If you’ve spent more than a few weeks trying to grow on Instagram, you’ve probably been tempted. Maybe it was an ad in your feed promising “1,000 followers for just $10,” or maybe it was a competitor suddenly pulling way ahead in likes, engagement, and story views, despite posting what looks like, well, not much. The allure is real. And it cuts to a deeper question: Is this a game of patience or a game of shortcuts?
Let’s unpack the two most common, and contrasting, approaches to Instagram growth: organic strategies built on real interactions and content, and the artificially inflated world of purchased likes.
The Appeal of Purchased Likes
We get why people do it. You post a Reel that took hours to edit, hit publish, and then watch it flop. Ten views. Two likes. One of them is your mom.
Then, an ad pops up: “Buy likes and boost your visibility.” You think, “Well, maybe if the algorithm sees it getting traction, it’ll show it to more people.”
This idea isn’t just emotional. It’s logical, too. Instagram’s algorithm, like most others, favors engagement. More likes equal more perceived value, which means more reach. What’s the harm in giving it a little push?
The problem is, purchased likes are almost always hollow. They’re bots. Or click farms. Or accounts with usernames like “user1940295.xqz” that follow 5,000 people and haven’t posted since 2016. Sure, your like count goes up. But how about your reach and actual influence? It stays flat, or worse, gets penalized over time.
Because here’s what Instagram is really measuring: engagement quality. When you post something and 200 accounts like it in the first five minutes but none of them ever watch your stories, save your content, or comment anything coherent, Instagram notices. Over time, your account gets flagged as low-value, engagement-baiting, or worst of all, fake.
Organic Growth: The Long Road That Works
Organic growth, by contrast, feels slow. It is slow. But it’s also real.
Organic growth is when someone follows you because something you said resonated. Because they saw themselves in your caption. Because you posted a story about struggling with your mental health and they replied with a heart. That’s not just a follower. That’s a connection. A potential reader, client, buyer, or even a collaborator.
And those kinds of followers do things bots never will. They comment in full sentences. They tag their friends. They share your post to their stories. They show up.
Organic growth builds something that purchased likes never can: trust.
Trust turns followers into fans. It makes people read your captions instead of just scrolling past. It gets you DMs that start with, “Hey, I’ve been following you for a while, and I think…”
We know from marketing and sales findings that trust is what drives conversion. It’s what makes people buy books, sign up for courses, or show up at your event in a city they’ve never been to. Likes don’t build that. Relationships do.
The Psychological Trade-Off
There’s also a psychological cost to fake growth that people don’t talk about enough. You buy likes, you get the dopamine hit. The number goes up. You feel better.
But it doesn’t last.
Because somewhere deep down, you know it’s fake. You know those likes won’t turn into anything. You know your comment section is silent for a reason.
And that creates a quiet kind of cognitive dissonance. You start performing for the algorithm instead of creating for people. You chase quantity over quality. And that creative fatigue creeps in.
Contrast that with organic growth, where every new follower feels like a small affirmation. You post a story and someone replies with, “Same.” You share a tough day and five people send you messages of encouragement. That kind of feedback keeps you going. It’s fuel.
But What If You’re Just Starting?
Here’s where things get nuanced.
If you’re starting from zero, organic growth can feel like shouting into the void. You post great content. Nothing happens. You post again. Still nothing.
In those early days, many creators looked to purchase likes as a kind of “starter fluid,” a way to prime the algorithm. And to be completely transparent, some people do this and still build successful accounts. But they’re the exception, not the rule. And they often combine it with relentless real engagement, story posting, replying to comments, and DMing new followers to thank them.
The danger is when buying Instagram followers, and purchased likes become the strategy instead of the spark.
What Actually Works
If you’re serious about growing organically, what does that mean in practice?
Here’s a set of practices that build real growth over time:
- Post content that serves a purpose: That could be education, inspiration, humor, or vulnerability. Make people feel something.
- Talk to people: Reply to every comment. Like other people’s posts. Watch their stories. Respond to DMs thoughtfully.
- Show up consistently: You don’t have to post every day, but you do have to be present. Algorithms reward reliability.
- Share your face and voice: People connect with people. Stories, lives, and Reels that feature you, even if imperfect, outperform generic graphics.
- Use hashtags strategically: Not to go viral, but to be discoverable by niche communities who care about your content.
- Celebrate micro-wins: Ten likes from real people is more valuable than 100 from bots. Don’t forget that.
The Bottom Line
Instagram doesn’t care how many likes you have. Not really. It cares how real they are. How long people look at your post. Whether they save it. Whether they send it to a friend. That’s what determines if your content gets pushed out to more people.
Purchased likes can’t fake that. Bots don’t pause to read. They don’t laugh at your memes or feel moved by your stories.
Organic growth takes longer, but it builds something you can be proud of. Something that won’t collapse the moment you stop paying for likes. Something that lasts.
And maybe most importantly, it lets you sleep at night.
