Would you rather have a 100 soggy and unseasoned french fries or 10 of the best french fries ever? Honestly, it is probably subjective and depends on the person, but most people would want the 10 french fries. It leads to an enjoyable and short experience whereas the 100 bad fries leads to an unenjoyable and long experience . This is similar in regards to digital marketing on social media platforms. It is very easy to skew the initial data, but will result in a lacking result.
Some businesses believe that if they can pump out as many ads or emails or phone calls that it will give them high impressions and eventually lead to conversions. It actually does the opposite because the impression ratio will be terrible and the efficiency of campaign will be really bad. It is important to be efficient through high quality. The budget given won’t be rightfully used and is a waste of money. There exists such a thing called marketing fatigue, where if a consumer is overexposed to a certain product or service, then it will leave a bad taste in their mouth and make them less willing to convert.
From a social media standpoint, there are a lot of people who buy followers on Instagram or Twitter to appear to have a high following. This will actually be disadvantageous because if a brand reaches out to have the influencer sponsor their product, they will end up with a really low impression count. If they, for example, have 100k followers, the company expects 90k impressions. If a majority of these followers are bought and the actual follower account is 20k, that will only result in 18k impressions. It is a significant drop from what is expecting. This will cause the brand to drop you and give you a bad name in the industry.
Regardless, it is considered as unethical because you are essentially morphing your data to seem like you are more successful than you are. It is similar to taxes, why report that you have less money so you can be in a lower tax bracket, it will only lead to trouble. If you are actually at 20k followers, try to get a brand deal where the company expects impressions of the 20k. This will actually give you more followers because of the partnership and endorsement. Although it is a longer path to achieve that 100k follower goal, it is the most ethical and will be safer for you as a business.
Marketing Mind of Joshua 