The #1 Rule of Social Media You Don’t Want to Break
Today I'm sharing what I think is the #1 rule in Social Media,
I'm going to be sharing a lot of ideas I have for things you should be doing in social media. As well as a few things you shouldn't be doing too. Actually, the #1 rule in social media is a don't. It's a don't across all social platforms.
That rule is Don't buy followers anywhere. Some of you might not even be aware you can buy followers but you can. There are places out there where for a few dollars you can buy thousands of followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and probably every platform.
The thing is these aren't real followers. They aren't really people following you. These are fake accounts and they really actually hurt you more than they help. For a few reasons.
#1 Your numbers don't really matter that much.
You can have a successful blog or business and not have a big social media following. You might have a lot of referral or search engine traffic. So not as much traffic comes from social media. You might also have a big following on one platform but not on the others. Example: Hilary Rushford has a big business online but only focuses on her Instagram and Periscope. If you go to the other platforms and find her it directs you to her Instagram.
#2 It can be easy to spot people who do this and it looks bad.
Occasionally you will see someone who has 20,000 followers somewhere but no interaction. That is a big giveaway. If you have 25,000 Twitter followers some of them would be favoriting or retweeting your posts. Same on Facebook or Instagram. You want, to be honest, and have integrity especially if you are blogging for profit and business. Don't lie and make a fake following in order to trick people into spending their money with you.
#3 Also what's the point of having lots of followers if they aren't liking and sharing your stuff?
I'd rather have 1,000 fans that like and interact with my stuff then 50,000 that don't. Having the bigger number doesn't do me any good. Having real people who like your blog and business is what matters. Whether that's 500 or 5,000 people who like you.
#4 You will be found out and you will look bad.
Occasionally and without warning Social Media Platforms will purge fake or spam accounts. Most of these are bought accounts to inflate numbers. In December of 2014 Instagram did a huge purge and people lost thousands and in some cases of celebrities millions of followers.
You could really tell who bought followers at that point because if your number dropped by like 50% overnight most of your followers were likely bought. Yes people like Beyonce lost a million and Kim Kardashian lost 3 million but that wasn't the majority of their followers. They still had millions of real followers. On the other hand, The rapper Mase woke up to find his 1.6 million followers had dwindled to 100,000, prompting him to delete his account for good. Clearly he bought most of his followers to make himself look more popular.
So instead keep working on growing your following by producing good content and interaction. It will take longer but it will be honest and so much better for your blog and business. Also, invest that money in a book or in something to improve your blog. There are much better uses for your money than buying fake followers.
So I want to know have you ever noticed that anyone has bought followers? Or at least maybe suspected they might have? What are your thoughts on the topic?
