Having an engaged audience and a large number of followers on LinkedIn can be hugely beneficial for businesses. It helps establish credibility, increase brand awareness, and drive more traffic to your company page. This in turn can generate more leads and sales. So it’s understandable that some businesses may be tempted to take shortcuts and buy LinkedIn followers rather than building an organic audience.
The short answer
Yes, it is possible to buy LinkedIn followers for your company page. There are many websites and services that offer to sell LinkedIn followers. However, this is against LinkedIn’s terms of service and could result in your account being suspended or banned if detected.
Why you should not buy LinkedIn followers
Here are some of the main reasons why buying followers is not recommended for LinkedIn company pages:
- It’s against LinkedIn’s terms of service – LinkedIn prohibits buying or selling accounts and connections. If discovered, LinkedIn may penalize your account with limits or a ban.
- The followers are fake or inactive – Most followers sold online are bots, spam accounts, or inactive users. They will not engage with your content.
- It damages your credibility – Fake followers are easy to spot. It looks bad and raises questions about the legitimacy of your company.
- It won’t drive meaningful results – Fake followers do not convert to leads or sales. You need real targeted followers.
- You could get scammed – There’s no guarantee the seller will deliver the promised followers, or they may drop off soon after.
- It’s a short-term strategy – Purchased followers could get deleted in clean-up sweeps by LinkedIn.
LinkedIn’s follower policies
LinkedIn has clear policies prohibiting any tactics to artificially inflate follower counts. This includes:
- Buying or selling LinkedIn connections
- Creating fake profiles
- Paying for followers from third-party websites
- Paying to boost follower counts through ads or other methods
- Promising followers in exchange for a follow back
Violating these policies will likely result in LinkedIn penalizing accounts by limiting features or even permanent suspension. So buying connections puts your company page at risk.
How LinkedIn detects fake followers
LinkedIn uses advanced technology and moderation techniques to detect and remove fake accounts and followers:
- Account verification – Scrutiny of account details to identify bots and spam accounts
- Signals analysis – Monitoring suspicious spikes in followers and other signals
- Network analysis – Identifying clusters of fake accounts that follow each other
- User reports – Taking action on accounts reported by real users
- Manual reviews – Manual checks by moderators on accounts flagged
With these measures, most accounts with massive spikes from purchased followers eventually get flagged. The fake followers may be removed without notice.
The risks of buying LinkedIn followers
Here are some of the key risks you expose yourself to if you buy followers for your LinkedIn company page:
- Account ban – Your account could be permanently banned by LinkedIn for violating terms of service.
- Wasted money – The purchased followers often drop off soon after purchase.
- Lack of engagement – Fake followers do not interact or convert to real customers.
- Loss of credibility – More savvy prospects may be turned off by fake followers.
- Penalization by LinkedIn – You may lose ability to run ads or promote content.
- Scams – Risk being scammed without getting the promised followers.
Signs of fake LinkedIn followers
Here are some telltale signs that signal a LinkedIn company page may have bought fake followers:
- Sudden spike in followers
- Most followers are anonymous without photo or work details
- Followers have few to no connections
- Little or no engagement from followers
- Unrelated followers (e.g. different countries or industries)
- Followers have names containing random numbers and letters
The more of these signs are present, the more likely the company purchased fake followers.
How to get real followers on LinkedIn
While risky and ineffective, buying followers often seems tempting because building a real engaged audience can be difficult. Here are some legitimate tactics to get more real followers on your LinkedIn company page:
- Post valuable content consistently
- Engage with your audience by liking, commenting, sharing
- Run targeted ads to reach more of your audience
- Optimize your profile to attract followers
- Encourage employees to connect and follow your page
- Cross-promote your page on website and other platforms
- Partner with influencers in your industry
- Analyze follower demographics and interests to refine strategy
It requires patience and effort, but these methods will drive real, high-quality followers over time.
How to remove fake LinkedIn followers
If your LinkedIn company page already has fake purchased followers, here are some ways to clean it up:
- Go to your follower list and manually remove any suspicious accounts
- Change account settings to approve followers to limit low-quality accounts
- Report suspicious accounts that may be fake directly to LinkedIn
- Avoid any further tactics to inflate followers artificially
- Produce quality content consistently to attract real followers
- Wait for LinkedIn algorithms to detect and remove fake accounts
Removing fake followers proactively helps demonstrate to LinkedIn that you are acting in good faith to comply with their policies.
Best practices for growing LinkedIn followers
Here are some top tips to grow your real engaged followers the right way:
- Post relevant industry content at least once per week
- Leverage LinkedIn groups to share content and engage in discussions
- Engage meaningfully with others by liking and commenting on updates
- Follow accounts with overlapping audiences to gain followers back
- Run LinkedIn Company Page sponsored content campaigns
- Publish listicles, case studies, ebooks, and guides to attract followers
- Add CTAs to your profile asking visitors to follow your page
Examples of content to attract followers
Posting engaging, valuable content is key to gaining real followers. Here are some proven types of content to share:
- Industry trends reports and analysis
- Pro tips, how-tos, and guides
- Case studies demonstrating client success stories
- Slides decks from conference presentations
- Behind the scenes photos and videos from your company
- Polling followers to get their opinions and feedback
- Job openings and career advice
- Quotes and advice from thought leaders
- News relevant to your industry
Tailor your content to match your brand voice and the interests of your target audience personas. Test different content types to see what resonates most.
Conclusion
Buying LinkedIn followers is not worth the risks and will not drive meaningful business results. Avoid fake follower tactics to build real trust and credibility with your audience. Instead, consistently post engaging content while networking and advertising to gain relevant high-quality followers over time. With patience and the right strategy focused on value, your LinkedIn company page can expand its reach exponentially.