Having a Facebook Page is almost a prerequisite for anyone trying to make an impact through social media. One thing most of us have thought about is whether or not to grow our fan base organically – through genuine likes from people who believe in you or like your posts – or through paid likes.
While there are illegitimate “like farms” out there, Facebook itself offers to give you likes. If you have a Facebook page, you should see something like this:
Can’t hurt if you have the cash right? After all, it can be tough gathering likes when people haven’t even heard of you to begin with. The people behind the science video blog Versitarium beg to disagree.
Stepping out of their usual general science topics, they’ve done a few experiments to see if buying Facebook likes legitimately or otherwise, is actually all it’s cracked up to be.
Versitarium host Derek Muller says “I know first-hand that Facebook’s advertising model is deeply flawed. When I paid to promote my page I gained 80,000 followers in developing countries who didn’t care about Veritasium (but I wasn’t aware of this at the time). They drove my reach and engagement numbers down, basically rendering the page useless. I am not the only one who has experienced this.”
What if don’t do anything, I should be safe, right? Well, no. Derek continues “...it’s possible to be a victim of fake likes without even advertising. Pages that end up on Facebook’s “International Suggested Pages” are also easy targets for click-farms seeking to diversify their likes. “
So it looks like paying for likes isn’t the best tactic right now, and that everyone’s page is at risk regardless of whether they pay or not. Should we stop using Facebook? Not so fast.
Even if you believe Versitarium’s experiments and conclusions are legit, there clearly are upsides to having a Facebook Page. Otherwise, Versitarium would have done away with theirs. All the upsides to having a Facebook page have been beaten to death for good reason. Social media pages are just how business is done today, and they will be how things are done in the foreseeable future.
Photo credit: vernhart via photopin cc
What do you think? Have you ever paid for Facebook likes? Did it ruin your Facebook Page? How did it work out? Tell us! We’d love to know!