence authentically:

Turning your experience into content: Discover what topics resonate most with your specific audience
Analytics: Track which posts drive growth so you can double down on them
Content inspiration: Search through 5 Million LinkedIn posts so you never get stuck for content ideas again

The Bottom Line on Buying LinkedIn Followers

While buying followers might seem like a shortcut to getting customers and professional credibility, it is a distraction from the real work. Real LinkedIn influence comes from consistently providing value to a relevant audience - something fake followers can't deliver.

Want to build your brand on LinkedIn? Try Saywhat free for 7 days and discover how to create good content that can help build your professional presence.