In the era of ‘fake news’ people are becoming wise to how social media isn’t always what it seems.
Many of our much loved ‘gram celebs have been embracing the idea of ‘Instagram V Reality’ to show how what is being posted is highly edited, specifically shot and a matter of perspective. However, the deception doesn’t just stop there.
Brands themselves are guilty of buying followers, using bots and trying to game the system to make themselves seem more attractive to real followers. While this may initially seem like a good tactic for your company, it isn’t as effective as you might think.
You’d be forgiven for believing that having high follower numbers is the key to your success, however if you have fake fans who aren’t interacting, and when they are it is meaningless or nonsense, it is actually very damaging to your brand.
They want an enjoyable online experience, not a bunch of numbers.
Joe public will barely, if at all, be interested in the number of people who have clicked the “like” or “follow” button on your page, instead being much more responsive to engaging content that reflects them and encourages them to be involved with your page. They want an enjoyable online experience, not a bunch of numbers. The last thing that fake followers will do is achieve that, in fact it’ll clog your feed with frustrating non-comments that legit followers have to sift through to find what they’re after. With ever decreasing attention spans, you’re likely to push them away from your page.
Another possible consequence is when Facebook or Instagram decides to serve your content to your followers, it’ll frequently be supplied to the fake accounts, meaning it falls on deaf ears. Which is even more damaging when it comes to adverts where it’ll waste your precious ad spend and drastically bring down your CPC and therefore ROI.
So trying to boost your profile using lazy methods won’t work and it is worth being truthful to yourself and your fans, by taking the time to create original and engaging content – whether you like it, or not.
We thought we’d take a look at some of the world’s most popular brands to show it isn’t just local businesses trying to jack up their pages – the big boys are too.
View the list of brands here.
For more information about what our award winning marketing agency can do for you, why not take a look at the digital marketing services we offer or contact us to tell us more about your business? Offering everything from PPC management to creative social media marketing services, we can help with whatever you need.