Posted on November 2, 2022

Social Media Is The New Search Engine

By Barbara Drews

Social media is used for everything by young people. What does that mean for search engines? Does this conclude that social media is the new search engine?

Well, there are social media networks for every interest and purpose, therefore it might occasionally be quicker and easier to just conduct a search within the social network itself.

It is also becoming more and more common among consumers thanks to the introduction of mobile applications, some of which are quicker than a phone’s internet function.

When conducting searches, a lot of users enter their queries into social media networks rather than Google or Yahoo. 

Do You Recognize Some Of The Following Situations Where Social Media Is The New Search Engine?

• You use Twitter to search for a TV show or news program.
• Flower decor inspo? You go to Pinterest.
• Even Facebook’s main page now features a “trending on Facebook” area where you can browse headlines and look for Facebook posts related to particular themes.
• You use Yelp to find the best restaurants and repair companies in your area.

The Fastest Growing Platforms Are Ruling Over Google

Social Media Is The New Search Engine

A search engine powerhouse made some worrying discoveries in recent research. TikTok or Instagram is used for searches by 40% of young people. Will Google change its strategy or go extinct like Yahoo?

A senior Google official disclosed nearly 40% of Gen Zers prefer using TikTok and Instagram over Google when performing online searcheshttps://t.co/B118WEEPwg

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 14, 2022

Senior Vice President Prabhkakar Raghwan, who oversees Google’s Knowledge and Information Organization, spoke at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference about cutting-edge technology and the company’s future. Raghwan also discussed how young people are abandoning Google. Raghwan mentioned –

We keep learning, over and over again, that new internet users don’t have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to.

Evidently, they no longer enter “keywords.” Gen Z is addicted to immersive media. According to Raghwan, more than 40% of young people don’t use Google Maps or Search to find new restaurants. Instead, they perform that on Insta or TikTok.

TikTok continues to rule other social networks as the fastest-growing social media app, especially with Gen Z consumers, and this latest discovery further strengthens that position.

Dear millennials who only use Google, feel ancient yet?

From Social Search To Social Search Engine Optimization

Social media has the ability to significantly increase brand engagement, and because of this, it is essential for companies to succeed on social media to optimize their search engine results.

How Can You Improve Your Social Media Posts?

1. Content: Be careful to complete your profiles as thoroughly as possible for websites without hashtags, including LinkedIn and Yelp. 
2. Hashtags: Make sure to add pertinent hashtags in your postings on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram so that consumers can discover them.

By doing the above, you can ensure that you will show up in searches for your goods or services.

What Does The Future Hold For Google?

Google acknowledges that the number is startling. TikTok and Insta Reels were already eroding YouTube’s market share; now Google’s pervasive search is also under threat! 

What about Maps’ ten years’ worth of restaurant and bar curation? 

In contrast to millennials and those who were born shortly before the advent of smartphones, Google may develop a more visually immersive method of capturing the attention of the next generation of internet users. 

Google is already indexing Popular Instagram and TikTok videos so they may appear in its news feed. However, consumers might not want to quickly switch from a native app to a browser and do a search…

Final Thoughts On… Social Media Is The New Search Engine.

In order to get more Gen Z people to utilize their search engine, how will Google respond to these statistics? It is generally accepted that the solution is a feature that provides a more immersive and visual results page for Google Search and Google Maps.

Whatever the response, it must be strong in order to succeed in attracting Generation Z.

To keep up with the most recent trends and breakthroughs in the music industry, connect with MusicPromoToday if you are an aspiring musician who wants to advance your musical career. 

Visit the MPT Agency Blog to learn more about the secrets and how you can advance in your musical career as an investment in your professional development.

Join our weekly newsletter

Music related articles every week in your inbox

We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Posted on April 27, 2022

How To Get Instagram Verified As A Musician

By Shawn Spence

For some, the legendary blue tick may be only a slight mark next to their username, but for the majority, the symbol of authenticity is the most coveted prize on Instagram. It not only establishes you as a famous person but also distinguishes you from fake accounts, giving your followers an instant sense of trust. Thus, authenticity is worth its weight in gold dust.

Instagram’s authentication process is notably selective—and, dare we say, mysterious. According to Facebook’s guidelines, the following are some of the criteria they consider when choosing which accounts to verify on the platform.

Authenticity

Accounts that are eligible for verification should pose a genuine person, entity, or company.

Completion

Accounts that are eligible for verification must be accessible, AKA public. The profiles must be completely filled out, including a profile picture, bio, and at least one post. 

Uniqueness

Accounts that are eligible for verification have to be distinct, which indicates that only one account represents a single person or business.

Notability

Accounts that are eligible for verification must symbolize a well-known person or entity. According to Instagram’s website, “notable” figures are those who have been published in several news outlets and have a well-known online presence.

With those fundamental prerequisites in mind, let’s take a deeper look at the application procedure for Instagram verification.

The Instagram Verification Process

The application procedure is relatively straightforward, therefore it’s critical that you invest time prior to applying to concentrating on the above qualifications. Here’s what you should do next if you’re confident in your profile’s authenticity, completion, uniqueness, and notability.

• Log into your account. 
• Give your profile one last look to ensure it meets the above requirements.
• Navigate to your profile and tap the three lines in the upper right corner.
• Select “Settings,” then “Account,” and finally “Request Verification.”
• Fill up your complete name and attach a proof of identification.
• Choose the public interest category in which your account falls.
• Describe your target audience.
• Include links to pages that explain why your account is important to the public.
• Click “Submit.”

That’s all! After clicking the submit button, you will receive a response via the Instagram notifications page in around 30 days.

You may reapply for verification every 30 days, so if you don’t get it the first time, spend the month focusing on improving your public image and obtaining news stories or other forms of notability. Then, follow the instructions mentioned above to reapply.

We wish you the best of success in obtaining that blue checkmark—we have faith in you!

Join our weekly newsletter

Music related articles every week in your inbox

We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Posted on January 20, 2020

Fake A Star: The Artificial Business Of Instagram Influencers

By Shawn Spence

MusicPromoToday takes a closer look at fake Instagram followers: we investigate how to spot them, why artists still strive to pay for bots, and what consequences getting fake followers can create. 

There are many strategies to organically increase your social media engagement and grow the number of followers you have. Unfortunately, it’s time consuming and requires a lot of effort, creativity, and consistency. 

Many Instagram users, including major artists and celebrities, decide to take a shortcut and simply buy followers or use bots to increase engagement. Bots become more advanced in an attempt to fool the social media network: with a profile picture, bio, and posts, they look like regular people. But don’t let them fool you. 

Wired estimated that there are over 95 million near-perfect human bot-accounts available to be purchased at anytime. You can get them from thousands of available services online that provide you with followers within a few hours. 

Celebrities And Fake Followers 

It’s a common practice for celebrities and top artists to support themselves with fake followers. The recent research carried out by the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) proved that celebrities worldwide, including the Kardashian family members, top musicians, actors and models have a great amount of fake Instagram followers.

The queen of purchased fans is Ellen Degeneres with over 49% of fake Instagram followers! In this top 10 you can also find stars like Ariana Grande (46%), Miley Cyrus (45%) and Katy Perry (44%). 

How to spot a fake Instagram account.

1. The profile is usually private and has no followers. Or a lot more following than followers. They usually do this to generate at least a few dozens or hundreds of followers in return. 
   
   
2. If the profile has no profile picture, it’s almost 95% sure it’s a fake profile. On a visual platform as Instagram, having a profile picture is simply a must. 
   
   
3. There are no posts or only a few images that are not real photos. Bots very often download images from a network and share them with no description, so once you spot a profile like that be sure it’s a fake one. 
   
   
4. They leave spammy and meaningless comments. Fire, hearts, and thumbs-up emojis that can be spotted all over Instagram; stay tuned, these profiles are fake. 
   

So once we know how a fake IG account looks like, can we spot accounts who use them to grow vanity metrics? 

How to spot if someone buys followers

1. Look at the ratio between following and followers, and how it changes every day. Bots that follow and unfollow accounts are a real plague. If someone uses them, followers drops are easily noticeable: one day the profile will have 3,5k following users, and a few days later, it will have dropped to 2,4k. If the process repeats every day, it means that bots are active out there. You can also spot the following increasing and fluctuating everyday. 
   
   
2. If one has many of the spammy comments we have already mentioned above, you can be sure they are followed by fake profiles. Generic comments like “Love this”, “Beautiful!”, “Awesome”, and many emojis are automatically posted. High-quality engagement is more honest and conversational. 
   

As much as fake engagement is extremely easy to notice, users still spend a lot of money on purchasing it. You might ask why? Well, let’s review a few reasons. 

Why people buy fake followers

1. Vanity metrics matter! Let’s be honest, numbers are critical to Instagram’s success. Brands and sponsors are attracted to quantities and want their product to be shown to the biggest possible audience, which is why many influencers decide to use bots, buy followers and fake engagement. It’s a shortcut to monetize your account basically. 
   
   
   
2. In simple words: it’s also an investment. According to Hypebeast, celebrities like Kim Kardashian with millions of followers earn up to $300,000 for a single sponsored post, while other top fashion influencers are said to earn around $12,000 for each product placement. Meanwhile, influencers who want to increase their social presence need to spend only $16 for 1000 followers on Instagram.
    
   
   

Roberto Cavazos, a University of Baltimore professor and economist in the Business of Fashion report, admits that buying followers is an investment that brings revenue but is also dangerous for branding, “There are significant further indirect costs — notably erosion of trust and potential brand impact,” he explains. 

1. Because of the algorithm, Instagram decides what to place at the top of the feeds. It means that if a post gets a lot of engagement within the first few hours, it will be shown to more people as it seems to be interesting and engaging. Bots step in and create fake engagement increases, so more real users can see the post in the feed. Spot influencers asking people to type words letter by letter or inviting followers to comment more than once on a post. 
   
   
2. Last but not least: competition. Instagram’s influencer market has grown enormously in the past few years and reached over $2 billion industry in 2018. No surprise that many want to snatch a bit of it, become Insta famous and fake followers seem like a great start to some. 
   

Instagram is obviously not OK with what is happening. Curators and developers are fighting with bots that create fake profiles and users who decide to purchase them. 

What are the consequences of buying fake followers 

1. It destroys your insights. Buying fake followers will screw up your metrics immediately and you will not be able to plan your organic growth activities, or even find out who your real audience is, or use it while setting up ads. 
   
   

The Cut recently published a piece about a user who described experiences of supporting accounts with bought follows, “My follower demographic went from mostly women in Chicago, to being 60 percent foreign men between 18 and 24. It’s not a big deal, but if you’re trying to market yourself as having a certain niche, it could make a difference,” she confesses. 

1. Once Instagram finds out that you buy likes, comments or followers they will be immediately removed from your profile. It will cost you losing the credibility that is essential for marketers who look for influencers to work with. 
   
   
2. If you think that numbers drops are bad, imagine being shadowbanned, which means that your content won’t appear on anyone’s feed unless they intentionally go to your profile and view the post. It’s a punishment for using engagement bots.
   
   
3. In a more serious case, Instagram can permanently block your username with no possibility to recreate your account. 
   

Wrap up 

In the age of Instagram influencers, many think that having a bunch of followers is a must to succeed in marketing. A report by cybersecurity firm Cheq shows that fake fans will cost brands $1.3 billion in 2019 alone, and in 2020 this number is predicted to grow. 

If you are a beginning influencer or a marketing specialist who runs your company’s social media, remember that by using bots you are sabotaging your own marketing strategy. Bought engagement never brings real results in business. 

If you want to grow your audience organically, make sure to check out what we offer at MusicPromoToday. From customized Instagram Influencer Campaigns to content and visual creation, to execution with real results, everything to bring loyal fans and valuable engagement to your profile. 

Join our weekly newsletter

Music related articles every week in your inbox

We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Posted on November 27, 2019

What Impact Removing Instagram Following Activity Will Have On Music Marketing

By Barbara Drews

Instagram did what all stalkers all around the world feared — the feature of looking at what others like, comment, and follow, does not exist anymore. MusicPromoToday took a closer look at how the decision on ditching this feature can influence digital marketing and music promotion.

In the official announcement, the spokesperson of Instagram admits that the number of people who used Following Activity was low:

“We are removing it because only a small number of people use the Following tab regularly. Additionally, we’ve heard from people that they think the Following tab is a very hidden feature that they don’t find to be very useful, especially when compared to a similar feature like Explore.”

How does removing Following Activity influence marketing

Although liking forbidden photos and following ‘guilty-pleasure’ profiles will stay private, social media and digital marketing teams all around the world lost a free promotional tool.

Almost all beginning musicians, influencers, and artists loved Following Activity for an easy way to expose their feed and profiles.

If someone noticed that a friend liked eye-catching photos from a concert, followed a mysteriously looking band’s profile, or commented on a post that announced a new single or album, it was very likely that this person will visit or even follow the just-discovered musician. Then it’s a short way to click on the link in bio, open Spotify or YouTube, and become a fan.

How to get more exposure on Instagram without the Following Activity tab?

The following tab was a great way to reach a new audience and increase engagement, but fortunately, it wasn’t the only one.

Reaching fresh viewers and listeners may be more difficult, however, with unique and valuable content alongside a growth strategy, it’s possible and achievable.

If you need extra help on how to boost the number of your Instagram followers and increase your reach, check out the MusicPromoToday website, or follow us on Instagram, and connect with us — we’ll guide you through!

Join our weekly newsletter

Music related articles every week in your inbox

We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.