This post was originally written by me as "How NOT To Get Likes To Your Real Estate Facebook Page" on the Home Value Leads blog.
Many people equate the number of "Likes" on their Facebook business page to how popular that page is. Some call it "social proof" and think that having more likes will encourage more people to pay attention to their page. While this is somewhat true, there is some disturbing information coming out about how people get those likes. This video by YouTuber Veritasium is a great way to learn how NOT to get likes to your real estate Facebook page.
Essentially, you have 2 options for paid "LIKES" - To use a "Like Farm" as mentioned in the video, or to pay Facebook to help you generate likes. But it appears that even using the Facebook tool to generate likes does NOT generate people who will actually engage with your page. In fact, it will likely have the exact opposite effect. As explained in the video, when you post something from your Facebook page (and likely from your personal page as well), Facebook limits the potential audience you could reach. As people interact with your post, then Facebook shows it to more people. Great, right? Not exactly. If you have a large number of "phantom" likes on your page, that initial audience may not have very many real people who are there to engage with your content.
Imagine this scenario: Your page has 100 FB fans. You post a great article about real estate in your area. It is thought that Facebook will initially show this article to between 5 and 10% of your fans. In this case, that means 5-10 people would see it. If one or two people like, comment, or share your post, then Facebook will show the post to more people. However, if half of your likes are purchased likes, that means that the audience available to engage with your post would essentially be cut in half. While it would still be shown to 5-10 of your likes, really only between 2 and 5 ACTUAL people will see it. In essence, by "buying" likes (even through Facebook), you are essentially cutting the likelihood that someone will interact your with your post, which means you are drastically reducing your potential audience. Why would Facebook treat it's users like that? Because to them, you are a business and like any business, they want you to advertise. By diluting your user-base, they are essentially forcing you to advertise or promote your posts in order to get any real engagement. They charged you to get you likes, and now they are charging you to show your content. Well played, Facebook, but we are on to you.
Facebook advertising certainly has its merits. In fact, it is one of the many methods that we recommend to our users to help generate real estate leads. But it is important to know the tricks that Facebook uses to get you to pay more for advertising so that you can know how NOT to get likes to your real estate Facebook page. Help us combat the Facebook beast by going and liking our Facebook page now (and post your Facebook page URL in the comments below and we will return the favor!).
Comments(4)