It’s Time to Actually #LiveAuthentic:

A look at the social media black market and why brands & influencers should avoid it at all costs. By Kate Bray

When you hear the term, “Black Market”, what do you think of? A clandestine market for contraband? Illegal trade? If you’re here with us in Halifax, maybe it’s that cool, wordly boutique on Grafton Street. What about a social media black market?

The New York Times recently shared an incredible exposé that focused on the world of social media fraud, so now, more than ever, people are talking.

The online market for social media deceit is BOOMING.

Brands, individuals, and wannabe influencers alike have been able to buy fake followers, likes, and comments since the beginning of time. Okay, since the beginning of social media. You need to know about it and we need to talk about it.

What is it? Why do people do it? Why does it matter? What should you do if you’ve taken part? Why should you stop? Get ready, you’re in for a wild ride.

What kinds of social media fraud exist?
There are two main ways that users can inflate their numbers:

1. By purchasing followers and/or likes en masse from follower farms (Devumi, mentioned in the NYT article, is one of the most popular options)
2. By using bots

A user can purchase basically any kind of engagement they’d like with the click of a button and a valid credit card.

It’s not unusual for websites to offer packages of 1000 followers or 1000 likes for as little as $10 USD.

The engagement that has been purchased often takes just minutes to appear on the user’s account. The kicker? It’s almost never from real people. High end follower farms offer accounts that mirror the photos, identities, and even bios of legitimate users. Lower end bot farms rarely make the effort to appear legitimate — offering accounts with gibberish usernames and no content. These paid efforts can increase your follower count and you can even dole out extra money to purchase likes for your photos, but no one is actually looking at your content and if that’s the case, you’re missing out on the whole point of social media. Besides, is your brand really worth the risk? Would you trust a brand that fakes their notoriety and potentially, other claims?

How do people use bots?
Just like a follower farm, users can pay for bot services to perform actions on their behalf. Bots can:

-follow random accounts en masse in hopes of enticing a “follow back” (only to unfollow everyone they followed a few days later)

-like photos

-leave pre-determined comments

Sounds innocent enough, right? Wrong.

The bots will troll social media far and wide to engage with every post that it thinks it should. A user can program their bot to both like a photo and leave their chosen, generic comment on any post tagged with the hashtags of their choice. The idea is that users on the receiving end of the comment will notice that they’ve received engagement in the form of likes and comments (and/or a follow!) from a new user and will be more inclined to take a look at the profile and maybe even follow them too.

So what’s the problem? Bots don’t understand context.

That can be very, very dangerous for an individual user and especially for a brand. Even something as simple as a comment like “love it!” on any and all photos tagged with the hashtag #CaliforniaBlogger can backfire immensely.

We’ll admit — the vast majority of the time bots leave harmless comments and users on the receiving end are none the wiser. Every once in a while, though, a bot will land you in some hot water.

In our work observing the activities of brands and influencers we’ve seen their bots engage with content promoting pornography, violence, hate speech, and even announcements of miscarriages and deaths in the family. When you use a bot, you run the risk of leaving a comment that you and/or your brand “love” hate speech, or that you think a death in a stranger’s family is “so great.” Your brand identity (and moral compass) is absolutely not worth the risk.

Why do people engage in social media fraud?
Though everyone’s motive is different, the short answer is that people and brands are trying to create an image. An image of popularity, trustworthiness, legitimacy, and influence. The masses have come to believe that a high number of followers equals all of these things, and until you dig deep and realize that engaging in social media fraud actually makes you the opposite of all of those traits, it’s easy to believe it too.

The average Joe might buy a few followers here or there to boost his appearance of popularity to his friends and acquaintances. Ignoring the fact that there may be some self-esteem issues at play, this is largely harmless in the grand scheme of things.

When money’s in the picture, there’s legitimate cause for concern. Unsurprisingly, money is and always has been one of the world’s most effective motivators. Brands want to sell, sell, sell and more than ever before, young people aspire for careers in social media. Brands and aspiring influencers see the social media black market as a means to fast-track to their goal.

The world’s most popular influencers consistently make BIG bucks — many making more than 7 figures per year. It’s not surprising that the biggest influencers have the most followers. So what are wannabe influencers to do? Many will attempt to cheat the system by buying tens of thousands of followers (or more) in hopes that brands will take notice and they can compete with the veteran bloggers, YouTubers and Instagrammers who have taken several years to build a faithful following.

It’s not just influencers. Brands will engage in social media fraud in an effort to get ahead of their competition and make you, their customer, believe that they’re the best and most legitimate of their competitors too.

Basically, everyone wants money and there’s lots to be made online, so users fake their numbers in an effort make as much money as possible.

Why does it matter?
As the cinematic classic The Wolf of Wall Street taught us, fraud can be tons of fun until it leads to your eventual, terrible downfall. While Jordan Belfort got off relatively easy you can’t bank on being so lucky.

Influencers cannot just call themselves influencers. It doesn’t work that way. Influencers become influencers because they hold true influence over a legitimate following. If you wake up one day and decide that you want to be an influencer and buy the vast majority of your following, you’re essentially shouting into a void.

Sure, maybe you’ll initially get some deals from brands that don’t dig deep — but it won’t last. Brands are wising up, contracts are including clauses that render them null and void if shady behaviour is detected, and if all of that fails, you won’t be contacted for a repeat engagement when it becomes clear that there’s been no ROI.

Why should you stop?
If the satisfaction of cultivating a successful, legitimate, honest personal brand isn’t enough, then we’re going to break some bad news to you:

You’re going to get caught. It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”.

Here at VERB, we regularly audit influencer and brand accounts for legitimacy when it comes to both stats and actual influence. It’s a multi-step process, but it’s not very difficult. And, if you still manage to pass an agency or brand test even while engaging in fraudulent behaviour, it’s not going to last much longer.

Facebook, who also owns Instagram, recently announced some MAJOR changes to their API. To make a long story short, in 2018 they’re phasing out some of the very key features that have allowed bot services to flourish.

By July 31st, 2018, bots will no longer be able to act on behalf of a user to comment on public posts and follow and unfollow accounts. By December 31st, 2018 they’ll go even further and deprecate the functionality that allows bots to like photos on a user’s behalf.

This doesn’t just mean that users will no longer be able to risk a bot-induced comment snafu — it means that people will no longer be able to buy followers! The mass-produced shell accounts created by fake follower markets relied on the relationships API; the one that can automatically follow and unfollow.

So, to simplify, by the end of 2018 bot services will simply be a memory, follower farms will be wiped out, and if we’re lucky, Instagram will conduct another purge (a la 2014) where they mass delete as many shell accounts as they can.

In other words, it’s going to look really bad if you’ve been engaging in these tactics and your “growth” suddenly, irreparably stalls. Or worse, plummets.

What should you do if you’ve taken part?

As Hillary Clinton once said, “Delete your account.”

Okay, just kidding — that’s probably not necessary. However, if you’re an influencer who knows that the majority of your followers aren’t real people, it might be an opportunity to start anew with a clean slate. In fact, it might really set you apart in the blogosphere — think of the blog post you could write about your experiences and your decision! Think of the engagement you’d get from curious minds! #FreeIdea

If you’re a brand or an influencer with an established, engaged following and have simply padded your numbers a bit in the past, you’re probably going to be okay. You’re just going to need to be prepared to accept the discrepancy you’ll notice in your ratio of followers to engagement as the Facebook & Instagram API changes.

Your best bet? Stop now. Don’t wait until you’re in damage control mode in July 2018.

What should you do instead?
Start putting in a genuine effort to grow an engaged, legitimate audience as soon as possible. How? We’ll make a post all about that soon, but the basics are:

• To get engagement, you need to give engagement. Influencers exist because their followers relate to them more than they do traditional celebrities. Some of the most successful brands around right now (think of Away and Glossier) feel more like close friends than brands because they actively engage and converse with their audience. Reply to comments, respond to DMs, engage with your followers posts — be your authentic self and people will respond. Have more personality than your bots.
• Focus on your content. Creating meaningful, valuable, interesting content will attract your ideal followers and do more for your brand than inflated numbers ever will. Your followers are your potential customers. 100,000 fake followers who don’t care at all about your content (let alone see it in the first place) are less valuable than 100 engaged, excited, real people.
• Prove your trustworthiness. If you’re a brand, share information that backs up your claims from case studies and consumer reviews, and make use of user-generated content in an effort to connect with your ideal customers in an authentic way. If you’re an influencer, let your audience really get to know you. Share your real life and favourite things with your audience by engaging with them through Instagram stories and live video. Write meaningful captions and ask questions of your audience to entice them to engage. Make a meaningful connection.

Engaging with your audience authentically might take longer. It may not drive astronomical numbers when it comes to engagement. It’s not easy, but it IS rewarding and will be worth it in the end. So get out there, and #LiveAuthentic!

VERB Interactive is a leader in digital marketing, specializing in solutions for the travel and hospitality industry. Find out more at www.verbinteractive.com.