What sparked our interest in writing this post was hearing that Unilever announced that it was going to put a halt on working with social media influencers that have been found buying followers and likes on their channels.

This problem of social media influencers collecting a massive following through malicious behaviours has grown over the years, likely because the paycheck per post can be massive. Some of the top influencers can earn thousands of dollars just on one sponsored post. Of course these attractive rates draws in many different crowds of people, sometimes ones who are willing to pull a few strings to get more money from sponsored posts. We’re definitely not saying that all social media influencers are buying likes but there are people out there who do, and you can most likely spot those who are.

Fake followers are fake friends

First of all, we know that bought followers and likes DO NOT turn into real customers. Simple as that. When you buy likes, you sink costs. How could a bot ever be interested in that really cool thing you’re selling? Hence our heading up above: fake followers are fake friends. They won’t do anything for you except make you look good on the surface. But that’s it. We also want to reiterate:
Past the surface, things get spammy and gross. It’s very common for bots to post the exact same thing for multiple posts and it doesn’t matter what the content is.
“Wow! Amazing… Direct message me about your product, I need to have it.”
And you just made a post about your dog who’s just gone through surgery. There’s no way they’re getting your dog.
Okay, that’s a bit extreme for an example but you should get the picture. Bot comments don’t make any sense and they aren’t sincere or genuine. People can easily spot these comments and if they are numerous enough, they’ll deter your ACTUAL consumers from engaging with you.
On top of your real followers getting frustrated with being lost in the bot-filled comment section, the sites you host your profiles on (you know, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) can find you and take your account from you. Twitter absolutely hates the follower/unfollower churn tactic, where you follow a lot of people and then unfollow the ones that don’t follow you back (repeat this process). It happens a lot, but it goes against Twitter’s policy.
So the two main drawbacks of buying likes are 1) low engagement on your posts, and 2) deleted or blocked social accounts.

These things take time

How do you amass followers with a clear conscience? One thing to keep in mind is that it has never been easy to get a lot of followers in a short amount of time. The other thing to think about is that followers – whether real people or bots – are still just one click of a button. The real indicator of social success is having people regularly like your posts, share them, comment on them, and feeding you back content. Those people are stars and you need to keep them. Slowly build your following, focusing on meticulous contact and engagement, and you will see how much of a difference it makes in your consumers’ eyes.
A few tips to finish off:

  • Share content every single day that’s useful and interesting.
  • Use proper grammar, and don’t act spammy.
  • Use clear calls to action that don’t sound preachy or overused.
  • Don’t plagiarize. Give credit where it’s due.
  • Ask your friends to like your page.
  • Put social tags on your website, products, vehicle transportation, ask people to follow you or like something, they will most likely do it.

If your goal is to increase the stature of your business, post everyday, build real relations, and your ROI will be better off because of it.