Why you shouldn't get hung up on the exact number of people who are following you on Social Media

I've just amused myself. Someone on facebook is looking to give away a prize to the 300th fan of their page. Their count was at 296, and I removed myself, taking it down to 295. I know for a fact that this person was sitting there, refreshing the page hoping to catch the 300th person. How disillusioning it must have been to see their count go backwards instead of forwards.

Promotions rewarding the nth follower/friend/fan on social media have the capacity to fail big time, because they can be rigged so easily. What if I went back to the page and refreshed until I see the fan count at 299, and then step in the kill, become a fan again, be number 300 and collect my prize... and then unfollow, so the count goes down to 299, and someone else becomes number 300 and expects the prize. Catastrophe.

The other thing is anyone who know about the competition is not going to become a fan, when they know it will bump them out of the running. So the promotion has done the exact opposite of what it was designed to do.

Instead of running stupid competitions to encourage people to become friends, provide good quality content that can be shared, and that will get you many more REAL fans.

And don't be disappointed when your count goes backward. It doesn't mean you've done something wrong. People change their mind all the time, it's a way of life.