Social media is still a young field, and many individuals and companies go starry-eyed at the idea of “going viral” on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, and its promise of instant name recognition and sales.<\/p>\n
The problem with having stars in your eyes is that they may block your vision of reality. The reality is that with everyone on the Internet shouting at once, it’s tough work to get your voice heard, even with strong creative content. It still requires the right message at the right time\u2013 and being seen by the right people.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of companies out there that will claim to offer you a quick and easy shortcut, but be sure to do your homework before you hire them: their techniques may bump up against the various network’s rules, and if they cross a line you might find your accounts being suspended for days or weeks while each network evaluates the validity of your account. Even worse, you could incur the wrath of the mighty Google and see your sites taken out of their search results until you can convince them of your legitimacy.<\/p>\n
When evaluating a company that offers to help your social media efforts, here are some warning signs to look for:<\/p>\n
Promises of instant results.<\/strong> No discussion of content strategy.<\/strong>
\nEven Skittles had to build its way up to 19 million “Likes” on Facebook, and they’re a long-standing brand with immense name recognition (and a great, original content strategy). If a company wants you to pay for thousands of immediate follows, be aware that those followers are probably not “quality” (if they’re even real people), and that the company’s methods may or may not be within social media networks’ rules.<\/p>\n
\nThe key component to any online presence is content, whether it’s a 300-word blog post or a 140-character tweet. If the company you’re talking to promises to get you more Likes without talking about what kind of content they will post on your behalf, they are probably taking a shortcut that will not land you with quality social media followers.<\/p>\n