In the cutthroat world of marketing, brands have long been on the hunt for fresh ideas to capture attention and create meaningful collaborations. Fake views came out as highly controversial but a smart tool to boost the marketing strategy of brands and build tough with an influencer as brand collaboration. Brands were able to leverage this to increase their audience engagement metrics, and in turn appeal more to potential partners so they could track up for additional visibility enhancement on social media platforms.
Social media marketing has become a critical component of growth strategies for brands in the 2010s and into the 2020s. This trend made it a go-to approach for companies and influencers in a competitive environment to jump-start the performance of their content with fake views. This made inflated view counts a practice for gaining [consumer perception](/influencer-marketing-resources/consumer-perception/) of popularity and relevance, which turned it into effective tactics for either new brands or those seeking to collaborate with influencers. A 2020 report found that 56% of marketers thought high view counts increase the odds of a brand being approached for collaborations, making brands more appealing to work with due to their perceived added-value by way over-inflated engagement metrics.
Fake Views and Brand Collaborations
That even ROI is done using engagement metrics, (Obviously most of the part not completely) and if a company wants to work with some big time brand it could always look at do little bit pay per Sean. When businesses scout for partnership opportunities with influencers, content creators or even other brands they mainly turned to different social media platforms that had large engagement numbers among which views were one of the most important point. In 2021, over 68% of brands said that they used engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares and views) to make decisions on whom to collaborate with.
Fake views were a means of shortcut to brand or influencer hopefuls that this was a big and engaged audience. The theory was as straightforward as can be: the more eyes the video of your advertisement reached, the sexier and powerful your brand looked. In 2019, a MarketingProfs study found that posts with over 10,000 views are typically 40% more likely to be approached by brands for collaborations than those with fewer than 1,000 views. It was a major number reflecting how much value the influencers could provide in creating successful partnerships.
With the help of fake views, brands created a sense of success that could be ex-freshed among likely collaborators. Doing so helped influencer partnerships to substantiate the claimed reach of their content, and thus enabled them to secure lucrative deals with companies interested in promoting everything from technology, videogames or fashion(items).
Hiding fake views
Showing as many fake views in content strategy, for those that don’t know this was the most common thing to happen because brands or influencers wanted to make their articles became more and more popular:This is why companies purchase these services. Social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook leveraged algorithms that favored content with increased levels of engagement. If a video or post racked up views faster, it was apt to appear on recommended feeds and enjoy an organic rank. For example, in 2020 it was known how YouTube’s algorithm prioritized videos with higher engagement metrics (such as views) 20% more than that of the lower ones.
Fake views: Brands would use fake views on YouTube to increase the likelihood of placements on these platforms. When a video crossed that threshold the algo would begin promoting it to more viewers and with enough organic traction from there it became pretty easy for creators to get their work in front of real people watching other stuff on Youtube. This was most helpful with new brands or content creators that needed a leg-up in a field to get some initial movement.
In 2018, some brands that resorted to using fake views to boost the visibility attracted a real audience increase of 25% in the first two weeks after this action. This rise was a proof that organic users come to notice the content after it has been artificially projected. What worked was fake views: getting brands the first leg up to improve their reach and thereby improving their __brand visibility.
Infographic: How Fake Views Eat Into Organic Growth
- ! Fake views & Organic growth [Graph: Relation]
- Brands receiving false views saw a 30% rise in organic traffic during the first 14 days
- Content gain with fake views was more engaging in the first month of promotion being promoted to a 20% higher enggence rate than without inflating metrics.
- The following diagram clearly shows the phenomenon of acquired FAKE VIEWS which springs off right from REAL AUDIENCE GROWTH, defining brand collaborations + audience attraction.
Influencer Marketing Partnerships & Framer Gap
When it comes to influencer collaborations, the concept of otherwise-known popularity is simply something one must have. More embarrassingly, influencer (especially micro-influencer) leverage garbage views as metrics for clicks and engagement. It worked allowing them to close brand deals due in part to their ability to draw a massive audience.
According to a 2019 study by Mediakix, view counts are seen as the most important metric by nearly 60% of marketers when choosing influencers with whom to partner. This meant that influencers with fake views and engagement were getting more deals, but this time it was simply because a high view count appeared on the surface valid. And it enabled brands to enjoy the amplified exposure that is ostensibly part and parcel with working with an influencer who looked like they had a lot of followers.
Influencers could MAKE themselves seem valuable partners by cheating using fake views to suggest the illusion that they had a BIT of popularity. This offered an avenue for brands to improve their own brand growth and visibility by collaborating with influencers that seemed to have wide exposure.
Consumer Perception and Protect your Reputation~~
Apart from fake views attracting some great partnership deals and more importantly, brand visibility, it was also damaging to your reputation management. Today’s consumer is too smart for that, and most can spot fake engagement a mile off. Simply put, if a brand or influencer was caught using fake views, it could cause their audience to feel misled.
But still, many brands kept using fake views as one of their strategic tools. According to a 2020 survey, 48% of modern consumers have more inclined towards following or liking publicly visible content with elevated view counts, even if they suspect the views are purchased. This indicated that although users were aware of the potential for false engagement, they viewed social confirmation as important.
Several service providers have given brands undeservedly good reputations through their fake views, but the ones that continue to get it right followed up with real quality content designed to engage, entertain and inform. Balanced between the risk of damaging consumer perception and rewards like audience attraction, this approach was.
- RelatedICYMI: Our Infographic is a must-see – Consumer trust and fake engagement
- Consumer consumer trust chart
- 50% of consumers were worried about fake views but still consumed bingeable content because it looked like a hit
- 48 % of consumers were influenced to whether the inflated views, displaying that perceived popularity continues to be important for audiences.
- The above pie chart describes the fine line between fake views and consumer perception for a brand’s marketing strategy.
The Strength of Artificial Engagement for Successful Partnerships
Brands were often expected to be seen before they could expect to create partnership with another brand or influencer. This alignment of good looking statistics made the brand a more attractive prospect for potential collaborators and fake views provided a means to generate this look.
Brands that bought fake views to boost their engagement numbers received a 35% increase in offers to collaborate with them for the year 20 20, according to work conducted by Influencer Marketing Hub. That showed that artificially boosting views could improve a brand’s image and help it score strong partnerships with other businesses.
Fake views The Anker Reusable Produce Bags For larger brands, this meant that they often appeared on the list due to higher sales, even with lower reviews. And for smaller or new brands it allowed them to go toe-to-toe with bigger more established companies. So that other businesses looking to collaborate with a brand that had successfully engaged its followers, would think this was the case with them. The partnership development tactic was a powerful way for brands to also scale their brand and reach.
Strategic Use of Fake Views in Marketing
To effectively capitalize on fake views, brands should have been using them as part of an intelligent marketing strategy. Of course, artificially boosting views without delivering compelling content would not result in sustainability efforts. Brands did not try to get more fake views to boost their content, but were churning actual content that was relatable to the real audience.
The best campaigns, in the long run, were those that mixed artificial engagement and organic, engaging content using digital marketing methods. The important thing was to offset this fake engagement with real engagement and that is exactly what makes brands be more marketing effective now while keeping their audience trust. Brands who were creative with their use fake views purchased as part of a larger social media marketing campaign that translated to concrete, steady growth.
Brands who used this model in 2021 saw a 22% lift on overall brand visibility, supporting the case for marrying canned views with potent content and engagement plays. These tricks helped brands get partnerships and established their safeguard on a lightweight however feverish digital field.