I blogged previously about tagging of posts, and how the technology is great since the tags are applied by humans and not some algorithm like the Googlebot. But there is a dark side, since there is a value for a company to get their posts seen by as many eyes as possible, then enterprising companies will provide a service that caters to that need. Enter in what I call fake likes.
I personally don't agree with purchasing of followers and likes, since it is deceptive. These people didn't really like or want to follow you, they may be some farm of accounts created specifically for that (so they're not actually people). Back in the day, to gain influence was to work relationships with like minded websites and get them to link to your site and content. Even that went to the dark side with link farms popping up and posting links on various sites. At least the search engines started to build algorithms to deal with them.
Nowadays, social media may directly influence your SEO, and therefore traffic to your site, so it's hard to not consider this part of digital strategy.
In the Social World Followers Create a Perception
Some companies may prefer to use a shortcut, by purchasing Facebook likes, and Twitter followers. I don't fault them, since the online world is partially about perception. What I mean by perception is, if you have a lot of followers, or likes for your page, then people will perceive that as popularity. A person, or company can make it appear as if they have influence, and influence can mean market influence, potential advertising revenue, or a voice in that particular sector. If you're just starting out online, it may be something you're considering in order to make a splash quick. I have worked in the entertainment industry, and that is one industry where creating the illusion of popularity can be very appealing, the more fans you have the better.
Where Are The Followers?
So where are these people waiting to like your stuff? One way to purchase directly from the social networks. For example for a small price you can advertise on Facebook with the end result being to increase the likes of your Facebook page. Twitter, and LinkedIn all have their own advertising machines that the sole purpose is to gain visibility and increase your social media following. Facebook provides Insight for example that presents you with analytics on who has like your page, and you can tie in advertising campaigns directly to like performance. I ran some tests with a campaign on Facebook, and the likes that did result really weren't very quality. Very few clicks came to my site, the most actually came from Twitter, which were purely organic and targeted using hash tags and aimed at a known audience.
There was a recent story about how Asia is becoming a big hub for the purchase of social media follows. You can buy a huge amount of social media follows for a low price, the buying of likes has even hit the US government where the State Department had its largest following from Cairo, with 400,000 likes, they have since stopped purchasing likes.
They're easy to find, just search on "Buy facebook likes" or some variation of that, and scores of companies selling the services will appear.
So Is It Going Away?
I really don't believe that this is ever going away. As I said, the social networks are in the business of selling likes and followers through advertising purchased on their sites. The performance of the campaign is directly tied to the amount of likes, follows, and click-throughs. If anything, they'll create algorithms to stop third parties from selling them in order to keep the business to themselves. Which by the way will cost more going through the social networks, than buying through the third party mills. The third party mills can charge $25 for a 1,000 likes, much cheaper than running Facebook campaigns.
This whole bunch of fake follower building has created another industry, and that's auditing of social media followers. Companies are now checking to see where they're coming from and who they are. So if you're selling plumbing services in Pittsburgh, PA it may be a little difficult to explain why all your followers are in Indonesia.
Go Legit
As I mentioned previously, really the ultimate goal is to drive traffic to your product, or service, gain fans, or whatever your call to action is. Fake likes, and followers will do none of that, if anything it only creates perception, not influence. My best results have always been targeting relevant content to actual people who are interested in that content. Don't forget your audience, and if you do purchase a following, don't forget it's all an illusion and who you're REAL audience actually is.