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Social Media for Business: Cheaper by the Dozen
Series, Part 4: Should I buy followers for my social media channels? Expert Gergely Teglasy explains why this isn't such a good idea.
Social Media for Business: Cheaper by the Dozen
We know what makes us humans tick. At first glance, size counts. When many others follow a company (or a brand or a person), we are almost magically drawn to it. According to numerous studies in recent years, many companies – including large ones – as well as well-known personalities have up to 50% fake followers. This means that every second subscriber is not a real interested party. This is not the only reason why the number of followers is no longer a recognized (only) measurement in the social media world.
But it's a bit like the counter in the supermarket: "Can it be a few more deca?" And there are tempting offers, you can get 500 followers for just $25. A bargain. At first glance. Because these followers may not be real people at all, but so-called bots, i.e. small automated programs that do what they were programmed to do, namely follow your company. Or there are very poorly paid workers in click farms in the Philippines who simply click “Follow” every second. Without even looking at the profile.
Both give you... that's right: exactly nothing. Because neither the bot nor the Filipino cheap worker will ever become a customer of yours. Neither will purchase from you or use your services. Never.
Buying followers actually has more disadvantages than advantages:
● When someone looks at your profile and your followers, in most cases they can be recognized at first glance as fake followers.
● Your posts get no reactions (engagement in technical language), because the bots or fake followers care exactly nothing about your painstakingly created posts.
● Potential customers and business partners could block your profile.
● The social network could block you because it detects fake followers on you.
● The algorithm penalizes you and doesn't show your posts to your real followers (more on that soon).
Yes, admittedly: slow, organic growth is much more difficult than buying followers. But it is also more profitable and useful in the long term. Because your followers are not
gone again tomorrow.
The author:
Mag. Gergely Teglasy / TG teaches at the University of Vienna, the FH Vienna and the FH Burgenland. He is the winner of the Innovation Award, advises international organizations and companies on their digital communication strategy and wrote “Zwirbler,” the world's first Facebook novel.