Social has always been about authenticity. Laying parts of your business and personal soul to bare have made social what it is today; a transparent approach to building a brand and/or business.
One of the things that get’s in the way of that authenticity is when you lie to your audience…and that is something I have preached here when it comes to reviews, social media and just business in general.
Do well by doing good! I think I have lived that here at Darren’s
But when I say lie, I really mean gaming the system by:
- Posting fake reviews
- Making promises on your site you can’t deliver
- Bullshitting your social media profiles, fans, likes or followers
That last one is the topic I want to talk about, because when you lie on social, the walls really can come tumbling down…quick!
There are a couple ways I see people easily game the system…they buy likes on Facebook or they buy followers on Twitter.
Now, both are condoned by the platforms mentioned because they sell advertising that assists in the fraud…so they are just as culpable as the person buying their audience.
But Darren, it takes too long to build an audience!
That’s why I’ve screamed from the rooftops to start ASAP!
Sure, buying your audience is quick and cheap, but let’s say you are a social media guru (I love when people call themselves “experts” or “gurus”) but you don’t have many followers, what kind of guru can you be right? So you pony up some coin to buy some cheap followers on say, Twitter.
Once you buy enough friends you now become respectable to your audience. Now you pitch the shit out of them to sell your crap, except, deep in the back of your mind you wonder if you are ever going to get found out. Are you ever going to be exposed as the fraud huckster like the Wizard BEFORE he get’s to OZ.
Then a site like Fakers Status People exposes your ass for the scammer you are…
You can see my score below…It says 2% of my list is fake. That has to be bots that auto-follow based on hashtags or something. But try it yourself on some of the people you follow who call themselves “experts” in their fields then report back here!
Moving on…how this pertains to you
Anyone looking to do business with you is going to run you through their own “does this contractor pass the smell test?” list of checks and balances, but now they have an actual tool that will verify that you are either full of shit or totally legit. If you are scamming people, it’s game over kids, piss on the fire and call the dogs, you just lost all credibility in the space you operate it.
So pay attention…I’m going to say it again!
Social is going to replace testimonials and review sites in the not too distant future because of the way reviews are being manipulated and with resources like fakers, social will be even more important…if you do it right!
If you need help getting started with social, but don’t have the time…let us help! Click here for more info!