“Winning” social media can sometimes feel impossible. That’s why brands and creators are constantly seeking ways to boost their social media engagement metrics and extend their reach. While strategic content planning and authentic audience connection remain the gold standard, people and brands often turn to various “tricks” to game platform algorithms and inflate their performance numbers.

As social media marketers, it’s crucial to understand these tactics to recognize when they’re being used against you and to carefully consider which (if any) might be appropriate for your strategy.

Let’s examine the most prevalent engagement tricks circulating across platforms today.

Content Manipulation Tactics

Video/Caption Exploitation

• • Using exceptionally long captions paired with short videos, forcing viewers to watch the clip multiple times to finish reading (signaling to algorithms that the content is “rewatchable”)
  • Converting static images into videos by adding text overlays that require multiple views to read completely
  • Adding “Wait for it…” or “Watch until the end” to content that doesn’t justify such anticipation

Format Hacking

• • Splitting content into carousels or multiple slides to increase time spent and engagement
  • Creating AI-generated videos of improbable or fascinating scenarios (like someone cleaning barnacles off a whale’s back) to capture initial attention

Engagement Baiting Tactics

Rage Bait

• • Intentionally including obvious errors or typos to provoke corrective comments
  • Deliberately mispronouncing words or names to trigger responses
  • Sharing controversial or divisive takes purely to spark heated discussions

Challenge Baiting

• • Using fake statistics like “Only 2% of people can solve this…”
  • Creating artificial puzzles or questions with deliberately obscured or unclear answers
  • Posting content with intentionally confusing elements that prompt questions

Algorithm Manipulation

• • Making false claims such as “Instagram is hiding my posts again, comment if you can see this.”
  • Tagging unrelated brands or celebrities to appear in their mention feeds
  • Tagging as many accounts as possible to artificially expand reach

Content Theft and Misrepresentation

Clip Farming

• • Stealing content from other creators and reposting with minimal changes
  • Adding unrelated video elements (like someone playing a video game) below stolen content to make it appear like a “new” video
  • Modifying stolen videos with visual distortions (lines through the middle, reversing footage) to avoid platform detection

Deceptive Practices

• • Sharing fake news to generate engagement (even positive fake news like false donation announcements)
  • Creating staged scenarios portrayed as genuine interactions
  • Using shock-value titles that misrepresent actual content (“I just found out my boyfriend is sleeping with my mom”)

Exploitation Tactics

Artificial Inflation

• • Using bots to create false engagement metrics
  • Participating in engagement pods or groups that agree to interact with each member’s content
  • Purchasing followers or engagement

Emotional Exploitation

• • “Poverty porn” that leverages others’ hardships for engagement
  • Emotional manipulation through misleading framing of situations
  • Creating false urgency or importance around routine content

Trend and News Exploitation

Meme Appropriation

• • Using popular memes without proper context or attribution
  • Adapting memes featuring celebrities without permission
  • Forcing brand messaging into unrelated meme formats

Newsjacking

• • Hastily connecting brand messaging to breaking news events
  • Exploiting tragedies or sensitive situations for brand visibility
  • Inserting promotional content into unrelated trending conversations

Should Brands Use These Tricks?

We shouldn’t write off all of the above tactics. The smart social media marketer can use some of them to benefit their brand. However, others listed above might deliver short-term gains in reach and engagement, but not benefit brands. Here’s why:

Reputational Risk: The momentary boost in engagement from employing tricks like rage baiting or sharing misleading content rarely outweighs the potential brand damage. Modern audiences are increasingly savvy about spotting manipulation tactics, and the backlash from being perceived as inauthentic can be swift and severe.

Legal Considerations: Several of these tactics carry legal risks. Using celebrity memes without permission could result in lawsuits for right of publicity violations. Sharing fake news, even when seemingly positive, undermines trust and could create liability issues. AI-generated content often skirts ethical and sometimes legal boundaries.

Audience Trust Erosion: Perhaps most importantly, using manipulation tactics fundamentally erodes audience trust. While users might engage initially, they’ll quickly develop negative associations with brands they perceive as manipulative or desperate for attention.

Platform Penalties: Social media platforms regularly update their algorithms specifically to detect and penalize many of these tactics. What works today may not only stop working tomorrow but could actually result in reduced reach or account restrictions.

Not All Tricks Are Bad

Not all engagement techniques are equally problematic. Some relatively benign approaches might be used judiciously:

• • Splitting content into carousels can be a very effective engagement technique when you have more than one point to make
  • Converting photos to simple videos or adding slight motion to images can boost visibility without feeling deceptive
  • Using longer captions with short videos may be acceptable if the content genuinely requires additional context
  • Thoughtful newsjacking of appropriate cultural moments (not tragedies) can create relevant connections
  • Using memes or trending sounds when they align with your brand and don’t cause legal concerns

While brand marketers are smart to consider algorithm quirks as they try to answer, “Will this increase our metrics?” brands also need to consider, “Does this provide genuine value while respecting our audience’s intelligence and time?

In the long run, brands that focus on creating genuinely compelling content—content worth engaging with on its own merits—will build more sustainable relationships with their audiences than those solely chasing short-term numbers.