The truth becomes shrouded with the prevalence of marketing trends of funny twitter accounts, data-hungry social media, and cleverly manipulated “news” articles. In this ever-growing sea of self-promotion, it’s hard to know what information is actually reliable. Businesses are constantly bombarded with information about the newest marketing tactic that can be found on the Internet – some with legitimate evidence and others without any.
1. Counting on the effects of viral social media
Many people believe that a business should spread their marketing messages across the Internet in order to get the word out there. It is believed that when a Facebook post or Tweet is shared with others, it spreads like a virus and affects thousands of people. However, this is entirely incorrect. When something on social media has a high amount of shares, it does not mean that those shares are from real people. Some companies use software that automatically “like” or “share” posts for them so that their computers can infect other computers with their message. The number of shares or likes is not a direct reflection of the amount of views or people affected by your content. It is merely a reflection of how many people you have fooled.
2. Loosening advertising guidelines
When a business wants to advertise their product, they have multiple advertising options that they can use in order to reach as many people as possible. However, some companies now believe that it is more effective to spread information about your products by embedding them into other peoples’ websites and content without their knowledge. They create articles that seem useful and interesting, but when read carefully, the post contains an advertisement for their products. These companies skim the line of being able to advertise without violating the Federal Trade Commission’s advertising rules; but, when you consider these “articles” as content, the advertisement is still clearly visible. The FTC states that “Companies that want to advertise on other sites need to ask site owners first, and only use original content in their ads.”
3. Posting misleading, fabricated data
The Internet is flooded with information about the business successes of others. Many successful bloggers are willing to share their success stories as part of a marketing strategy for increasing sales and brand recognition among other businesses. However, there are a very few that have been working with fake data in order to promote their products or services. They will use data to make their product appear more successful than it actually is. These companies will inflate their product’s numbers by faking their success on social media, comment boards, and message boards. Some of these companies might even go as far as writing fake blogs that defend the company.
4. Joining the “popularity” contest
Every business wants to be popular, but there is no reason for a business to compare itself with others . The only reason a business should try to be “as popular as” another is because they want others to join their party too and they think that they can influence others based on how many followers they have on social media or how many hits they have on their website. A popular business is not one that has the most followers or fans; it’s the one that knows what their target audience wants and engages with them in a way that does not waste their time.
5. Getting free press for free
A business can use search engine optimization (SEO) tactics to increase their popularity by getting articles published about themselves on other websites. Many SEO companies will write fake blogs and articles about your business and then “submit” them to online directories so that your website shows up when someone searches for you on search engines. Just because you have an article about your business does not mean that it is getting you real customers. These fake articles might even decrease your website traffic.
6. Getting free press for free II
Some businesses believe that their products will get more popularity if they manage to get themselves mentioned in the news. They pay “journalists” and publicists in order to get people to write stories about them very similar to those found on the Internet (see #1). When done correctly, this can be a highly effective marketing strategy, but in some cases it is money down the drain as there are no real journalists reporting on these topics, only fake ones with high Google rankings and a quick pen. These companies do not produce good press as they cannot develop a relationship with their fan base; they only want to get their name out there.
7. Using fake testimonials
Many businesses now think that customer testimonials are the best way to advertise their products or services. However, when customers are given the option of giving a positive review about your business in exchange for money, fame, or something else, this is not a genuine testimonial. It is false advertising that gives the wrong idea about your company.
