It seems to be getting popular to pay someone money to “Get 500 likes in your state” or “Get 1,000 likes for your target demographic” etc.  Now with posts only going to 15-16% of followers, is it worth it to get these likes that seem to not be true potential customers?  What are people’s experiences with paying someone to get so many likes?  Pros and cons?

@davidouimet Hi David

Never do this. This is SOCIAL media. Connecting with your fan and followers is what you should be focusing on.

Russ

@Diane – Purchased fans are real fans at least the ones I’ve purchased. All the fan sellers are doing are driving eyeballs to your page that you’re not.
With all due respect to @Russell he’s never tested for this – I have – 4 times – I’ve seen “purchased” fans names show up in PayPal as in they sent me money.  
Everyone on LinkedIn said Youtube views were “bots” Although my second round of paid Youtube views didn’t do as well, the first $40 spent on 5000 Youtube views somehow caused the “bots” (according to our Google analytics) to send Youtube referral traffic from zero to almost $800 in sales from one 29 second video. 

So everybody is certainly entitled to pontificate on the subject but I’m here telling you $190 spent on FB fans and Youtube views. 6 months later 95% of the “purchased fans” are still on the page and they or their robotic personas are making comments on our fan page and  we’re probably up more than $2,000 in sales because of the increase fan growth – if anyone gets to know me – I go against the grain – alot. 
Here’s the thing – I’m spending about $70/week on FB ads so I’m buying fans via a different route – but I’m BUYING fans – what’s the difference? The fact is if you’re a small fry like me on Facebook, good luck growing fans organically.
Lastly, long before you were born @Diane (I’m an old guy) there was a group called the Beatles.and back in 1966 they weren’t known out of Liverpool England. Their new manager Brian Epstein (who went on to commit suicide) was one of the first rock promoters to pay lots of young girls to sit in the front rows of Beatle’s concerts and scream their guts out. Their screaming was contagious thus Beatle mania was born.
Brian Epstein was the first buyer of social media fans (that I know of) and his techniques are working today albeit electronically. People want to be part of something big. Fans are more likely to like a “big” page than one with 366 followers. I used the purchased fans as a catalyst which has worked out quite well – at least for us. 

@davidouimet  I tried it!    I went to Fivver and looked over the ads and some were a bit “sketchy” but I messaged a few of them to get feel of what I was getting into and I was willing to give it a chance.  I feel we must utilize any marketing tools we can and test their effectiveness.  No different than traditional media, online ads, or virtual assistants.

I have a blog that is geared towards creating awareness about an important health issue and I want and need to reach as many folks as I can.  I used them a few weeks ago and will be tracking my site and see how it worked.

Thanks to @mitch-rezman for his great post and utilizing this marketing tool has clearly been a success for him.
What a great Forum topic!
Steve

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