Voices
of social advertising, touting “fresh
approaches to getting you traffic,
attention and buzz through social
media.” Here’s how it works: for a
set dollar amount a business can
purchase either targeted (usually by country) or non-targeted
(worldwide) numbers. Typically
numbers are promised between 48
hours and two weeks. A business
can purchase anywhere from 100
to (I can hardly believe this myself) 100,000 numbers.
Sounds nice, right? Unfortunately the only thing that purchasing
numbers attracts is money from a
business’ own coffers. It’s all in the
seller’s disclaimer: Purchases are
not guaranteed to deliver results.
Really? Imagine that.
Sure, it’s true that a business’s
numbers will grow, but its newfound “friends” are anything but.
They are statistics. Digits in the
cloud. Bodies in a nonexistent
room. Maybe even bots or dummy
accounts. Meanwhile, everything
we know about social media success revolves around engagement—
shares and retweets, one’s circle of
influence and one’s Klout score are
significantly more important factors than the numbers listed on
one’s social media profiles. These
numbers will never share your
EVANNE
SCHMARDER
HUFFINGTON
8.19.12
story, visit your website or click on
a sponsored ad. They are just numbers. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Think of it this way, a post
sent out to 5,000 bought and
paid for numbers uninterested in
a brand’s message is very likely
to fade into the sunset without
mention—netting nothing in return. Is an avid vegetarian who
receives posts from
Omaha Steaks likely to share them?
Sure,
Chances are they
it’s true that
would be much more
a business’s
open to ongoing news numbers will
about their local
grow, but its
farmer’s market—rel- newfound
evant, timely, tai‘friends’ are
lored. By growing a
anything
follower/friend base
but. They are
organically, one by
statistics.”
one from interested
parties, the chances
of a message resonating and creating action are far more likely.
The best course of social media
development is to build relationships, engage with people and produce interesting, fun, relevant content that begs to be shared. Make
an effort to connect with those that
have chosen to follow your message.
If a business or brand
wants loyalty, it must be loyal.