Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms in use today. A large number of Twitter users make the platform an ideal ground for online marketing. For one to thrive on Twitter, they need to have many followers. Twitter followers are golden treasures that influence the success of your brand. The value for twitter followers has led many people in engaging in unethical ways to gain more followers. If you perform a simple Google search for buying twitter followers you will get tons of results. People are purchasing fake twitter followers to gain social proof. There are many disadvantages to buying twitter followers. In this article, you will understand the effects of fake Twitter followers to your brand.
No engagement
Many people who purchase Twitter followers do it the sole reason of earning social proof. Fake Twitter followers are intended to make your brand seem popular. However, while you could be having thousands of followers, the level of engagement in your Twitter account is close to zero. When you post content through your handle, engagement comes in the form of retweets, comments, and likes. Fake Twitter followers don’t click links, comment, like or reply.
Engagement is the driving force of social media. Followers who actively engage with your content will improve your rank on news feeds and search engine result pages. They also have a larger potential of gaining you, new followers. Without interaction, there is no growth for your brand. The purpose of having followers is to engage them and inform them about your brand. When there is no interaction with your followers, your brand’s popularity will never grow. Real followers could also be scared away since there is little or no engagement in your handle.
Some Fake followers are spammers
Every twitter account has some fake followers unless it has strict measures to identify and remove them as they appear. These followers are not typically purchased fakes. They are bots that accompany fake followers along the ride. These bots spam the websites they are promoting. They can raid other followers and DM them with the website link. If this happens, it could be detrimental to your brand and audience as well. Your genuine followers could be affected by the bots.
While you cannot be directly linked with spambot, real followers could start to unfollow you if the bots’ Dms began immediately after they started following you. This slows business growth since you have no real followers to turn them into customers.
Fake followers waste your money
Before fake twitter followers start hurting your brand, they begin with hurting your wallet. Twitter followers are offered at a price and many people have fallen in the trap of purchasing followers thinking they have genuine accounts. Fake Twitter followers are sold from $1 to $100 and are available in blocks of 1000, 5000 or 10000. Any amount of money invested in a business is expected to generate returns.
Since the essence of gaining followers is to convert them to customers, spending money on fake followers ends up hurting your business. The money spent on buying fake followers could be used in a better way that results in financial benefits. It could be used to sponsor your brand to increase the number of views.
They don’t stick for long
Fake followers stay in your handle for a limited time. Some sellers offer followers for specific durations such as 6 months or 1 year. After this time you have to resubscribe to get them back. If people visit your handle at one time and find thousands of followers them a significantly lower number at another time, they will start doubting the legitimacy of your Twitter handle. This affects the growth of your business since people have developed trust issues. Followers who fail to trust your brand will not engage with your content leading to disastrous consequences for your business.
Twitter is also aggressive in removing fake accounts from the platform. If you have followers associated with fake accounts, they will be removed leaving you with a wasted investment.
Twitter can ban your account
Buying twitter followers is technically against Twitter terms of service thus your account can be banned for buying them. However, Twitter doesn’t do this at low levels or if you are a famous person. For example, Barack Obama has approximately 8% fake twitter followers but his account cannot be banned. However, if there is an account with more than 80% fake followers, it has no benefit to twitter and is subject to banning.
If you have invested money in such an account, you end up losing both money and your brand’s reputation. It takes time to build a brand on Twitter. Therefore, you should take every necessary precaution to avoid your account from getting banned.
Fake followers make your marketing data inaccurate
The success of any business is influenced by the accuracy of data obtained from the field. Marketers must get accurate data for better decision making. Using fake followers skews marketing tests and results. When you post an item, the feedback gives you information about the best product for your audience or a better marketing strategy. Since fake followers have no engagement, you cannot get the required data to improve your business.
People notice purged fake followers
Many social media platforms periodically purge fake accounts from their platform. This is done to embrace healthy competition. It is easy to identify accounts affected by bulk purged followers. If your account loses a huge percentage of followers people will call you out on it. Business competitors can also use the opportunity to win your real followers due to their damaged reputation. This could lead to reduced sales.
The proliferation of fake Twitter followers affects businesses striving to engage customers in the world of online marketing. Fake followers in your Twitter handle hurts your business, affect user experience and ultimately creates a scenario where people distrust your content. Although many people purchasing fake followers intend to improve their social ranking, fake Twitter followers can adversely affect your brand and damage its reputation. It is always advisable to gain organic followers who can engage with your content.