The allure is that you can go from 0 followers to 5,000 followers overnight which will make you look “legit” so other people follow you. As with everything in society, we’re looking for that quick fix that will solve all of our problems. Be warned however, that this completely negates the concept of Twitter. Twitter is about having a voice that can be heard by people all over the world. For businesses it provides an avenue for getting the word out to your loyal customers quickly and efficiently. So why not pay to have 5,000 people follow you instantly?

They’re Not Real People

Think about where they get these thousands of people from. If you have a new product, what could possibly be done to have 5,000 people instantly start following you? The answer is nothing - it is not possible. Simply put these followers are either (a) a group of people that are paid to follow whoever the company asks them to, or (b) fake accounts. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if these accounts even had more than a dozen tweets. And if you attempt to direct message one of the accounts, you may be waiting until your business is in the ground before you receive a reply.

You’re Not Building Your Brand

Great, now you have a few thousand followers that care nothing of your product. So instead of 100 loyal customers following you, you have a few thousand followers that really don’t even know anything about your business. You are tweeting upon deaf ears. Large successful corporations were not built overnight so don’t expect your company to just jump into social marketing all of a sudden, have be a powerhouse in the twittersphere.

Twitter is about communicating with those who care. Sharing ideas and concepts, promoting interesting products and sites, or finding similarly interested parties that you may be able to learn from. It is not just some bulletin board that you throw up a message about “great new product for $19.99” and wait for everyone to start throwing money at you. It is about gaining the trust of real followers that have followed you because they share an interest in your company or cause.

A Better Way to Spend Your Money

Instead of paying $200 for a number that has no significance, give that $200 to a Web developer that can add a box to your home page to list your recent tweets. Upgrade your blog to include some social media icons. Set up a Facebook page or something to that effect. Or donate it to a cause so that your customers learn that you actually care about things other than money and profits.

You simply cannot buy customer loyalty. You never could and you never will be able to. So please think twice before falling victim to one of these schemes that preys upon customers by using technical jargon and buzz words to make you think “I need this service if we are to be successful”.

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