So, I just posted about this on my FB and I'm going to post about it here.
I was reading some articles in an effort to put a tutorial together on how to expand your FB reach and get more fans. I came across a thing that's happening and the more I learned about it I was just shocked. You can buy fb likes. I don't mean buy advertising so you get more likes through fb or whatever. I mean, pay a fee, and bot accounts (not real people) will "like" your page to make it look like you have more fans. There was an issue a while back on the art website I use called DeviantART where people were buying fake pageviews to try and make themselves look more popular than they were. This is the same thing. There's no real benefit to buying FB likes. It's not a real person. It's not a person who is going to "like" your stuff, share your page, help you make connections, or validate anything you do, or get you paying work. it's just going to make it look like you have more fans and that will not make your page go more viral, make your stuff get seen more, or increase anything really.
I was talking about this with friends on my FB and we realized how some bands were doing it in a vain attempt to increase their fame. 10,000 likes, but only like 5 people only ever commented or likes their stuff! lol and they got those likes over night with no media exposure or anything.
Imagine my surprise when people pointed out a few mermaid pages doing the same thing. Page created, next day, fans are in the 4 digits before any content has even been posted.
It's not fooling anyone, and from my research when people start scouting you for actual stuff, they pay attention to this and you shoot yourself in the fin. It's like lying on your resume. You think you're beefing yourself up but you can't back it up and it'll screw you in the end.
Here's a few links that I think are helpful on the subject, lest you feel tempted to follow the trend:
http://www.thesaleslion.com/buying-f...ompany-stupid/
This post won’t be long folks, but it needs to be said…unfortunately.
I was researching a bit of information for my swimming pool company tonight when I stumbled across a high-end builder in the industry that was making a big deal on their home page about the fact their company Facebook page had over 2500 “likes.”
Knowing this elevated number to be extremely rare for any swimming pool business, I then looked at the photos of their “fans” that were on display and within seconds it became obvious to me that they had sold their soul to the social media devil and paid a few bucks on some place like Fiverr (a site I actually like a lot) to get a couple of thousand “fake likes.”
Now you might be asking how I know their fans were fake. Well, I’m not going to go into details, but let me just say I know what swimming pool consumers look like…and they didn’t look like the folks on their page.
And after seeing what this company had done to “appear” socially awesome, what was respect I had for their business quickly turned to disappointment.
Here is the deal my friends—Online consumers aren’t dumb. In fact, they’re getting smarter every day. Furthermore, they can spot a social media rat when they see one.
Be it fake testimonials.
Fake videos.
Fake reviews.
Fake anything.
This is exactly why it doesn’t pay to try and attempt to bloat your numbers for the purpose of appearing more “popular” than you really are.
So please, don’t go there. You’re too good for it anyway.
Stick to transparency. Stick to truly listening to consumers and then earnestly answering their questions.
If you do this, although the “numbers” may grow slowly (many of which don’t mean squat anyway), at least they’ll be real and won’t make your brand look desperate for attention.
A few more:
https://www.jonloomer.com/2012/07/09...acebook-likes/
http://www.warriorforum.com/social-m...get-likes.html
http://www.techinasia.com/5-reasons-...facebook-fans/
In conclusion,
YOU CAN DO BETTER!!! Don't fall victim to the need to have a bunch of likes to validate what you do! Be happy to have followers who are actually supportive of you!
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