Social Proof and the Business Case for Buying Followers

Why would anybody buy followers? One simple reason.

It works.

The Rationale Behind Purchasing Followers

To grasp why individuals or companies buy followers, it's essential to understand the concept of social proof. Let me explain with a simple example.

Imagine you’ve just moved into a new apartment and bought a lovely plant. However, it quickly starts to wilt, so you search online for solutions.

You find two blog posts offering advice. One has been shared 5,000 times on Twitter, while the other has only been shared five times. Which one do you click on?

I’ve posed this question to many of my students, and none have ever said they’d choose the one with only five shares.

This highlights an incredible fact — it’s not the content quality, the author, or the platform that persuades us. It’s a number that we associate with credibility.

This is the power of social proof.

The Utility of Social Proof

Whether online or in real life, we rely on social proof every day to make decisions when we don’t have all the information. Often, we’re led by the belief that people with large followings are more knowledgeable or credible — it’s a herd mentality.

In fact, these numbers often hold more weight than actual expertise, at least in the short term. People rarely investigate whether a person’s followers or likes are real … so faking it often leads to success. And many take advantage of this.

Because it’s easy to generate followers, likes, comments, and other forms of social proof, it’s never been easier to project authority. Terms like “best-selling” or “award-winning” have lost much of their value.

The Social Proof Game

We disproportionately value Twitter followers and Facebook likes because we keep score publicly. Any good social media expert will tell you it’s not about the number of followers or likes you have, but what you do with them. And when it comes to measurable outcomes like conversions, loyalty, or revenue, they’re right.

Does the number of Twitter followers matter? Of course, it does. Social media metrics have become a public competition, and we all buy into it. Why else would politicians spend money building massive followings and bragging about it? Because it influences public perception.

We may not want to admit it, but it’s dishonest to say the number of Twitter followers has no effect on how you or your company are seen by the public. It’s not a key performance metric; it’s a key popularity metric.

And this competitive pressure has led to some extreme behavior in the industry.

Let’s be real: Everyone knows — or should know — that many marketers have faked their way to the top. Influencers have bought hundreds of thousands of followers and reviews to booster their reputations. One individual even created fake accounts to defend themselves when criticized online.