Here’s Why Not to Buy Facebook Followers

Filed in MY BEST POSTS, Social Media by Matt McGee on January 3, 2012 23 Comments

The problem with buying Facebook followers is that it’s sometimes painfully obvious that you’ve done it. Like when “Santiago,” “Jonathan” and “Bruce” all have the same exact avatar. And when “Theodore” and “Wayne” also have the same avatar. And “Everett” and “Elmer,” too. And sometimes they all show up on your Facebook widget at the same time and it makes you look bad.

facebook-followers

Pro tip: Don’t buy Facebook followers.

Comments (23)

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  1. Adam Singer says:

    It’s painfully obvious when “experts” or even shady startups have absurd amounts of Facebooks fans / Twitter followers. They aren’t fooling anyone, there are *many* ways to spot this 🙂

    Easy but stupid KPIs to game. Actually makes them look *worse*.

    • Matt McGee says:

      Yes, Monica, straight out of central casting, aren’t they? 🙂

      That’s true, Adam. There’s a local real estate agent in my area that, last I checked, had something like 1,500 or 2,000 Facebook fans and it seemed like most of them were from foreign countries. Very bizarre for a small town real estate agent.

  2. And they are all so youthful, good looking and healthy 🙂

  3. Obviously I know it’s a purchase. but,
    What about here? -> “Everett” and “Elmer,” are fans Of Real Madrid, or better yet, of Cristiano Ronaldo … they look for images in google, and found this…*

  4. Mike Brat says:

    Everett and Elmer also coincidentally have the same picture of what appears to be Christiano Ronaldo – only one of the most popular soccer players in the world.

  5. Will says:

    When you say “buy facebook followers” are you referring to targeted fb advertising or something else? thanks!

    • Matt McGee says:

      Thx for all the comments, folks. @Will – no, this isn’t about Facebook ads. It’s about the sites that will sell you 1,000s of “fans” for like $50 or $100.

  6. Shefiu says:

    Very much agree with you Matt…there’s always a pitfall buying fans. And the thing is someone can quickly lose credibility much faster than they can ever imagine. And as we say in the UK…reputation can go “wonky”. If you are going to be on Facebook. It’s best to build fans gradually, even if it takes time. Better than killing your business with dodgy fans for sure!

  7. Shutt says:

    But, Monica, you’re youthful, good looking and healthy? Are YOU real? lol

  8. Anna says:

    Oh wow. This made my day. Thanks for the laugh!

  9. Maciej Fita says:

    It is so sad to see companies trying to cut these ridiculous corners in social media. The whole point of a fan page is to grab the attention of your fan base and build a following. If your account is completely filled up with purchased fans no one is going to give a crap about you have to say. Just Foolish.

  10. ciaoenrico says:

    With this, I can hear a legion of marketing managers squeeling, “What? I can BUY Facebook fans?”

  11. This is awesomely hilarious. It gets even worse after you buy the fans. Your posts will have almost 0 engagement and soon be almost invisible in the timelines of your real fans.

  12. Jason says:

    Sometimes I feel like buying fans for other companies. Fiverr is only five dollars to buy fans.

  13. Great post, Matt. I think this is a good example for making a case against the whole social media popularity mindset – or quantity vs quality. Yes, you might have 2,500 followers, but like Anthonydnelson said above – the engagement level is going to be zero. And what’s the point of company FB pages if you aren’t trying to get leads, build retention, or at least increase brand recognition?

  14. Christopher says:

    You’re not buying fans, you’re buying a number. If Facebook didn’t show the number of fans, this wouldn’t be an issue. But it’s like being the new kid on the playground when you start out. Low number just shows people you really aren’t popular or interesting. High number, you must be. Followers don’t care about who the other followers are, just that they are part of the popular kid and he must have something interesting. All in all, user of fan pages on Facebook that Like pages are passive followers and rarely engage. So what’s wrong with buying your popular number? There are those that want to break the speed limit and those that don’t want to complain about those that do!

  15. Kent says:

    Hahahaha. You are correct. I spotted few FB pages have this problem. Some of them even have 3 – 4 same images. Very funny.

    The most important thing is – those who buy fans and followers is destroying the stats. That means the stats is not accurate anymore to analyze.

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