Buying Twitter/Facebook Followers

[Hurf]

Well, if he is expecting conversion from fake followers - tell him to think again!

If he is looking to build credibility through numbers and THEN gain converting followers after the fact, then that may not be so silly (based on the psychology that people follow the crowd.)

Don't forget the SEO benefits of having a larger number of followers/fans is known to give.

[MarieHaynes]

My experiment with facebook ads is on a REALLY small scale.  I have been running $2.00 per day ads for 5 days now.  I read somewhere that when you're trying to gain fans it's best to run CPM rather than CPC, but when I look at the numbers I'm not sure about that.

So far I've gained 10 extra fans on $2 per day at a cost of $1 per fan.  That's higher than I'm willing to pay.  So, the next step is for me to start optimizing the campaign by targeting particular demographics (for example, my site attracts more people in the 25-34 range who are female so I'll target those).  I'm also going to start playing around with my ad copy.

Back to the CPC or CPM, I'm currently paying $0.21 CPM.  I'm going to see how the ads run once they're better targeted, and with different ad copy.  If I can't get the cost per fan acquisition down then I'll try some CPC ads.

It's fun to play around with.  Once I get it figured out then if I can get good quality fans for a decent price I'll throw more money at it.

Although I've only gained 10 fans directly from my ads, I gained a lot more fans than I usually do over a week.  I'm not sure if this is indirectly because of my ads or not.

My fan interactions are improving as well and I'm really enjoying starting to have a fan base.

[kchandler]

Sounds like a pretty good return, $1 per fan. Especially if the were truely engaged fans, rather than the fictious fans that it sounds like you could get from these purchasing sites. Thanks for the info!

[kchandler]

Is there actually a published article with statistics that state that more followers/fans give you higher ranking in SERPs?

[MarieHaynes]

I don't think that having more fans puts you higher in the serps.  However, when fans share your stuff on facebook it definitely helps.

I'm not sure how much effect a "like" has though as opposed to a "share".

[USHoleInOne]

Whats the point if the followers or fans aren't really interested in the content. A better way to earn facebook and twitter followers would be to run a contest or sweepstakes.

Then when you build the fan base, write interesting content that will keep them there.

[KeriMorgret]

Just today YOUmoz published a piece about one person's experience with buying Facebook followers. Most of them appeared to be from Eastern Europe, and possibly under 13 years old. He did not have the best experience. This was also at the request of a client who wouldn't back down. It might be useful to read, add a thumb if you agree, etc. http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/social-media-fan-base-to-buy-or-not-to-buy

[Tony-Karib]

My experience was a little different. I targeted and refined legitimate ads on Facebook to potential readers in the Philippians. They landed on a custom Facebook tab that encouraged them to "like" the page. Once they connected I have them move to a "Best of Our Website" page. The end results was about 3 cent per fan page follower and most of them visit our site immediately. These have stuck around and most visit the website again within one week of their initial like.

I've tried similar systems in a few other countries, but the cost was usually closer to 8 cent.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

I tried a sweepstakes. The prize was a $620 electronic device for athletes. The majority of entries were either fake people or couch potatos who spent countless hours entering sweepstakes and would never consider using the device. Lesson learned.

[JamesNorquay]

I would not advise on buying fans because usually you end up with low quality fans who have no engagement with the page, 95% of the time they are fake profiles too. Really why buy a bunch of fake fans, the only benefit is if you want to make your brand look like it has some likes! 
But overall in the future your page becomes a waste land where people do not even comment or any thing due to the fact you have no real customers to engage with.

[hireawizseo]

Numbers make a visual impact but there will be no interactivity or brand loyalty...