On Fake Brands

 Hello There,

What makes you, you? It's the question that everyone who hits follow and begins to scroll back through your Instagram posts wants answered. If, by the end of their quick stalking session they have an accurate answer, then that means that your personal brand represents you well. Your personal brand is the image of yourself that you create based on the posts and opinions that you share online across the different social media platforms you use. 

Now as most of us probably already know, you can't take at face value anything you see on social media. Even the most authentic of online personas are still not the whole picture of a person. However, a particularly misleading online persona, or a fake personal brand, is universally hated by anyone who can see through it. It signals an untrustworthy person more interested in getting attention than being honest.

Today we'll be talking about the hallmarks of fake brands, how to spot them and how to avoid falling into them as you try to craft an honest personal brand. 

One immediate indication of a fake brand is purchased followers or bot followers. Bot followers are easier to spot than you think. Purchased followers simply don't engage with an account online, or if they do it's in repetitive ways that won't have a natural response to the real followers that try to engage. Nothing screams of desperation for attention like paying someone to follow you. And in the end, a bot won't be nearly as valuable as a real follower who is genuinely interested in your content.

Another good way to spot a fake brand is to watch out for band-wagoning. An account that jumps on this week's popular product, company, platform, or opinion piece; only to drop it for the new most popular item next week, is probably fake. It's okay to keep up with the trends but if that's all you are doing, you'll deservedly be labeled a pretender. Lack of loyalty is the kiss of death to authenticity. 

You should also keep an eye out for how a person values quality vs. quantity of engagement. If you've ever heard someone brag about how many likes they got on a post and rolled your eyes far back enough to see your brain, you know what I'm about to say. Quality of engagement is far more important than quantity. Make sure that you really are connecting with your audience and stop worrying about how big it is. It doesn't really matter how many people like your post if they've forgotten about it two seconds later. 

Finally, you need to compare the "virtual" brand to the offline brand. Virtual image is only as good as the offline reality. If you want to be popular online, that's fine; but lying to gain that popularity can quickly be exposed to disastrous effect. You have to remember that everyone in your life also has access to the internet, and the ability to show the entire world an example of that dissonance, which will negatively impact your online image. 

Don't be fake online. It's tempting to do these things, to strive for likes and shares at the expense of representing your real self, but in the end it's not worth it. 

If you want to grow your following online, that will be a long hard road of building genuine connections with real people who share your beliefs and interests, not just your posts. 

And watch out for the people who do fall into this trap. If they'll lie about who they are, they'll lie about anything.