Engagement Baiting

Engagement baiting is asking for likes, comments, or shares just to inflate your engagement metrics. It used to work. Now it gets you penalized.

Examples of engagement bait:

• "Like if you agree! Ignore if you don't care!"
• "Tag 3 friends who need to see this"
• "Comment YES if you're ready for the weekend"
• "Share to enter our giveaway!" (when there's no real giveaway)
• Vote-baiting polls with meaningless options

Why platforms penalize it:

Fake engagement creates a bad user experience. When feeds fill up with "tag a friend" posts, people spend less time on the platform. So algorithms learned to detect and demote this content.

What happens when you're caught:

• Immediate reach reduction on that post
• Long-term shadowban potential
• Entire account reach can be throttled
• Ad account quality scores may drop

What works instead:

Create content that people want to engage with naturally:

• Ask genuine questions that spark discussion
• Create content worth sharing because it's useful
• Use CTAs that provide value ("Save this for later")
• Make engagement feel meaningful, not transactional