In the modern age, one of the best ways to directly connect with your customers is through social media. Social media enables small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations to have a close relationship with customers, be in touch with customer pain points and promote the business to potential customers.
Now, larger businesses start their social media pages with zero followers; however, they tend to grow quickly due to the brand having a large number of loyal customers. Brands with the highest social media following often leverage high-profile collaborations, consistent engagement, and iconic branding to grow their following. Some examples of businesses with high follower counts are Instagram (platform) with 670 million followers and Nike with 305 million followers.
In South Africa, brands such as SuperSport, Woolworths and Vodacom are amongst the most followed across various social platforms.
For SMEs, the importance of having a high following on social media might not yet be prevalent and getting started can be time-consuming and not always cheap. A quick fix to this is to purchase an existing social media page with a high follower count.
In this article, we outline the benefits of purchasing an existing social media page, how to clean it up for your business and the costs that come with buying a page.
Benefits of Purchasing a Social Media Page
Buying an existing social media page can give you access to a large and engaged audience. Here are some benefits to purchasing an existing page.
1. Complete Control Over Posts
Most brands collaborate with influencers for social media advertising; however, influencers can be costly, and brands don’t have control over the content. By acquiring an existing account with a decent following, you gain complete control over the account, allowing you to run the campaigns how you like.
That said, you must be aware of the type of content you post. Most users are wary of promotional content, and if you want to post that type of content,, it can lead to your page losing followers. You can prevent this by mixing up promotional and educational content.
2. Save on Marketing Costs
One of the great benefits of buying a social media page is the ability to reach a targeted and engaged audience at little cost. The more followers and high engagement the page has, the more it will cost, but it’s a long-term investment that pays for itself if you buy the right account.
Additionally, purchasing an existing account saves you a lot of time. Most brands take years to build a substantial following that converts to sales; by purchasing an existing account, you bypass the entire process.
3. Access to a Large Audience
Purchasing a ‘popular’ social media account can give you access to a large and engaged audience. If the account is well-known and has a large following within a particular niche, it can be an effective way to promote your product or service to a targeted group of potential customers. However, it’s important that you consider whether the account’s followers match your ideal customer profile. This is critical because it ensures that you can reach your ideal audience through the account effectively and quickly.
Tips for Buying a Social Media Page
Now that you know the benefits of buying an existing social media page, here are some things you should be aware of during the process.
Tip 1: Be Aware of Fake Followers
In the world of social media, the more followers the account has, the more it’s going to cost. Therefore, there are many incentives for account owners to buy followers. In order to ensure the account you are buying does not have fake followers, check for this:
- See how many likes a post gets in comparison to the follower count. Note, some account owners will ‘like’ posts for their clients and even leave comments to make it seem like real followers
- Also read some of the comments under the posts. If some of the comments seem a bit generic and unspecific to the post, there’s a good chance they are fake followers
To further verify the validity of the followers, pick a random group from the follower list and see if you can find their engagements on posts. If the majority of the followers have had no engagement whatsoever, you might have found some fake followers.
Tip 2: Check the Analytics
Most social media platforms offer users insights into their account activity. By checking the analytics reports you can gauge if the audience of the account matches your customer persona. Additionally, the analytics can give you insights into engagement numbers to see if the followers are real or fake. If the followers are real, you can get good insights into how they engage with the account.
According to experts:
- Less than 1% = low engagement
- Between 1% – 3.5% = average/good engagement
- Between 3.5% – 6% = high engagement
- Above 6% = very high engagement
Tip 3: Change Login Data
Once you have completed the purchasing process, you need to immediately change the login data for the account. This means getting a new e-mail (or using your business e-mail) and password for the account. Doing this will ensure that the previous owner does not have access to the account and cannot lock you out once you have paid them.
Tip 4: Make Secure Payments
It’s important that if you decide to purchase a social media page, you use a payment service platform that is reputable and allows for disputes and refunds. Most experts suggest leveraging platforms like PayPal, PayShap and normal banking apps for more secure payments.
How Much Does it Cost?
The cost of purchasing an existing social media page in South Africa varies widely, typically ranging from a few thousand Rand for smaller, niche accounts to over R20 000 for accounts with established, high-engagement audiences.
Most accounts are sold directly by the owner, making price negotiation a bit easier. Some account owners list their pages on various platforms, such as:
- Flippa: Flippa is a global marketplace where users buy existing accounts across various industries (pet care, fitness, etc.) by engaging directly with sellers to understand business opportunities.
- Social Tradia: Social Tradia allows users to purchase Instagram accounts safely and quickly.
- AcctBazaar: AcctBazaar allows users to purchase social media accounts, VPNs and e-mail accounts, as well as other types of digital accounts.
Note, you can also join various social media-based community forums to find accounts being sold, or you can privately message an account you are interested in buying to see if the owner is open to selling.
