Oh Twitter, the micro-blog/social media service that we love to hate. Or hate to love, whichever it is there’s no arguing that Twitter provides a platform for millions of users to communicate and report anything from natural disasters to what they’re eating for lunch, in real-time.
Twitter is dominated by celebrities, news outlets, the rich and famous, politicians and basically anyone else the public deems important enough to be heard. But what if your voice needs to be heard? Or what if your presence needs to grow, what do you do?
The market for buying Twitter followers, Facebook likes or shares, Instagram followers, YouTube views etc etc etc isn’t a new concept by any means, these types of service have been around for almost as long as the platforms they solicit. The price and availability of these services is also astounding. Hundreds of web sites and job board sites like Craigslist & Fiverr offering thousands of followers for as little as a $5, it’s a very attractive option for those trying to build their presence or desperate to expand their exposure.
Here’s the problem, it won’t.
The sites selling “real” followers by the tens of thousands and delivering in a matter of hours are just providing you with bots that are generally deleted by Twitter eventually, which results in you losing followers (and money). What these sites define as a “real” Twitter follower is just a user that has a photo and a bio, basically a fake account that happens to have a completed profile. How much product can you move through a “customer” like that? How many retweets, shares or views do you believe you’ll get from these types of followers? The answer is obviously zero.
It’s like buying a BMW when you make minimum wage, yeah you look cool but how long can you keep up with the payments. Is it worth spending $300 on 50,000 followers or spending equal time on growing your brand organically by attracting the right people. We tell our clients the latter, which is a bitter pill to swallow. You have to remember not everything is about image, you’re not Justin Bieber. If you’re a kilt maker in a small town then you have a very unique and limited market. Buying thousands of Facebook Likes or Twitter followers isn’t worth half as much as gaining a few organic, real followers that are likely to make a purchase at your store.
At Blab It Canada we guarantee our clients exposure by implementing a mix of advertising, proven social strategies and combined years of marketing and social media expertise. This is a process that doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time and dedication.
The bottom line here is that expanding your presence in the world of social media is a full-time job that deserves full-time attention. Just like anything in life there is no quick fix or “get rich quick” schemes, cheating and taking short-cuts won’t pay off. If you’re not ready for that kind of investment, you should probably keep putting ads in the newspaper…
