Fake Facebook Accounts Big Business
There are people and companies who create multiple fake FB accounts and build up the friend networks on those accounts for the purpose of selling a product or service, promoting something like a website, or simply selling the FB account. That said, always be sure to check who adds you on Facebook unless this is not important to you. If you accept just about any friend request, you run the risk of having your personal information exposed, and can get yourself spammed with ads.
Here are some guidelines below… but a disclaimer, these are my own, and might not work for you..
1. Check Pictures
If a person sending you a friend request does not have his or her own face on it, or might have other people’s pictures like an actress/actor, a dog… think twice before immediately accepting the request, and do a little investigating.
There are some Facebook accounts however, who have a complete set of photos of the same person but are still bogus.. photos are typically ripped from an unsuspecting user of another network like Friendster or Multiply and used on the fake account.
2. Check the friend request sender’s account profile for comments of other people on their pictures, and see if it appears like these comments are genuine interactions between people who actually know each other, that means that person actually exists.
3. Check the person’s wall and see if anyone has tagged them in pictures, notes or status messages .. if that person is tagged on photos of other people that is a good sign that the person is real and that Facebook account is legit. Look for posts on the wall that reveal a person’s personality, likes and dislikes, hobbies and interests. These are easily spotted in the form of photos and videos of that person, notes, and believable status updates.
4. Check the friend request sender’s wall for posted messages from other people and actual interactions.. if all you see are ..”added…”, “liked”, or “is now friends with”.. it is very likely this account is just being used to build up a network of people in order to market something to and is not owned by an actual person
5. Finally, do a search on Google for the person’s name. If they indeed exist there is a chance that their name is mentioned on some web page somewhere that has been indexed on Google.
Again, I believe it is important to check the add requests you get, because you could be allowing access to private information such as an email address, phone numbers and other personal information that might be taken advantage of by shady individuals. You could also be setting yourself up to get annoying advertising messages. Or worse, your identity get’s stolen and your pictures get used to create a fake personality/account on Facebook or another social networking site.
Here’s one more thing to think about. If you need visitors to send to an offer or to a website… or if you have a business that needs customers.. and you have 10 FB accounts each with 1000 people, you have a total network of 10,000 people. If you post a status message with a link to a website you want to promote, even if 10% of people click the link, that there is instantly 1000 visitors. Imagine if you post at least 5 status messages a day with a link. If your click through rate (CTR) is consistently 10%, then you are able to drive 5000 people everyday to any site of your choosing.
We know Facebook is profitable, and that is due to the website’s high traffic and usage by its members. But you probably would have never guessed it was profitable for some in this manner… people and companies whose business is creating and developing social networking accounts, who get paid to build it from the ground up, and even auction accounts with thousands of friends for thousands of dollars.
Facebook Marketing Tips for Newbies
I put together this short list of Facebook Marketing tips mainly because I was getting a lot of private messages from people whose friend requests I had approved. These private messages were not even, “hello thank you for accepting my friend request”, nor adequate introductions but messages that went like “hello would you like to invest in …..”, “hi, the real estate business is one of the best places to put your money in…”.
Have you ever received any of those messages on Facebook? It can get really annoying. So here are those tips and a few links to good places to read up on Facebook Marketing.
Tip 1 – Do Not Hard Sell
Facebook Marketing is not the process of adding people to your network, then sending them messages about investing or buying something as soon as your friend request gets accepted. Moreover, if they declines, please do not ask them for referrals or names of other people that you can pester. You are annoying people instead of getting them interested in what you are promoting.
Read the line above carefully, and note that the key word there is “interested.”
If people are not interested in what you have, they will not buy. If people do not feel a need for what you have, they will not buy. If people are not interested nor have a need for what you have, neither will they ever want to refer other people to you.
Tip 2 – Content Relevant to Your Audience is Key to Getting Attention
If you are selling a product or service through Facebook, you do not get people’s attention by messaging each and every one of them asking if they want to try your product or service. Instead, create and upload useful and helpful information such as articles, video or links on your profile page that your prospects will find important to them.
The best articles are always informative articles that zero-in on a specific need, problem or situation that they encounter or are in, that needs a solution. By providing valuable content to people on your network, you not only build and sustain a relationship with them but build TRUST.
People buy brands they trust. People buy from people they trust.
Tip 3 – Be Passionate About What You Post
Many times I see Facebook profile pages that look like they were half heartedly done. It gives me the impression that the person who created them did so not because he liked it, but did because his boss told him to do it as a way of getting more leads or potential business for the company. People see through that.
Be genuine, be real. Put your passions on your Facebook profile. I think it goes without saying that, it would be an advantage if you truly love your job and love what you do, because it will show in what you are posting on your profile page. When you write about something you are passionate about you will never run out of things to write, because you will always find something interesting to say… something that other people will also find interesting.
Tip 4 – Treat Your Friends as Friends and Not Leads or Prospects
I have heard many people talk about bumping into their Facebook friends on the street or somewhere but they never say hello. Facebook friends who initiated an a friend request even! What is the point of having someone on your FB friend list if you cannot even say hi or see eye to eye in the real world. People forget that, marketing is about relationships. This often happens when some person trying to sell something simply adds people to his friends list in order to try and pitch a product or service.
Everyone hates a salesman, but everyone likes to have a friend.
Tip 5 – Grow Your Network
For any social marketing effort to work, there is one thing you would need to do consistently… and that is to grow your network continuously. Apart from that, make sure to post useful content that people on your network would enjoy and find useful.. be helpful and make time to interact with people on your network. Again, marketing is about relationships… look at a person as a person and not as a lead.
So here are a few links to pages on Facebook Marketing which I like.
Facebook Marketing by Ron Jones talks about promoting your Facebook profile and fan pages. I especially liked the part about engagement and conversation. After all, social marketing IS about engagement and conversation.
Dosh Dosh Facebook Marketing: Articles and Resources talks about using FaceBook for Brand Exposure, Traffic and Sales and presents a good number of resources as well.
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