Why do people pay for "Likes" or "Friends"

[Cookie-Monster]

Hey,

Never really done SEO\marketing, but I've always been impressed by and intrested in it. I was recently reading a thread where someone claimed to make $15k per month in his "SEO Empire" (I forget the poster, but congrats). I remember he mentioned, and I see others here doing Social Networking marketing and the tips\tutorials almost always mention paying for Likes\Friends\Followers, etc. How does this actually market the target business? The random Indians you are paying to create fake accounts and Friend\Like\Join your Fan Page aren't going to buy your client's products. I assume this is similar to "paying for traffic" on normal Google SEO. I just don't see the point. Is the plan just to fool dumb clients into thinking a lot of people are going to his fan page, even though it's just paid? I'm all for blackhat stuff, so if that's the plan I won't judge. I just do not see what the point is.

Regards,
CM

 

[wholesalereplica]

there are services that can bring more targetted fans/followers that can be very useful, you can specify USA only etc which is what people want

 

[brucemcc]

I have done Fiverr a few times just to build above the 25 LIKES mark so that we can claim the page URL. Also I feel that someone is more likely to LIKE the page if there are several hundred others already liking it, compared to if they come and only 5 people already LIKE it.

 

[jass11]

The random Indians you are paying to create fake accounts and Friend\Like\Join your Fan Page aren't going to buy your client's products.

WTF are you talking about,isnt this racist?

 

[Chrisss]

I have done Fiverr a few times just to build above the 25 LIKES mark so that we can claim the page URL. Also I feel that someone is more likely to LIKE the page if there are several hundred others already liking it, compared to if they come and only 5 people already LIKE it.

Good point - It's easier to get a "like" when you already have 3-400 likes. If you have below 100 likes, then do people think more about it before they push the bottom.

 

[Joak]

Good point - It's easier to get a "like" when you already have 3-400 likes. If you have below 100 likes, then do people think more about it before they push the bottom.

So most posters here mentioned pretty much everything but I'm gonna sum it up for you. People buy likes to:

1. Reach the 25 fan mark to get the custom URL.

2. Fan sellers who send out invites / recommendations with people joining by their OWN will provide VERY targeted traffic that can benefit you indeed.

3. The numbers make you more popular and give you a head start. When people go to your fan page while it's still fresh and has a "0" count, they'll less likely to press like.

That's what I can currently think of

 

[Cookie-Monster]

@Jass11 - Not racist. You know as well as I do that's who does outsourcing lol...

@Others - I see the point about how people are more apt to like your page if others do. How does one pay for "targeted traffic"? Like how do the services work. Do they just spam an email list specific to a niche saying "Check this out on facebook?"

Why would someone pay for traffic to a website. The whole "More people are apt to go like it" thing doesn't apply with web marketing because as a casual browser I can't see nor do I care about who else visited the site

 

[Joak]

@Jass11 - Not racist. You know as well as I do that's who does outsourcing lol...

@Others - I see the point about how people are more apt to like your page if others do. How does one pay for "targeted traffic"? Like how do the services work. Do they just spam an email list specific to a niche saying "Check this out on facebook?"

Why would someone pay for traffic to a website. The whole "More people are apt to go like it" thing doesn't apply with web marketing because as a casual browser I can't see nor do I care about who else visited the site

I'm not following your whole post here. The techniques to driving targeted likes would differ. But one way is to have many FB accounts with thousands of real friends. Then, the provider would then "recommend" the fan page to all the friends on all accounts. Only the interested ones will "like" the page, thus they're "targeted".

I didn't understand the last part of your post.

 

[inamon]

Its true some providers do create lots of fake accounts to like fanpages, its cheating.
But there are honest promoters as well who deliver fans through social marketing, wall posts, invitations, sharing, incentive based liking and such. Then you get real facebook users as fans.
Of course this is also good for promoting your product (not only for prestige)
because if you have 10,000 fans on your fanpage, everytime you make a new status update, its shared on 10,000 users news feed on the homepage.
Besides you can send direct notification to those fans anytime.

Now compare it with sending 10,000 emails against sending news updates to your 10,000 fans who are active on facebook. You will realize the difference.

On a side note, add me on yahoo msngr if you need no-dummy facebook fans. ID: [email protected]

 

[jannat8]

there are services that can bring more targetted fans/followers that can be very useful, you can specify USA only etc which is what people want

 

[efwebs]

I think there is also the potential to go viral - once it's liked it shows up on more facebook pages. If they aren't all fake accounts then their friends might like it too.

If a lot of people are liking it, then they are viewing it as well, which means more potential to pitch something.

 

[inamon]

Its true some providers do create lots of fake accounts to like fanpages, its cheating.
But there are honest promoters as well who deliver fans through social marketing, wall posts, invitations, sharing, incentive based liking and such. Then you get real facebook users as fans.
Of course this is also good for promoting your product (not only for prestige)
because if you have 10,000 fans on your fanpage, everytime you make a new status update, its shared on 10,000 users news feed on the homepage.
Besides you can send direct notification to those fans anytime.

Now compare it with sending 10,000 emails against sending news updates to your 10,000 fans who are active on facebook. You will realize the difference.

On a side note, add me on yahoo msngr if you need no-dummy facebook fans. ID: [email protected]

 

[washington2010]

WTF are you talking about,isnt this racist?

How is that racist? He's just saying it's Indians who are doing the work.

 

[cody41]

Well now, according to the title of the thread I have zero idea why people would join fraternities

 

[phatzilla]

More fans = they all see your updates, they may like them and share with their buddies, you have a higher chance to go viral.