They admitted earlier this year that around 8.7% of their users might be fake accounts 'gained by means that violate our Facebook Terms.' That's an estimated 83 million accounts made up of duplicates, user misclassified or malware programs. Facebook states:
"We do not and have never permitted the purchase or sale of Facebook Likes as we only want people connecting to the Pages and brands with whom they have chosen to connect.
Beyond the need to maintain authentic relationships on Facebook, these third-party vendors often attempt to use malware or other forms of deception to generate fraudulent Likes, which is harmful to all users and the internet as a whole"
Many of these fake Likes come from countries such as Egypt, the Philippines and Indonesia. Although Facebook already has a system for detecting fake profiles, they aim to improve on it and continue to take action on suspicious Likes. It is estimated that less than 1% of Likes on any given Page will be removed, providing they have been abiding by the terms.
This has got people asking
How much a Like is worth?
There is no point in marketing to get Likes off people that don't genuinely like your brand and won't end up being a customer. It is more valuable to your company to work on getting your engagement levels up and interacting with your real fans rather than purchasing Likes to get a high scorecard. It will also mean your insights will provide you with a more accurate measurement of your fan count, demographic and location.
Check out our infographic for ways to drive genuine traffic to your Facebook Page here.
Call Woocom today on 1300 WOOCOM (1300 966 266) to learn more about increasing your engagement on Facebook, and for information on building your following across Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn.