The bait and switch method on Twitter doesn’t build your brand, but it does do a great job of destroying your character.
Let’s define this for clarity. A Bait and Switch Follower is a person or brand that follows you on Twitter. However, once you follow back they unfollow you. The strategy here is to grow their own followers while keeping the accounts they follow at a smaller number. This would give the illusion that this person or brand is popular, as well as exclusive: they only follow back prestigious accounts.
If you’re a pastor, a blogger, a writer, a CEO or a general good person, this method is embarrassing. You aren’t building trust, brand equity, favor or loyalty, you’re just building followers. What’s more important to you, growing followers or growing your business?
I believe in reciprocity on Twitter. If someone follows me and I appreciate their content, I typically follow back. I then monitor my followers fairly closely with Commun.it. Using Commun.it allows me to see who continued to follow me after I followed them back.
There’s no fast way to the top when it comes to social media. Buying followers or likes, bait and switch following strategies, they are all fools gold. The only real way to grow your social channels is through quality content, real engagement, and a solid strategy for growing followers and likes.