Don’t buy Facebook Likes.

Is your brand’s Facebook page a dud? Just go out and buy Facebook Likes – problem solved, right? WRONG. The negative impact of this could be greater than you think. On the surface, having a significant amount of Facebook likes might make your brand seem like a social media titan. However, the further-reaching implications of buying followers on Facebook might make you want to reconsider.

First off, what are you actually gaining other than the appearance of popularity? There is no user engagement. The zombie accounts “liking” you aren’t ever going to make a purchase or even interact with your brand. Your brand becomes like that slug at the office who, by his own account, was really successful at his last company. Except not really. That guy was basically just a liar, and once everyone else found that out, he became an even bigger pariah than before. Don’t be that guy.

Second, and probably most important, is that when you buy Facebook Likes, you negatively impact your brand’s EdgeRank. Without getting into all the specifics of how Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm works, know this:

The amount a Facebook user interacts with a brand’s page (liking, commenting, sharing, etc.) impacts its Edgerank. If a brand page has low EdgeRank, its updates won’t show up as often in users’ News Feeds, resulting in less exposure overall. In short: Bogus, purchased “likes” from fake accounts will never interact with your Facebook page; they will, however, forever be a drag on your EdgeRank.

As Facebook continues its “site integrity improvements” and cracks down on fake accounts, it becomes even more critical that brands pay close attention to their social media marketing strategy.  As I’ve said before on this blog: successfully managing social media takes a lot of time and planning (read: work). Do it the right way, and reap the rewards. Do it the wrong way, and you risk sabotaging your social media efforts.