Cherry Blossoming is the practice of buying social media followers and fans.
The term has its origins in Japan, where companies, sports teams, and minor celebrities can hire professional fans, called sakura, meaning cherry blossoms. Before you consider this strategy of Cherry Blossoming you must think about the following.
- Does it matter to you?
- Is there any impact on sales?
- What is the long-term goal by this strategy?
- How far will it help in your search engine ranking?
In Social Media terms, cherry blossoming can be real Facebook or Twitter users who are paid to like or share a company or its posts, or they might be bot generated accounts built for the sole purpose of boosting a marketer’s social media clout.
According to my opinion, by adopting this Cherry Blossoming strategy you’re wasting time and money.
It doesn’t automatically turn into credibility and it has no effect on Social Advertising.
If you are buying fans who do not exist in the real world, they aren’t going to engage with you in the future and are simply followers because they are being paid. Running any future campaigns won’t be effective as ‘fake followers’ will not really help you get back your ROI.
Yes, there may be a chance of increasing a small number of real followers but sustaining those followers will be hard in the future if you do not have solid product or services and an effective online marketing strategy. Marketers that use this tactic presumably believe it makes their companies seem more trustworthy and may convince more real and potential customers to enter contests, sign up for newsletters, and eventually become paying customers. Do you really think you can fool your loyal customer for a long run? If you have confidence in your products or services which you are going to offer to your niche, then there is no need to adopt this strategy. You might consider this money to use for your loyal customers in the form of discounts and coupons. They could be advocates for your brand in future and help to bring more referral traffic.
