Remember the time you got 1, then 10 and then 50 likes? It is an exhilarating feeling, knowing others enjoy your content enough to like or follow your page. This excitement over followers can be diminished, however. When you find you’re trying to reach out to followers and nobody’s reaching back, you might suspect something–more and more individuals and pages are realizing that maybe a significant amount of likes on their pages aren’t authentic. Especially when you have many social media sites of which to keep track, this can be frustrating.
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What are authentic likes?
When I refer to authentic likes, please understand that it means likes from real people who care about you and your page. With authentic likes, there is a relationship component. The main point here is that one of the best ways to know if you have authentic likes is if your page is displaying traffic in alignment with your likes. For example, you can post a photo, and people can like, comment and/or share it. If you are using your page effectively, there should be traffic and engagement with your posts. Why should you care if your likes are authentic? Because your page can be penalized in Facebook search if you have a large number of likes that never interact or of low quality accounts.
Fake Likes
Many fake followers come from countries other than your own. This is especially true for small businesses who focus on a local audience within their city or town. Social media sites like Facebook now offer you the ability to block accounts geographically by country. 
As you can see, it gives you the chance to place geographical limits so that your page can stop accumulating fake and unnecessary likes. There accounts are tied to “click farms.” These accounts have the sole purpose of clicking likes and in return generating money. Some countries that generate the highest fake likes are from Bangladesh, Syria and the Philippines. Again, using this restriction can help you block future fake likes that have no engagement with your page.
Real Engagement
Of course it is hard to remove the fake likes, but by putting geographic limiters, we are doing something to prevent future fake likes. The ultimate goal is to have a relationship with your followers, to be able to engage either through likes, comments, sharing or simply being present. Ideally, as many of your followers as possible are real and willing to engage with you.
Tips to help determine the fakes and connect to your “real” followers.
- Evaluate the type of platform (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) you are using and if it is helping you connect to your audience.
- Evaluate the audience members on your page.
- Pay attention to the types of engagements happening on your page and find a strategy based on the preferences of your audience.
- Create your personal style of engagements with your followers, which will allow them to participate and engage with you.
Stay on top of your page by paying attention to the type of followers you have and how they prefer to stay engaged with you, and build a strategy around that. Overall, when it comes to your likes on Facebook or followers on Twitter, it is best to focus on quality over quantity. After all, cultivating real relationships with your followers is the key to a successful social media campaign. If you found this post useful, also check out why you shouldn’t buy likes on Facebook. Questions? Concerns? Leave a comment below and we will be happy to help!
