It has been and still is a great problem across most of the Social Media platforms – Fake accounts and spamming. Some people use the fake side of Social Media to build their audiences and those of others, usually by selling ‘1,000 followers for $5 or 500 likes for $10′ etc. If you are dealing with any company that are on Social Media who are selling their expertise in building you a strong following, it is always wise to research who indeed follows them. Things to look out for include:
- They are only following a few yet thousands are following them – Research who those followers are as in most occassions that company will have simply purchased 1,000’s of fake Twitter accounts to follow them – Looks impressive, but absolutely no value.
- Their video on YouTube has gathered thousands of views – Look at who is engaging with that channel, how many comments and how many likes has that video received – Are have they simply once again, used a software to increase views on their video – once again no value.
- Their Facebook Fan Page has thousands of likes – Read through their wall history, on many occassions their updates are few and far between with little to no engagement from members – A real Facebook Fan page with genuine likes will have frequent engagement with members, especially those with 1,000’s of likes.
- Quality of Target Audience – Being in the industry of Social Media management, ourselves along with other companies offering the same service, endlessly educate Social Media users that it is all about the quality of your audience, not the amount! If your accounts are managed by an outsourced company, check the quality of the audience they are building for you, not only are fake accounts easy gather, but also are those who simply want a ‘Follow for a Follow’ or a ‘Like for a Like’.
- Spamming – Most fake Social Media accounts will remain inactive, ie they may have a few followers / likes and are following a few other accounts, but they have no updates / Tweets etc. Some will simply post repeative sales messages, usually selling porn links, cheap fake items or steering people towards downloadable eBooks.