Paying for likes is a hot button topic

Paying for likes is the process of going onto websites where you can pay money to add a number of likes/follows/subscriptions to one of your social accounts, whether that be Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and probably a whole host of other platforms.

This can often be a rather tempting offer for businesses hoping to give a little credibility to their pages – after all, people like to follow what they can see other people like to follow.

So what’s to lose?

Well, lucky for you this isn’t going to be a very long blog post, because the reasons why you should never, EVER pay for likes on any of your pages are very simple.

These people liking your pages AREN’T REAL (gasp!)

They are never going to like any of your posts, or comment, or share with their friends. Why? Because they aren’t real pages. They don’t have any friends.

Beyond that little number they are worth nothing to you.

But if you were already considering buying likes, perhaps now you’re thinking: “But that number is what I want. I just want it to look my page is popular.”

And that’s understandable. It can feel strange posting on your social accounts when you know it’s obvious you’re talking to no one. It can also feel like people won’t follow you until they see other people are doing it.

Both of these are true – but buying likes can do so much more damage to your page than good.

This mostly goes for Instagram and Facebook, however I know most social platforms have algorithms in place to detect bots and fake accounts.

In Instagram and Facebooks case however, their newsfeeds depend on your post engagement. Simply put – Facebook and Instagram won’t put you on your REAL followers (real people, with real friends) newsfeeds, unless they see people already engaging with your content in the form of liking posts, commenting, and sharing.

And because your large number of fake followers aren’t even touching or seeing your posts, Facebook and Instagram will get suspicious. To them, it looks like you must be posting terrible content that no one likes. The result? It pushes you off everyone’s newsfeed.

It punishes you.

Because Facebook and Instagram exist to give its audiences enjoyable, valuable content, and if you stop providing that – or looking like you’re providing that – then they remove you.

Buying likes for your pages essentially will ensure you never find a valuable audience member, or even potential client through social media again – and having a large number of followers will never fix that.

So, what’s the solution to paying for likes? How do you get that all-important follower count up?

Well firstly, here at Hyped, we believe that 100 valuable, engaged followers are better than 10,000 followers who don’t care about your business or journey. However, we also understand that large follower counts are a catalyst for finding those valued followers.

So if that’s your businesses mission, the best way to do it is to start posting content you KNOW people want to see. Videos, photos, blog posts that help them. Start tracking data and seeing which content does best. Start running numerous advertising across social platforms, and analyse them to see which are most effective. Start engaging with social influencers, partnering with brands, and using hashtags. Networking, advertising, and above all else, providing value to your audience is not only the most ethical way to get ahead in social media, it’s also the most effective – long term.

Is analysing data, connecting with influencers, and creating exciting content not your strong point? Let us give you a hand – it’s what we do best. Drop us a line and we’ll provide you with a free social media audit to get you started.