I've always suspected that the giant social media platforms have a way of "fudging" their results and satisfying their advertisers by getting fake people - or at least fake accounts - to LIKE pages and engage with paid posts. It just takes a bit of digging, and visiting some of the pages of people who have liked or followed you, to see that they like a gazillion million other pages too, yet they seem to have no identity or anything "real" about them at all.
And then there is the question of social influencers. People who have such a huge following that brands and companies use them and pay them for their influence. But you have to ask yourself, do they REALLY have such an influence or have they too, created a bit of a "fake" following. This post on DIGIDAY confirms the use of bots to increase your following and popularity on Instagram. And confirms what we of course really know about social media as a marketing and advertising tool. It's pretty fake! But then hasn't marketing and advertising always been a bit fake? Of course it has. It's just moved online.
The one thing we do know about the digital era though is that if people care enough, they'll investigate. And those that care could find out that you're not actually the real thing. Authenticity is rare, but it's important. Really important if you want to keep building a good, consistent reputation, of followers who really are people, and like what you do and engage with what you do. It's all that has ever mattered and we must never get caught up in the hype of the numbers, the followers, the likes and reactions. Just ask yourself how much the people who follow you care. That's the best measure of all.
https://digiday.com/marketing/wannabe-instagram-influencers-use-bots-appear-popular/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=17080
