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Risks of buying followers/likes?

by davisonzayveon
14 replies
Hello there - longtime reader, firsttime poster here.

I'm an indie fiction author looking to improve my marketing skills in preparation for the launch of my new penname. I thought it might be indirectly helpful, for the sake of social proof, to give the appearance of popularity by using some of the services in the Marketplace here to buy fans, followers, likes, retweets, etc. Mostly interested in Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

(I realize that fake fans aren't going to buy my books, of course - this is just for the sake of appearances.)

Are there any major risks associated with this, e.g. have a Facebook page, or Twitter/Instagram account, be shut down? These are accounts I would need to keep alive for long term use.

Thanks in advance for any information!
#buying #followers or likes #risks
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    Hi D,

    Yes, there is.

    Here it is: you are buying numbers, and numbers are inanimate objects that cannot buy your eBooks

    Another big risk: you will be banned on networks where you attempt to manipulate numbers because this is spamming.

    2 massive risk, with literally no upside, save a boosted ego. Aka, the appearances thing you mention. But appearances do not sway people; human beings sway people. Loyal readers. Big fans.

    What to do: publish helpful content related to your niche, build authentic bonds with top authors in your niche, through sites like Triberr, and follow each step for months, then years, and you will earn the right to be more and more successful.

    Ryan
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    • Profile picture of the author davisonzayveon
      Could you elaborate on the matter of spamming?

      Just to clarify, I am primarily looking at the services that sell fans/followers/likes, not services for posting marketing messages to actual people. (I have regular old paid ads for that.)

      My only interest, as you say, is the matter of the appearance of the numbers.


      Also, is this a risk on all major social media sites, or just some - e.g. Facebook, but not Twitter? Any safe partial approaches, such as buying fans/followers but not likes, etc.?
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnVianny
    It's a nonsense idea.

    Firstly cause through manipulating the number of fans you are 'falsing' every insight or engagement for future purpose...

    Secondly you will be soon banned.

    AND most of the people will see that you have bought a lot of fans cause if you have 100k followers but 2 likes it's quite obvious

    Then when u 'come out' with your project it will be clear that you have bought your fans and it will be a damage for you popularity and business image
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    • Profile picture of the author davisonzayveon
      Thank you for your reply.

      Is there some kind of approach that people are using that gets around the risk of having accounts banned?

      I'm asking because there is a reasonably long-running thread in the Warrior Marketplace for a service that sells followers/likes. It has a few positive reviews and no complaints that I've seen.

      So I presume that some people are using these services to do.. something. Are they just running multiple disposable accounts until they get shut down?
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        If I sell you 1000 likes (to be delivered in 3 days) and you get 1000 likes in 3 days, you're satisfied.

        If a few weeks after I deliver the likes, FaceBook bans you, have I not delivered the likes in the promised time? Can you give me a bad review?
        Yes and no.

        Now, if I create a facebook account under a fake name, do all kinds of things that facebook does not like and get my account banned in 1 week, but in that 1 week I made $1500 over what I invested, do I care that facebook doesn't like my bought likes?

        Nope.

        I create yet another account under another fake name, make my $1500 a week, get banned; then I rinse and repeat... for as long as facebook allows me to create accounts under fake names.

        One way to benefit from fake likes.You're interested in growing your business? Spamming ain't the way... most of the time... unless you do it wisely... which does not include putting your real accounts/sites at risk.

        Originally Posted by davisonzayveon View Post

        Thank you for your reply.

        Is there some kind of approach that people are using that gets around the risk of having accounts banned?

        I'm asking because there is a reasonably long-running thread in the Warrior Marketplace for a service that sells followers/likes. It has a few positive reviews and no complaints that I've seen.

        So I presume that some people are using these services to do.. something. Are they just running multiple disposable accounts until they get shut down?
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Juwah
    Hello Davison,

    In my opinion, buying likes/fans will adversely affect your conversion rates on these social networks.

    It's the classic case where one has 10k followers but averages engagement rates of 2 post likes or 5.

    But if conversion isn't your goal and you're just all about the appearances (which is great too), then by all means go,go,go.
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  • Profile picture of the author Elna R Wiley
    Never buy likes. they will get you banned sooner or later.
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  • Profile picture of the author YourGoToWriter
    It's too risky plus you won't get your analytics right in regards to your social engagement if you got fake followers. Buying and having followers are against the rules of those social media sites. You will be banned in the long run. Grow your audience organically and create an original high-quality content.

    Loren
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    If all you want are cheap likes for your FB page and don't care where the location of the users are from..

    Promote your page and change the image to a yellow image that just has an inspirational quote using black text. This combination will stand out the most.

    Change the text to: Click "like" to like this page if you agree

    You can use Canva.com to create the image. Use the template Facebook Event Cover.

    Run the ad worldwide and exclude US, UK, Canada and Australia. This will get you the cheapest likes. With a good quote, you can get likes for as little as $.01 each.

    This is really only useful if you just want to create pseudo social proof for your page.

    When you post, what little organic reach you get will be going to users who don't really care about what you are posting. Because they liked your page based on the quote and not what it is really about. But all the likes will be real users.

    Personally, I would rather have likes from users who are actually interested in the content.
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  • Profile picture of the author ctrlaltdelete
    Short answer: Yes, you can get banned.

    Being more of a quality over quantity type of person, I prefer getting followers organically instead of buying my way to thousands of follows and likes. There are times when I do hire an assistant to help me out.

    Converting those followers into customers is more important, in my opinion, unless your goal is for appearance's sake. I'd rather gain a hundred followers who will all buy what I sell than get a thousand but end up only having ten or twenty who become customers.

    On a side note, I wish you the best of luck with your books!
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  • Profile picture of the author jbbryant
    As pointed out as much, the risk of getting banned. There goes your investment up in smoke and flames.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mikaela Pierre
    If Facebook or Twitter will found out that you have purchased such services, they will definitely ban or suspend your account
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  • Profile picture of the author Jessica Ambos
    Of course there are risks involved when buying followers. You don't have a guarantee that they will not troll you in the future and that alone will leave your "appearance" damaged. People eat everything on social media. Plus, you could get banned. Numbers can't buy your ebooks and they definitely have no idea what it is that you are writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author kahlir
    These are the 4 main reason to not to buy followers and likes.
    #1 Low Engagement / Low Edgerank Score.
    #2 You end up spamming your followers.
    #3 Loss of Integrity and Reputation.
    #4 You'll get found out!
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