A few words from our side...

Here's where you will find the latest monthly business articles and information from our cynical albeit humorous fearless explorer - S.K. Caraway. From social media to small business advice and trends, to what economic affects are changing our bottom line, you'll find it here! We look forward to your comments, concerns, and contributions.

Good reading and Cheers!

- The GBE Staff

Gaining Your SM Presence…
and losing it too!

Social Media is a powerful, must-have brand management tool. Every new entrepreneur, business owner, store manager, trend setter and B list celebrity wants that social leg up! You need customers! We know, we understand. Our new clients are constantly inquiring about "Follower Placement" SMM Social Media Markets that assist in gaining exposure thru various services they can provide. It’s important for your business to project a cyber “fan base” or what we all have learned has now been termed “followers”. These are the folks that look to your social pages for trends, updates, information, stories, services, products whatever interest your site and creativity may provide. And there’s a lot of companies out there insisting they can make it happen for you. You’ll be an overnight business sensation with the service they can provide. Don’t believe the hype! It's written "the pen is mightier than the sword", well here we go, leaving no casualties! Unguard offenders!

GBE LLC has taken the liberty of testing a many of these social media marketers for a few of our subsidiaries, and you wouldn’t believe the messes we’ve discovered along the way. Yes, we decided to bite the bullet, take one for the team, fall on our proverbial sword to test their sensationalized ads. We’ll give you the truth and what does and does not work for you, the credibility of your name, your brand and company.

Our first example comes from a service provider known as SMM-World.com. You may have heard the acronym before – Social Media Marketers, even the word “Panel” may be attached. These are companies that supposedly help businesses and individuals to leverage social media platforms to achieve their marketing and business goals. And while it’s true some may work; most are posting satisfied customer testimonials as fake as the followers they provide.

We ordered 1000 followers for one of our product sites, and soon found ourselves bombarded with fake accounts, Bots and profiles that had not been updated in years. The countries ranged from India to China, some with odd profile pictures attached. As you can see, the example below, which was added to our account, hails from India and hasn’t been reviewed in almost four years. And it gets worse.

Now at “getafollower.com, we were precise in requesting 100 U.S. followers. The site even specified the option to choose your country. But we noticed the invoice didn’t specify our exact order. It simply states 100 Facebook followers, so you know what this means right! You get what you get, be it from India to Africa. And that’s exactly what we received. We even emailed this company to specify our request. Their response? See below!

Remember, these are some of the largest social media predators that could possibly ruin your business credibility. We utilized their product/service and unfortunately our sites were flooded with foreign fake/bot accounts. Of course, they disagreed and afterward suggested a regional filter to select your products, which to date still cannot be found in the ordering process. I highly recommend businesses, influencers, etc. stay far away from these companies.

Here's our top 5 list of offenders and companies to avoid:

SMM-World.com – This is our #1 abuser which appears to be a one-man operation. Every comment, order placement, issue or concern is addressed by one individual known as Mikkel. Who from time-to-time can get a little temperamental if you become too persistent in seeking your resolution or answers. And no refunds are ever permitted once SMM-World.com has saturated your social media page with the death toll of fake accounts and bots. We utilized this service for FB and TikTok. The accounts they provided like the one below hasn’t been updated in four years, and we’ve seen worse from this company!

Getafollower.com – Now this company has options to select your country of preference. Unfortunately, that probably isn’t what you’re going to get. We tried it (U.S. selection), Never happened. But unlike most, there is an email link to address any concerns, and they did respond (see below), but you may be waiting your entire lifetime for a correction, refund or legitimate followers while your website is terminally sinking into oblivion!

But we did receive a response from getafollower.com.

And this is what they delivered. Not much U.S. action going on here!

Social-viral.com – Same show different stage. What’s the difference between high quality subscribers and active subscribers? Nothing. When we explored the ad, the definition is the same for both, which makes us wonder why bother to differentiate at all? And this list of loyal customers? Unfortunately, they’re as fake as the accounts they provide.

Buzzoid.com – Much like SMM-World.com this site offers the worst in followers. As you can see, you can’t determine what you’ll get here! Even with the recommended “Active” followers you still have no idea. We tried them on Instagram, and 1000 followers later we’re still cleaning up the mess!

We know it's rough out there. But it's going to take hard grass root elbow grease to get your presence out there. We've tested most SMM platforms and our bottom line is few, if any are worth the effort and pride you'll feel growing your own business or brand. You can do it. Step-by-step, inch-by-inch, day-by-day. And if you've inadvertently created a social mess we're here if you need us, (shamelessly plugging our own brand) we're here to help. Continued success! - SK.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the content (video, blog, article, etc.) is solely that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the author's employer, company, institution or other associated parties.