The temptation is great, isn’t it? The number of Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers you command is an embarrassment to you. Perhaps you are planning an ad campaign and those low numbers just will not do. And then, a well-meaning friend or compelling Internet offer tells you that you can BUY them. You savor the idea of having 10,000 new leads overnight. Yeah! Well, a word to the wise. DON’T.
Edgerank is Facebook’s algorithm that determines which posts go into the Facebook Newsfeed. You may have purchased 10,000 Facebook Page Likes but mostly these are from Zombie accounts or uninterested fans. This move results in low engagement. Engagement is a key factor in determining your Edgerank score. A low Edgerank score means no one will be seeing your posts, including your genuine followers.
Let’s say a percentage of the purchased Facebook followers do interact with your Facebook posts. This will result in the collection of profile and demographic information in Facebook insights that does not fit your real customer profile, leading you to wrong conclusions in how to target your customer. This means faulty targeting and messaging. You may lose your real customer! Plus, it is a little suspicious when with 10,000 followers you can only manage to muster 3 Likes for any given post!
If you are selling Yoga mats and your purchased list has no interest in yoga, they may like your cute animal photos, but you will be nurturing these folks for no good reason – except you can say you have 10,000 Facebook followers.
Buying Twitter followers is ever so tempting. However, companies that sell these lists make a living by hacking, phishing, and infecting real followers with link spam. Is it worth buying Twitter followers when you consider all the risks? Fake followers could easy target your genuine followers and hack their accounts. Your reputation is at stake!
Fake follower check tools can identify who your real friends are, and allow you to delete the fakes. Sure, the high Twitter number may feel cool, but your real followers aren’t likely to share the feeling, and you might end up losing credibility and the real followers you do have. Especially for businesses hoping to be viewed as industry experts, being caught cheating can do serious damage to your reputation.
If you insist, buy real Twitter followers. You can buy access to real followers using Twitter follower software that searches through and finds Twitter users with interests similar to yours and automatically follows them, hoping that they will follow you in return. This process is referred to as buying targeted Twitter followers. This route is not inexpensive.
Legitimate, earned followers are more valuable because you’ve built a relationship with them. This goes for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. This may take some time. For Twitter, get the attention of big-name Tweeters in your industry. Just one re-Tweet or mention from a well-respected industry leader can greatly increase your Twitter followers.
Increasing your followers naturally isn’t easy, but it’s worth it in the end. Just a handful of engaged, active followers is infinitely more valuable than hundreds of fake accounts that do nothing more than boost your numbers.
Here’s what you can do to get more Facebook Page Likes and Twitter Followers:
- Create Facebook Ads that invite your audience to Like your page
- Create Facebook Ads aimed at your target market using Interests
- Re-Tweet and reply to Tweets as much as you can; many will follow you in return
- Delight and please your community regularly with valuable content: inform, entertain, inspire.
- Care about your customer … it’s called nurturing!