Buying Facebook Likes

[Newcott]

Hi,

I know this is a bit of a mixed topic but wanted to get some thoughts.

I'm building a new brand up on facebook fan page - Just getting it set up at the moment so havn't heavily promoted. At the same time a friend of mine is just moving into facebook fan page with an exisiting business.

Now he's just bought himself 1000 Fan Likes for $70 odd .

Being on here for a while I know this is bad - they're probably non-targeted/fake/spammy profile.

However his argument is its to get the ball rolling - so that when he starts inviting his customers and promoting on his site that his fan page doesn't look completly empty and un-likable.

Theyve got 2 weeks to deliver the likes so I'm keeping a close eye but what would be peoples thoughts on this?

 

[Esk247]

But its the same as my stress out about my website hits for the cushions website.

I'm stressing out and going mad because i'm not getting enough visitors but as someone else pointed out, you could get 500 visitors and if they're not targeted, they're useless. instead i should focus on getting 5 visitors who buy something.

I presume the same applies here, buying 'Likes' is rather irrelevant when those people will either not be using their profiles in which case they're dead 'Likes' or they'll be spammy links. Which could spam your facebook to hell.

It's so easy to add people to facebook and twitter it would be easier to do it manually, building your identity as you go.

 

[DotNetWebs]

Here's a very recent thread on the subject:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=183343

Regards

Dotty

 

[Newcott]

Esk - I see your point, which is what I put forward to him but he wants it to look like he's already got a following before he targets people/clients that would actualy use it.

Say for example you get sent a Fan page thats been up for 3 months and only got 9 Fan's - wouldn't entice you to join.

Dotty - Had a quick read through good links but it seems more interest in using facebook or not -rather then buying links.

I'm building video content, for that we want to get a army of followers/subscribers so that when a new video is out it gets past around - for this we've got a twitter and a fan page set up also so our fans can interact with us so I've no doubt on facebook or not - I'm just pondering if to give the fan page a boost of followers or not.

 

[wecandobiz]

I can't get my head round how is it even possible to buy Likes. A Like is a real person effectively recommending you to their network of friends. If they are accounts set up just for the purpose of selling Likes then a recommendation to a spam account limited number of "friends" (who is going to follow a spam account) is going to worth very little.

Remember, fans, followers and Likes aren't a currency anyone accepts. It's sales that matter and spam accounts rarely buy.

 

[Newcott]

Wecandobiz - he said these are real people not spam accounts (another thing I'll keep a close eye on )

I'm interested as my revenue won't be by selling products or services - I'm working on ad revenue from my videos and eventually sponsorship - so fans and followers are good for me, the more the better as it's more people to spread the video around if they like them (and of course if they are real people)

 

[DotNetWebs]

...Dotty - Had a quick read through good links but it seems more interest in using facebook or not -rather then buying links....

I just didn't want to repeat what I said in that thread but it's worth syaing again:

As with links it's quality not quantity that are important - the quality of any 'purchased' Likes is likely to be very low.

Regards

Dotty

 

[Newcott]

I just didn't want to repeat what I said in that thread but it's worth syaing again:

As with links it's quality not quantity that are important - the quality of any 'purchased' Likes is likely to be very low.

Regards

Dotty

Fully undestand there but I don't think he's looking to get anything out of the links other then to beef up the page, so that when his targeted fans go to it they don't see just a empty page or a page with tons of posts but little followed - I know in wouldn't be a fan.

 

[FreelanceSoftwareDeveloper]

The purpose of buying likes is to appear more popular so others will 'like' you too.

It's like starting order numbers at 100 or 1000 so you don't have customers with order number 1 or 2 for example.

Not sure if it's really worth $70, only he can work that out.

 

[wecandobiz]

The purpose of buying likes is to appear more popular so others will 'like' you too.

It's like starting order numbers at 100 or 1000 so you don't have customers with order number 1 or 2 for example.

Not sure if it's really worth $70, only he can work that out.

But how will those others even know about the page? If you've bought your Likes then you've lost the virality that bought your page views in the first place, surely.

 

[Gavin-Design-Right]

SAy some likes your page ....It appears on their wall....Their friends then see it and like it too. However as these are random and most likly "spam people" not sure how?what the point in it would be really.

 

[FreelanceSoftwareDeveloper]

It's just psychology, it will do nothing in terms of getting useful visitors/traffic.

If you get directed to a page where no one else or just a handful of people like it you are less likely to like it than if there are a thousand+ likes.

We live in a world where people are sheep and follow the crowd, it's safety in numbers. The basic thinking is 'if 1000 people like something then I want to be a part of that too'.

Think of music/celebrities, a few of us still have CD's that no one else has heard of but the majority will go with whatever they are told to like by Radio 1.

 

[DotNetWebs]

It's just psychology, it will do nothing in terms of getting useful visitors/traffic...

That really depends on the nature of of what your page is promoting.

If you have a local service for example an a new visitor lands on it a page that has just 2 'Likes' , but 'Likes' from people known to the visitor, it is going to be far more effective than a page with 1000 'Likes' from fake profiles.

In the 'local' situation you would probably get caught out if you suddenly introduce a 1000 'bought' 'Likes' and that would do you a lot more harm than good.

Regards

Dotty

 

[adventurelife]

I am no expert but I have always found it best to go slowly slowly with all the social media stuff. Without doubt it works I am making good revenue from it well over £10k this week alone but it is a minefield and you have to tread carefully and slowly

Giving away 1000 £20 gift vouchers today at @SplashRafting on Twitter as part of several experiments that are being researched and measured in our on going journey into the social media jungle.

Buying likes is not the way, giving service and value is

 

[Asim786]

I thought buying likes on facebook. Was an acceptable SEO techniquie

 

[gentech5]

if you want facebook fans, I can provide you with a viral facebook app for £40 for increasing your fan base and brand exposure.

The app is a standalone facebook chat program that sits on the desktop. It's basically facebook chat on steriods, more stable and accurate than chatting on browser.

Feels like a proper IM, and can be customized to your needs if you wish(design and features).

Cool Features :
- See who is online, while appearing offline.(unique, it doesn't exist anywhere else)
- Away/busy auto message. (again a unique feature)
- Instant notification alert for new mails/requests/contact comes online.
- Friendlist support (be online to some contacts, and offline to others).
- supports group chat
- large, multitabbed IM window.


Plus I can add a Tweetdeck style newsfeed support, including alerts whenever friends make a new post(can be all friends, or for selected ones).

And a filter button ... 1 click to hide ALL malware posts from other apps.. It only shows user genereated content, this is also a completely unique feature.

The app is lightweight and fast, you'll have your brand displayed on it, and it'll sit in your users' desktop all the time.

If you are interested, pm me. the £40 is only till I get my website up. Payment on delivery.

P.S Newsfeed support is for an additional fee. More work involved in customizing that.

 

[Newcott]

Well as said I'm keeping a close eye on what he's page has doing. His motivation is to get the ball rolling before he starts promoting his page - maybe I've not made it clear before but he's not worried about getting likes that ammount to anything out of the paid ones - its to look like he has a popular profile before he starts promoting it to his targets likes.

I'm thinking of doing something similar which is why I'm keeping a close eye. We want a huge fan interaction - we'll be using our facebook and twitter so our fans can suggest future vids ect... Now our first video will be out on the 17th and would be nice to have some sort of fan base or at least an appearence of before we start activly promoting.

Plus the company he has gone through promises they are not fake profiles (more expensive then some of the others I've seen) so you never know one could be of interest....

 

[kbh4031]

I purchased some facebook likes from ebay, but it was more of an advert...they posted and shared my fanpage so my page needed to grab peoples attention really which it didnt. But I did get a few more fans and its increased gradually.
I have had quite a few buyers and even a few people who have set up an ebay account just to purchase from me.
Personally I have found the best way to get more fans is to run a prize draw, and its cost effective.

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

That would be a foolish practice if you ask me. Better to put the cash towards developing a strategy to gain "real" likes.

 

[nuwav]

Its better to have a strategy in place, whether its doing a contest or a prize draw. But its also good to try other methods like Facebook ads and buying fans, because anything that is promoting your page, brings more visibility to your page. You can buy targeted fans based in your own country.

 

[zigojacko]

Say for example you get sent a Fan page thats been up for 3 months and only got 9 Fan's - wouldn't entice you to join.

You've answered your own question here in a way. If your someone that would like a page based on how many other likes it has, then are you really the target audience you wish to capture?

Just like any other element of marketing, good, quality, unique and fresh/regular content/updates will (and should) be the reason why members on Facebook like your page. If you can't deliver this, then it WILL fail.

Buying likes = complete waste of money. The amount of likes a page has when a new member clicks through to it will not increase the lead to conversion ratio and even if the difference is positivally marginal, it would have to convert at a pretty high rate for you to break even on the amount of likes you have bought.

 

[zigojacko]

I thought buying likes on facebook. Was an acceptable SEO techniquie

No paid tactics are deemed as acceptable. Paid links, paid likes, paid followers, paid reviews etc. And many of the companies that do offer these often get blacklisted/devalued and/or shut down (depending on the nature of the service).

 

[Newcott]

OK so a quick update that will go against most the feedback.

He's just had a order from his fan page from one of these paid fans - not a huge one but its covered the cost of the likes.

I don't know if I'm just not putting my point forward well enough or if I'm mis-understanding the responses but - my fan page does not rely on conversion, or feeding people to another site. This is a fan page purley for my YouTube channel which once the first videos are up I'll be directing people to. The purpose they serve will be so our fans can interact with us & the videos, they can put forward idea's or like of what they want to see!

Now once the first video goes up I don't want the first people to view and see a next to empty fan page as in my opinion it puts me off which is why I'm considering following in my friends footsteps.

 

[zigojacko]

I don't know if I'm just not putting my point forward well enough or if I'm mis-understanding the responses but - my fan page does not rely on conversion, or feeding people to another site. This is a fan page purley for my YouTube channel which once the first videos are up I'll be directing people to. The purpose they serve will be so our fans can interact with us & the videos, they can put forward idea's or like of what they want to see!

Now once the first video goes up I don't want the first people to view and see a next to empty fan page as in my opinion it puts me off which is why I'm considering following in my friends footsteps.

Unless the paid likes are targeted, they aren't necessarily going to watch your videos.

What are your videos about?

 

[Newcott]

Unless the paid likes are targeted, they aren't necessarily going to watch your videos.

What are your videos about?

It will be the other way around - our videos will be directed to our facebook page.

Various - I've got 4 channels planned 1 webseries, 1 sketch and short films, 1 for a movie news and trailer reviews and the final a show on for indiefilm making in the uk.

In the vids we will display our Facebook page(s). Once we've got a decent following we're hoping for fans to start interacting with us.

The buying the fans part of this thread was an idea to get the ball rolling but now my firend has had a small ammount of success it's making me sway more towards trying it.

 

[Esk247]

I still think, with what you're doing, that you can get a better following by doing it the organic way.

I linked to one of your videos on my facebook page, not sure how many people have viewed it of course.

You could look at doing a viral style video to really launch yourself online.

 

[Newcott]

Esk - Thanks

we will be once the first videos are up (at least the Sneaky Zebra ones )

We've got several ideas and series of sketchs - two or three I have no doubt they will go viral

 

[Analogue]

It's just psychology, it will do nothing in terms of getting useful visitors/traffic.

If you get directed to a page where no one else or just a handful of people like it you are less likely to like it than if there are a thousand+ likes.

We live in a world where people are sheep and follow the crowd, it's safety in numbers. The basic thinking is 'if 1000 people like something then I want to be a part of that too'.

Think of music/celebrities, a few of us still have CD's that no one else has heard of but the majority will go with whatever they are told to like by Radio 1.

I think you hit the nail on the head, the poster explained it was to make the page 'look' popular, there was no interest in getting trade from the 1000 paid likers. from working in sales and studying psychology, most of sales technique is focused on the buyer not the fantastic sales pitch. One classic one is giving your buyer validation by showing them that other people are buying, if anyone says this doesn’t work they are just plain wrong. A long time ago one summer when i was at uni I had a job selling random stuff form a bag in pubs/offices etc, you can give the best pitch in the world and have blank faces stare at you, then one person buys, suddenly you have sold to everyone.

The same principal will work here $70 is not much money (you could easily quickly waste that on a bad PPC campaign), if people see it is popular they are more likely to buy it, nothing worse than seeing 3 likes on a page, it immediately says it is rubbish. Yes you can build organically but many people that visit in the early stages will not like because of this and will eb lost, so the $70 is paying for those good quality Likers which you would have lost without the ‘fake’ following making your page look good

 

[Idontbuy]

I bought 550 from ebay for £7.99 ($70 sounds expensive) for a new service im setting up, i am in the opinion that the if someone dropped in that they would soon leave there was only 9 people liking the page.

We now advertising with Facebook and we are getting 80 likes a day at 8p each these are from people that are guninuelly interested in the product we are introducing.

 

[SKepler]

I think that you can find even better deals at seoclerks.com

There are lots of users there who are offering quality Facebook likes for cents. We have also used the site for the setup of our business and it worked wonders to it.

 

[zigojacko]

I think that you can find even better deals at seoclerks.com

There are lots of users there who are offering quality Facebook likes for cents. We have also used the site for the setup of our business and it worked wonders to it.

And what exactly did that achieve then?

 

[SKepler]

Well, it helped with the start up fan base of the page and from there on the recognition just flowed steadily. It is way more likely for a person to hit like if the page already has a solid fan base. Of course, the content is more important but that was my point regarding the matter.

 

[webgeek]

Reality
Buy 0 likes, earn 50 likes with contests, giveaways, thought leadership content.
Get 5 likes and 2 shares on your next post. Rinse lather repeat and soon you will
Get 50 likes and 20 shares on your next post.

Alternate Reality
Buy 1000 likes, earn 0 likes with no content.
Get 0 likes and 0 shares on your next post. Rinse lather repeat as edge rank algorithm sees you having no influence on your audience, so they reduce your exposure each iteration. Now you will
Get 0 likes and 0 shares due to 0 impressions on your next post.


Bottom line: Don't kill your future ability to succeed by cutting corners, artificially making yourself look popular to the public while looking unpopular to Facebook via fake friends/likes.