There are two basic strategies for interactions on Twitter, you can either purchase fake fans or you can work to gain followers in order to have real engagements with them. In the business world, it is vital to have followers on your Twitter account in order to improve your SEO efforts and this can take some time to do. Cultivating relationships in the social media world is just as important, if not more so, than in the real world. One of the problems is that Twitter battles daily with spammers and one of the ways that this is allowed to happen is through the fake followers. If you are attempting to get your Twitter account to respectable numbers of fans, you need to understand the difference between fake fans and quiet followers.
Who Uses Fake Followers?
Surprisingly there are many who actually have fake followers on their Twitter accounts. Many famous people use them to boost their numbers and to seem more popular. One American politician who was runny for president gained thousands of followers in just one day which made people wonder how or why this happened. It was found that the majority of followers from that single day were fake even though it is not sure whether this was done by his own people or by the opponent’s people to make him look bad. Why would this be done? Because social media plays such an important part of our lives today that showing a politician with fake followers would be akin to discrediting them.
Are There Any Benefits?
You can get some fake fans but what good will it do you? You will have a larger following than your competitors but when they learn, and they will, that they are fake, you have just discredited your company and your business sense. Now, keep in mind, that it is not always bad to buy these fans. For instance, a new company starting out may need some followers so they don’t look like spam accounts. But rather than buying thousands in a day, it may be better to buy fewer over a longer period of time. This should only be done in conjunction with finding true fans and followers and should never be the only followers a business page has. This is a huge sign of a spam account and no legitimate business wants that tag.
Which is Better: Fake Followers or Quiet Followers?
At the end of the day, you want to have followers who can engage with you and generate conversations with their followers. This is how you become known to their followers and generate a larger following. It’s the domino effect: Your followers retweet your posts and their followers see them and retweet them and soon you’re reaching thousands of potential followers. Now, everyone has those followers who don’t say much on the site and this is fine, in fact, it is better to have quiet followers rather than fake ones. Why? Because a quiet follower offers a one to one ratio of the people you follow and the people who follow you. If you have one hundred followers but you only follow two people, your ratio is way off.
So, it is much better to have followers who engage with you rather than fake fans. Even those followers who are quiet a much better option than buying them.
Lisa Smith is an expert in social media and enjoys writing about her experiences on all social media sites.