I’m intrigued by people – some big name bloggers too – who recommend “seeding” comments on blogs. That is getting friends etc to routinely post comments, using aliases, on your posts to entice visitors to comment. What value is there in doing that? Would it not be better to challenge yourself to write better, so as to naturally stimulate readers’ to comment?

But it’s not just the guys “manufacturing” blog comments. I’m also often amused by people who send me emails offering thousands of LIKES for sale. To me, indulging in any of the foregoing would amount to a needless waste of time.

I’m not passing judgement on anyone here – just stating my considered opinion.

Below are Three (3) Ways I Believe Buying Facebook Likes Can Hurt You

1. You Invite the Wrong People to Receive Your Marketing Messages

If you seek patronage from a serious minded and discerning target audience, buying LIKES is not for you.

To me, buying Facebook LIKES or “seeding comments” amounts to deception. Except the person who does it is willing to announce the fact publicly (which would defeat the purpose, of course!). If not, that’s deception, and in my candid opinion, a very unnecessary deception.

Do those who do it get LIKES based on their target audience profile? My checks suggest no reliable way of doing that exists.

Most times it’s just about getting numbers. The thinking is a large number of LIKES will make more people willing to LIKE your page.

Yes, that may be true, but I personally do NOT want people who need to see a crowd FIRST, before deciding what I offer is good for them! Instead, I seek to connect on Facebook with people who KNOW what they want, and when they see it, would not mind being the first to click LIKE.

I guess it depends on what each person is selling.

The solutions I offer via my pages are meant for the attention of a discerning target audience.

2. You’re Likely to Connect Less Effectively With Your Target Audience

Case study: My Excel-Visual Basic Driven Spreadsheet Automation Service Facebook Page

I prefer 39 quality LIKES to 10,000 purchased LIKES.

Yes, that’s all I have now – just a measly 39 LIKES on that page (as at the last count yesterday). But none of them was purchased. It’s taken about 18 months to get that small number!

But it’s less than numbers, and more about how quickly the LIKES came, that got my attention.

If truth be told, I only really began promoting the page with purpose, in the last quarter of 2012 (same applies to my Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas Facebook page). This was just after I began using a blog on my website.

I use article marketing, video marketing, report writing, newsletter marketing etc integrated via a Web Marketing System to attract attention online.

Subscriptions to my Youtube channel, and LIKES on my page, began trickling in as I continued.

By paying close attention, I discovered that over 80% of those who clicked LIKE on my Excel Heaven page were from Asia – most from India. Many sent email enquiries too. A few are from America, South Africa, UK and Europe. If I recall correctly, only TWO are from my part of the world (Africa).

Insights I’ve gained from this very slow building of followers for my page, has helped greatly. I now better understand where to focus my efforts towards winning clients from that page.

3. You End Up Not Being Sure What Works

Having a page that people LIKED on their own makes discovering what they’ll buy easier. It may not happen overnight – and I’m not in a hurry. My purpose is to understand what works, and then use it repeatedly to increase the rate at which I get what I want = MORE LIKES…and eventually sales leads.

So what changed to cause this recent increase in my Facebook LIKES, and Youtube subscriptions?

I asked myself that question when I began noticing the trend.

Here’s what I came up with:

I’ve been doing a lot more writing since 1st November 2012, when I adopted my Daily Writing Schedule. And in as many posts as possible, I take pains to mention and link to relevant web based resources that talk about my services and products. E.g. videos, websites, facebook pages, PDF reports etc.

Over time, subscriptions from my blog to my newsletter mailing list increased. That indicated my work was getting noticed, and attracting interest. That eventually led to the facebook and Youtube visits.

I did not pay for any artificial stimulation of interest in what I do. This means what I’m getting is a good indication of what my TRUE audience wants. Little wonder I’ve been generating quality sales leads – like this one…

Isn’t that what we’re all after? Results?

My adopted approach takes longer…and more work. But I prefer it to one that could make me “look/feel” like I’m getting results (because of the large number of LIKES), when in fact I’m spinning my wheels!

Final Words: Web User Behaviour Varies from Culture to Culture

Those who preach use of web marketing strategies often ignore (or forget to consider) the influence of culture.

Yet the fact remains that Internet user behaviour varies greatly from society to society. And that affects the results one gets from implementing any particular online marketing tactic.

For instance, Nigerians – indeed Africans – often use the web VERY differently from Americans. The things that excite the latter on Facebook/elsewhere would often not get any useful response from the former.

I know this because I sell to both groups, and others. A sound understanding of the mental attitude of your online target audience is imperative, if you want to succeed.

This makes me very wary of adopting strategies indiscriminately. Especially doing something like…buying Facebook LIKES