While B2B business owners may not be aware of this, most digital marketers know that there’s a huge ‘fake follower’ economy in the internet marketing world. People can easily go onto sites like Fiverr.com and buy followers for their Twitter, Instagram or Facebook pages. They can just as easily buy likes and comments.
The problem with the fake follower economy is that it is pointless. These followers are often located in other countries and they don’t have active, engaging accounts – they’re simply paid to like and comment on whatever they’re being paid to comment on. On the outside, it may seem like your competitors are much more popular than you, but on closer inspection, you may come to realise that a large majority of their followers are from paid accounts.
The New York Times recently published an exposé on Devumi, a prominent purveyor of fake followers, which concluded that he was in control of over 3.5-million fake Twitter accounts. One of the major problems with Devumi’s army of fake followers is that many of them use personal information and photos of real users.
Businesses are risking their reputations by buying fake followers as impersonation and identity theft are illegal in many countries. This type of dubious social media arbitrage is very different from influencer marketing, where you partner with social media influencers to review or promote your brand. Influencer marketing can have a real impact on your brand awareness and bottom line, and it’s more expensive and time-consuming to get right than buying fake followers.