I have (unfortunately) participated in forums with the sole objective of using reciprocity to grow fans on Facebook and other platforms. I enjoy finding hidden gems that I may have ever found through these groups, but usually are flabbergasted at the amount of spamming that goes along with them. Have any of you participated in groups like the one described above? How do you deter the spam from being posted on your page?

Hi @violamyers

I would suggest that no-one ever uses this method for gaining page likes. Their is no quality to these “fans” and it leads to poor engagement.

I would say this method is so bad that it is just as bad as buying Likes.

Thanks for the post, Viola.

Cheers
Russell Allert

@moinshaikh, I guess I want to build my fan page with prospects who will consume my content with the hope of converting them to loyal customers and brand ambassadors to further transmit the message of my company. Thank you for the link, but these are the forums I try to avoid.

@violamyers welcome and all the best! Happy to help

I agree with the FACT they do not work. I have a page that hardly no one engages on they like my page but what Im offering is not worthy enough for them to say anything. And this includes Family and Friends so sometimes it is not worth even inviting family being they are just liking the page because they know you. Is there a better way?

I would much prefer having fans that are truly interested in what I have to offer.  What good is 200 fans if 150 of them are just people who are not truly interested, possibly have your page posts muted, and never interact. 

As for others here and what we can do for each other, I think it would make far better sense to post something to our personal group of Facebook friends something along the lines of:

“Hey, Facebook friends!  If you’re in the Dover, NH area and looking for help building a social presence for your local business, give Matt Hamilton at Near Coast Media a call, or you can check out his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/nearcoastmedia“

Of course, I’d only do something like this if I was pretty sure I knew someone in that area, and I certainly wouldn’t do something like this very often. I don’t want to alienate my *own* friends or leave them feeling spammed. 

But I think something like this could be more effective than simply “liking” a Facebook page for a business we really know nothing about and have no plans to interact with or be a customer of.

im here for info not  fans….   …if i see a store or someone in  my  field   out there with  3000 fans  i  would  gladly    join up    to see how they did it..and  learn  something……. …i need to have fans  that like  my wares and might  come  buy them…so i dont participate in link exchanges….. if  you like my stuff please join my page tho!!!   lol 

@violamyers thats  how i feel too…im here hopefully to learn some new   ideas  for my social media efforts  , not to   get more  fans …i want to  make my   present  fans  happy they joined our page…..

@mikeargyle I would consider that fraud. These businesses are not social they are using the same old marketing schemes to scam the system. I think it would be very interesting to look at their page insights. Personally I would report their page and suggest to Facebook to also consider the ER (Engagement Rate) when giving credits to pages for Small Business Boost. More than likely they are unaware of what is going on. This type of behavior I feel is unacceptable and ruins it for those of us who play by the rules.
@annfurnivall Social consumers are very technologically savvy and insulting their intelligence is a bad move in the long run. The one thing that I have learned about marketing through social media is that it is consistent, hard work that ultimately prevails. I will check out your page !
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