If you just want the social recognition of having followers, just buy 20k followers for a couple of dollars and just post stories that no one will watch. It’ll impress your friends but it will have absolutely no impact on your business nor on your brand. You’ll feel like the popular one among your friends for a couple weeks before Instagram understands that you’re a cheater and deletes your account or seriously reduces your organic reach.
Source: Is it still possible to grow on Instagram in 2019? – Charles Tumiotto Jackson – Medium