Seemingly Simple Ways to Be Shady on Social Media

I talk to a lot of people about social media.

I get a lot of questions, and many questions start the same and vary by circumstance.

The most common one I get would be “Is it okay to…?” to which I usually answer

NO.

I thought it was common knowledge, but I also tell a lot of people: don’t be gross. Be yourself and let us love you.

And yet, people find simple ways to be shady on social media. And I get it! We’re overwhelmed by the possibility, we have larger-than-life hopes and want to plan for instantaneous success…but a lot of ways people come up with to achieve this are just downright shady.

So here it is, my list of seemingly simple ways people are shady on social media.

1. Follow / Unfollow. When I started out in digital marketing, Neil Patel was loosely recommending this, and a lot of people took it to heart. Sure, Instagram and Twitter have s a decent follow back rate, but en masse this is shady, unpredictable and unsustainable.
2. Buying followers is THE WORST. They’re fake, don’t even want to buy from you and are purely a vanity metric. You’ll thank me when you have a huge and legitimate following.
3. Auto Commenting or Messaging is so bad I’d say it’s the little sister of buying followers. It’s seen often, spammy and the equivalent of a non-personalized cold call. Attractive on the surface, but don’t do it.
4. Posting way more than usual in a short span of time. I get it: you’ve got a promotion on, or something has really caught your attention…but if I’m going through my newsfeed and you pop up out of nowhere way more than usual, we are going to have a problem. Space it out, and use your social media insights to inform when you should be posting.
5. Going straight for the sale is respectable on the grounds of enthusiasm, courage and going for what you want, but otherwise falls short entirely. If you don’t know me, my situation or anything about me and want me to purchase your product or service, we are gonna have a bumpy ride.
6. Forcing people into group chats - cue collective groan from everybody. While I more than understand that you're probably excited and want to streamline the messaging process by sending one message to a lot of people at once, I plead: don't. It clutters our inbox, it forces more notifications than is acceptable and we get sick of the conversation quickly.
7. Like/Follow chains. These are chains or groups where everyone agrees to like and follow each other. This is often very short term and works on the surface, but rarely translates to meeting goals in business (like getting sales). This is a vanity metric that's pursued, and is like buying friends to win an election.

So how can you tell if someone’s been shady, if their online presence is questionable?

1. Their ratios are out of proportion. I’m talking number of followers, number of people following, and amount of likes, shares and comments on content. Recently I discovered my own Twitter feed has more engagement with my 400 or so followers than a user (who I’ve nicknamed Dude-Bro) who has over 60,000 followers (who can barely get 3 likes to a Tweet). Something there just isn’t right.
2. They immediately send you a message when you follow them. When I started out in social media marketing, I followed a couple with a lot of followers who immediately messaged me and said they made me a welcome video. That welcome video was on YouTube and had over 1000 views, encouraging me to sign up for their $5000 social media coaching program. Imagine how that turned out.
3. Their website is funny. There’s no clear way to know how they make money or what they actually do — but they want your information, and for you to either watch a video, participate in a webinar or download an eBook. Friends: this is the equivalent of the creepy man in the white van with no windows asking you to hop in on your way home from school. Don’t do it.
4. They promote their numbers. I am yet to see an influencer (on their profile) boasts about their numbers. Typically those numbers are reserved for media kits, and kept somewhat private. If you see someone’s profile promoting how many followers they have, or are a self-proclaimed influencer, run in the opposite direction.

At the end of the day, this is what I have to say: keep your social media social. It’s about building and engaging community, and while we all want to be the popular kid in class, we should also strive to be good human beings.

Or at the very least, don’t be gross.