Since the rise of Instagram in the past five years, social media influencer marketing has been a hot topic for businesses in every industry to conquer. Popular Instagram influencers like Jeffrey Star, Jen Selter, and Logan Paul regularly work with a variety of brands to boost their digital marketing effectiveness. Once a certain user is recognized in their own niche, brands are willing to pay or sponsor them to the world to share their products with their loyal community of social media followers. For example, the top fitness apparel brand named Gymshark in the United Kingdom bases their marketing strategy on having a team of exclusively popular Youtube creators. From lifting to running, these popular athletes create videos connecting to their users and promote the brand’s products to boost their sales and long term loyalty. While this marketing plan is highly effective, some businesses aren’t as wise and have allowed their digital marketers leeway for cutting corners. To find short cuts, some social media users have been using “black-hat SEO” tactics, or online methods to cheat the system. This consists of purchasing fake followers to look far more popular on the platform. Combating this tactic, Instagram is taking drastic measures on their software to block users who do this, so it’s in your best interest as a marketer to avoid it. Buying followers for your business or associating with fake accounts is the quickest way to look ill-advised and untrustworthy to potential customers!
The Process of Buying Followers
There’s many black hat SEO services on the web to allow someone to increase your followers on Instagram. Some apps that you can download on your phone does this for free, while some ask for a payment to obtain hundreds to thousands of followers at a time. Any user on Twitter or Instagram could also follow large number of accounts, then unfollow those who don’t follow them back. While it sounds effective, doing this repeatedly throughout time is against terms of service and can cause turmoil on your account. Another major method to get a large following is to connect to zombie social media accounts by paying a third party business to get 10, 100, or even as much as 10,000 likes on a single picture post. These zombie accounts are usually inactive, have very few followers, and contain spam content. A few Instagram influencers out there have been caught red handed with this tactic and completely tarnished their reputation.
The Cons of Black Hat Tactics
It could appear to some that the more followers you have on your account, the more likely you’ll be able to impress a customer and convert leads. The reality is that many social media users don’t realize that participating with black hat methods brings only trouble. The only true way to figure out if your Twitter or Instagram campaign is working is by measuring the amount of people you’re engaging with, the number of site visits created from your post, and the growth in interaction you receive. By simply purchasing thousands of fake followers, you will inevitably create uninterested customers, spread a negative name for your business, and anger users who are taking measures to post only genuine content and have organic growth. The world of social media still highly values honesty, and your integrity can take a hit as your real followers catch on and discover the methods being used for social media marketing.
Organic Growth in Digital Marketing
If you’re interested in honestly growing your following on social media, do it the right way. Instead of aiming to cheat the digital system, wasting your time and money, and ultimately risking your own image, switch to aiming for active engagement with other businesses and perhaps gaining advice from a marketing consultant. Consulting focused firms like Eminent SEO have enthusiastic professionals who know exactly how to create a business from scratch. They’ll be able to hear out your business goals and create a step by step plan to increase engagement across all your social media platforms. Don’t hesitate and get on the road to achieve a better degree of digital marketing.
