Why buy bots followers and likes?

Why buy fake followers and likes in the first place? If you’re a plastic surgeon like me, there’s seemingly no point in using bots to create fake likes or followers because none of those fake people will ever become real patients!

Even though I have never bought fake engagement via bots and the like, I think the reason others try it has to do with the Instagram algorithm. The idea is that your post will be shown to more real people if it appears that it initially receives a lot of engagement. So if you have a lot of bots and fake followers that immediately like a new post, the hope is that you’d fool Instagram into showing your post to even more real Instagram users. And that would result in more real engagement. This may have been true at one point. But Instagram continues to improve its artificial intelligence to recognize this kind of inauthentic activity.

As an aside, in our practice, we “work” this algorithm in a more legitimate way by utilizing “Like Pods.” These are made up of real people that will initially like and comment on our posts, hoping that will show increased engagement and a resulting greater reach. I don’t know that it leads to a greater reach, however, it is nice to spark engagement from real people. But I digress.

The problem with relying on bots

Now that Instagram is removing those robotic likes and followers, some Instagram accounts are going to lose 100s or 1000s of likes and followers overnight. This could be slightly embarrassing if their “influence” is now called into question. If you go from thousands of likes to 50, followers will realize the discrepancy is due to fake followers and likes.

Increasing engagement with real people

There are ways to increase engagement with real people without having to resort to buying bots. Aside from the Like Pods mentioned above, there are also “giveaways.” These are contests that followers can enter if they like, follow and tell friends about your page.

Sure this could be considered buying someone’s interest but whatever, at least they’re real people that Instagram won’t delete. And keep in mind, after the contest ends, those real followers may unfollow you.

Giveaways are big business for companies that run them. For example, Scott Disick, an adjacent member of the Kardashian clan works with Curated Businesses. As you can see in this example, Kylie Kardashian did a handbag giveaway in May 2019 in conjunction with Disick and Curated Businesses. The idea is that if you liked and followed all 70 people that were “sponsoring” the giveaway, you could win all of the handbags plus $20,000. Where’s the financial benefit to Kardashian, Disick and Curated Businesses? Word is that the 70 sponsors each paid $25,000 to be part of the giveaway.

And what’s the benefit to the 70 sponsors? More real followers leads to more brand awareness. While some of those followers will unfollow the sponsors, some followers may like what they see and become a client to one of the sponsors. For example, one plastic surgeon that participated in that May giveaway grew from 10.9K to 230,819K! Sure his follower count fell back to 149K about 10 days later. But I bet, somewhere in those 149,000 followers is a few patients that will make his $25,000 investment worthwhile!

Summary

Everyone will tell you that you should “simply” grow your following through engaging content. But that usually takes longer than our short attention spans and patience will allow. So consider Like Pods and giveaways. Whatever you do, don’t buy bots follower and likes, because if your following disappears overnight, you’ll have some explaining to do!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Thank God I didn’t buy bots, followers and likes! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

This weekend, Dr. Jonathan Kaplan, Founder/CEO of BuildMyBod Health will be busy at THE Aesthetic Academy 2019 in San Diego. Keep reading to the get 411!

THE Aesthetic Academy 2019

On Saturday, October 12th,2019 Dr. Kaplan will present”Why It’s Critical to Diversify Your Marketing Channels.” He’ll discuss the recent changes in Google’s algorithm and why it’s important to NOT put all your marketing eggs in one basket.

Later that morning, Dr. Kaplan will be giving a facial filler live demo training for other healthcare providers. He’ll review when it’s appropriate to use neuromodulators (Botox, Xeomin) vs fillers (Juvederm, Radiesse, Belotero). One lucky patient will receive these treatments for free as a thank you for being our model!

On Sunday, October 13th, Dr. Kaplan will give the same marketing talk to a different cohort of attendees. This is one of the unique aspects of The Aesthetic Academy is that presentations are given two days in a row to give everyone an opportunity to learn.

Later that morning he’ll speak on the neck lift technique he developed. The Single Incisions Minimally Invasive (SIMI®) Neck Lift.

Last but not least, he’ll provide a second training on injectables Sunday afternoon.  And then it’s on to Dallas for a presentation on social media for Mentor, a maker of breast implants!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post BuildMyBod founder speaking at THE Aesthetic Academy 2019 first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

If you’re in or around Sacramento tomorrow or already attending the California Society of Plastic Surgeons’ (CSPS) Annual Meeting, don’t miss Dr. Kaplan’s 1-hour social media course! But Dr. Kaplan only has 25K followers on Instagram, you say? What makes him an expert worthy of giving a course?! He doesn’t consider himself an expert but he’s in the trenches utilizing social media on the reg so he has something to offer. Continue reading to find out what!

Social media course at the CSPS Annual Meeting

The CSPS Annual Meeting is a wonderful gathering of the best and brightest of plastic surgeons in California. And with so many plastic surgeons in California active on social media, it only makes sense to have a social media course.

Because Dr. Kaplan (aka @RealDrBae on Instagram and Snapchat) is very active on social media on a daily basis, he suggested a course on the topic. Surprisingly, one had not already been scheduled. But after giving a well-received presentation on social media to the Greater Sacramento Society of Plastic Surgeons a few weeks ago, he got the opportunity to give a similar course at the CSPS this year.

While hesitant to refer to himself as an expert, his presentation reviews the nuts and bolts of social media. Through a mix of video and screenshots of the various platforms in action, Dr. Kaplan’s course will provide a great overview to the social media novice and explore some of the more engaging aspects of Instagram. Since social media is a rapidly changing space, he always has more content to add from presentation to presentation and that also means that even the most seasoned social media user can learn something new.

Course Description

The newest plastic surgeon right out of training can get busier, faster simply by being social media savvy. That means we all need a basic understanding of the power of social media. Dr. Kaplan, aka @realdrbae on Snapchat and Instagram, will give a thorough overview of the social media platforms that are transforming plastic surgery practices across the country. You don’t need to have a ton of followers to be successful. You don’t need that X factor. Anyone can do this. But you should try to be the best you can be.

By attending this course, you will: 1) gain a basic understanding and the differences between Snapchat, Instagram, Instagram Stories, Instagram TV and Facebook Live; 2) receive ideas for clever content to be used on social media; 3) become familiar with various engagement tools on Instagram; 4) learn how to create content once and then repurpose on all platforms; and 5) monetize your leads by capturing the contact information of your followers

Space in limited – don’t miss this opportunity to hear the latest trends on social media.  Cost for the course is $45 and it is free to Residents/Fellows/Medical Students. Register online for the course on the CSPS registration page  OR if you have already registered for the Annual Meeting, contact the CSPS Executive Office directly to add this course to your registration:  cspsoffice@att.net or (510) 243-1662.

Hope to see everyone there!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Dr. Kaplan giving social media course at CSPS Annual Meeting first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.