I’ve decided to remove my post from the like exchange as I’ve been getting a lot of spam, some of it sadly offensive, from members on here. My page has a lot of fans but for some reason engagement has dropped significantly (except for when we run a promo). I have two theories on why this is. 1. Our super fans are interacting in our member group and not so much on the page. Facebook doesn’t measure group interaction in relation to your page. I have great interaction and engagement in the group though, so am not worried. Just need to be a bit more proactive on the page. 2. When people like your page and never return and interact, it lowers your engagement. Unfortunately, some of my fans run frequent liking ladders (which I don’t participate in) and typically those people don’t stay and play.I mainly wanted to share my experience here so that others could learn from my experience. If you want to connect with me, you are still welcome to but please understand that we offer a family friendly business. If your posts cannot be viewed by children, my pages are not a good fit for you.

@casmccullough a similar thread was posted recently at http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/clubs/facebook/forum/topic/like-exchange-not-being-used-correctly-please-read/

It is unfortunate that there are those using the exchange thread incorrectly. I personally have not participated in the exchange but yet have multiple members from the clubs who have liked my page and then ask for me to like theirs in return. I typically don’t since I am very specific in the pages I follow and I am also trying to keep my pages with likes of potential customers

I agree @casmccullough – I think usually Like exchanges in a large scale don’t work.  I like exchanging “Likes” with like-minded people I network with so that we can each promote each other’s things.  It only works if they have a “Like-base” that also may like my business.  

@casmccullough Thanks for sharing this, Cas.

Link Exchanges are a bad idea all round. You need to grow your traffic slowly with people who actually want to be there.

When you are engaging in link exchanges you are basically paying for Likes, which is a cardinal sin of social media marketing.

Russell

@russellallert Can I just say that I have never harvested likes and have certainly not done link exchanges. Our page’s popularity has grown organically for the most part. I would never buy likes. I think it’s fine to exchange likes when you know you’ll continue to interact and contribute on a page ( ie. when you’ve set up a group where you share common interests). A few from here have done that. But I can’t control what other people do. So if some other business hosts a liking ladder and randomly picks my page, I don’t necessarily know about it until after the fact.

I’m so glad this discussion has come up. I did participate in the “like” exchange, but  was struggling with feeling comfortable with it and ended up stopping after 8. Of those 8 I do regularly visit one fb page that I really enjoy.

Really appreciate everyone’s comments and perspectives, it’s really helped me better understand the nuances of it all.

Cheers!
Jules 

@casmccullough Hey Cas, if you want to discuss this further I am happy to help out! Mail me if you like.

Russell