ChirpUp.com

We all know social Media has a black market for increasing a brand’s consumer engagement. But can these fake followers prove to be more detrimental than helpful?

With appealing advertisements stating “Buy Twitter Followers for less than 1 cent per Follower!” and “1000 Quality Followers for only $14” a startup company may be convinced to throw money at their audience scarcity issue with the idea that these phony fans will yield an authentic audience.

At first thought, the reasoning behind buying fans makes perfect sense: People are hesitant to follow brands if they do not have a fan base. But with a closer look, you will come to realize that this quick fix solution is but a vial of snake oil.

Patience is a Virtue

It is important to remember that online eminence does not happen overnight, and it is rare if it does. Growing your fan base means building a relationship. It takes time and patience to accrue trust. The quickest way to lose a consumer’s credence is to have an army of fake Facebook likes. One quick glance at your audience will reveal whether they are counterfeit. Paid fans are bot-like and spammy—often with celebrity photos as their avatar, nonsense names, posts written in foreign languages and even empty profiles.

Your Falsehood Will be Discovered

An entire online application is devoted to spotting these fakes. StatusPeople aims to “find out how many fake followers you and your friends have”. Still not worried? StatusPeople is known for publicly defaming black marketers, especially those holding top social jobs. Because of this website, Politician Louise Mensch was outed with the diminishing headline “Louise Mensch gains 40,000 ‘robot’ followers” when her twitter account patronage jumped from its initial 66,000 followers to a whopping 105K in mere hours. And they say all publicity is good publicity…

Don’t Fall for Fallacy

Some fan-selling sites will go as far as listing themselves as providers of “targeted USA citizens” who are “real” people. They can homilize their honesty all they want but these allegedly authentic fans still refrain from engaging with your brand. Sure, they just might be living, breathing individuals, but they are doing nothing more than taking up space—creating negative space in turn.

Continue Reading