We’ve all heard about ‘Black Hat’ SEO techniques that have helped Google eliminate all the websites that are creating no value for the customer.

Just as there are Black hat strategies for SEO, there are certain things in digital marketing that can create a negative impact on the user and the search engine crawler.

These strategies are not just short term; they leave a lousy impact, which can result in a permanent ban of your brand in social media.

The worst thing in all of this is that at times, people don’t realize that they are using black hat social media techniques to boost their brand presence until it is too late.

Here is a simple guide that will help you from falling in the digital black hole.

• Buying Social Media Followers

We’ve all heard of buying social media followers on social media network. Why? It feels great to see those numbers increase. However, the problem is that they don’t help you to create any engagement for your brand.

The first thing that you’ll get is a ban on your account. There are millions of Twitter and Instagram accounts that lost tons of followers in the past few months. The fake followers won’t do you any right; they are just lifeless numbers that will do no good for you.

• Keywords & Hashtags Stuffing

Back in the days, it was okay to use excessive hashtags and keywords.

However, now, since Google has launched smart algorithms, social media guys stuff social media posts with hashtags and keywords.

This might give a temporary boost to the post, but on the long-haul, this is a flawed technique to gain more clicks and share.

The users are overly smart. When they see a hashtag-stuffed post, they run away or don’t even bother to interact with the brand. After all who wants to communicate with a brand who doesn’t also allow some time to create a valuable post.

• Fake comments

Just like buying followers in a quick-fix for your brand, using fake comments in blogs and forums is also a bad idea. It is proven again and again that these don’t add any real value to your social media account.

Just like losing followers, Google will drop your ranking in an instant when they realize that you’re using fake comments to engage with users.

You will lose followers, and your reputation will be bashed by Google and even by your genuine followers if they find out that you’re using such a cheap tactic to gain attention.

• Unnecessary comments on competitor pages

One of the most destructive social media tactic that social media personals use is to add comments on competitor pages. It is noted that people use Google, Yelp, and Facebook to achieve this.

Firstly, doing this is unethical for obvious reasons. However, beyond that, review websites now operate on smart algorithms. They seek, identify fake comments, and remove them.

The comments might be removed, but in the long-run, the brand will face a ban from social media pages, which can cause serious reputation problems.

Apart from Google, people are super smart. They will know whenever you’re trying to bluff them. So, it is better to play safe and avoid comments on any pages.

The best approach is to take help from guest posting. Find out websites that have good traffic and write content for them. When you provide quality content, they will give you a chance to use one link back to your website.

• Misleading or Missing links

A common technique used by social media managers was misleading links.

A tweet, Instagram update, or a Facebook ad might promise something and give a short to visit. Upon visiting, the user realizes that there is no such thing.

Often this is done intentionally, but at times this is done unintentionally when the link gets deleted. Use tools like Google Webmaster to check your dead links from time to time. If you find any dead link, it is better to remove the link and resubmit Google for indexing.

This forces Google to close down social media accounts that are misleading users to click on something which is not what is promised.

• Duplicating the same content

This started when people started using automatic social media posting tools. These tools do provide convenience by simultaneously offering posting services on various social media platforms.

Instead of creating new updates for each social media platform, social media personals use the same content on every social media platform.

This creates an illusion that the brand is not serious about providing value to its customer. It is just using the same content so that they don’t have to develop new content each time.

At a time where social media is a necessity, spotting fake social media accounts is not a big deal. When people figure out that they are dealing with a fake social media, account they either leave the page or they can report the fake account to the social medium and get your account banned.

There is no way out of a black hat SEO. Regardless of how much temporary success you get initially, you’ll face a severe ban when Google finds out about it.

What most of the business owners feel is that if they can use the same content on multiple websites, they can create similar results.

This approach might have worked in the early days, but now it is impossible to use duplicate content and get away with it.

Play Safe and avoid penalty

Keep these social media black hat techniques in your mind when you build your social media strategy the next time. Remember, these black hat techniques will not just ban you from social media; they will destroy your reputation.

Likewise, if you see any social media freelancers using any of the techniques mentioned above inform them that they are using black hat social media techniques and if they don’t stop you’ll find someone new to work with.