There is a right way and a wrong way to buy a social media account, and the wrong way is remarkably easy to fall into. These six steps are the checks worth doing every time, whether you are buying a Facebook page, an Instagram account or anything else with an audience attached.
1. Be specific about the niche
Buy for a purpose. An audience you cannot sell anything to, or create content for, is an expense rather than an asset. Decide what you will post before you decide what to buy.
2. Check where the audience lives
Audience country drives value more than any other factor. Followers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are worth considerably more to advertisers, and therefore to you. Ask for the breakdown, not the headline number.
3. Test the engagement
Look at recent posts and compare reach and interactions against follower count. Then read the comments. Real audiences argue, ask questions and go off topic. Purchased ones produce short, generic praise over and over.
4. Look at the history, not the snapshot
How old is the account, how consistently has it posted, and has it changed subject before? A page that has been three different things in two years has an audience that no longer knows what it followed.
5. Confirm the seller can actually sell it
Ask them to post something to the account. Ask for identity details. If either request causes a problem, the problem is the seller. This single step prevents most of the serious losses in this market.
6. Protect the handover
Agree the terms in writing and move the asset and the money through someone who sits between you. Going first on trust is how people lose both.
After you buy
Keep posting what the audience already follows the account for. Add your own material gradually. Most value destroyed after a purchase is destroyed by the new owner in the first fortnight.
Thinking of selling?
We give free valuations with no obligation. Send us the page URL and a representative replies with a figure, usually within one business day. Looking to buy instead? Register as a buyer.
