As the digital marketing landscape evolves, and new advertising
channels emerge, new methods and approaches quickly follow. Unfortunately for
consumers and platform owners, some marketers quickly realize how the new
channels or systems can be gamed to achieve their goals. Companies like Google
and Yahoo have been battling users gaming the system for years, with varying
degrees of success, and recently focus at Facebook has again shifted to
combatting illicit marketing methods on Instagram.
The article outlines many of the methods and ways in which
marketers are gaming Instagram to boost likes and increase users “influence.”
With Instagram influencer marketing spend estimated at $570MM last year,
Facebook is scrambling to address the issue and maintain the organic nature of
the platform and its users posts. The real issue is not with manufactured or
fake accounts, which Facebook has been able to address with some success (“Instagram
Rapture” in 2014 saw the deletion of millions of accounts), but is more to do
with “inauthentic use.” What has been pervasive is the “…automation services,
which log into customers’ accounts directly and run at speeds that evade
detection,” and “…mimic what people do to build their accounts, at prices
cheaper than paid ads.”
If not addressed, these inauthentic users could become a
real problem for Facebook as these methods are “…fueling a disconnect from real
human effort and interest on Instagram, even cheapening the platform.” The
cheapening of the platform should be Facebook’s biggest concern, as maintaining
and growing the Instagram user base is key to its business success.
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