Buying youtube likes/facebook fans?

[NoSoup4you22]

Is anyone able to comment on the legitimacy/inner workings of these websites that let you buy youtube likes, fans, comments etc? I started looking into it because a local band here, who hasn't released their album yet or played a single show, had a huge spike of 600-700 fans in one day, without corresponding to any major event from the band. They also sound like shit, but that's beside the point. It looks like there's a whole "industry" for this sort of thing, but I don't know if some of them might be a scam.

 

[Pman]

Yeah I've seen that 'happen' to other bands aswell. You can actually buy them. http://www.fiverr.com is a website that sells various services/products for $5 and a lot of people also offer facebook likes /youtube visits on there.

 

[JeffTD]

Meh. Unsustainable growth = terrible business model. Pretty worthless IMO. You want an active fan base, not a ton of likes.

 

[Clockwork]

Yeah I think the real problem with buying likes is that you aren't really getting your music out there which should be the ultimate goal. The only benefit I could see would that when starting out it could provide some "seed likes" in the hopes that actual listeners might be encouraged if they think other people listen to you. Like when people put their own money in a tip jar in the hopes of getting more.

 

[egan.]

Sounds like you're buying an ego boost and not much else.

 

[JeffTD]

Sounds like you're buying an ego boost and not much else.

Don't talk shit about my Ed Hardy shirts bro.

 

[plague_rider]

Don't talk shit about my Ed Hardy shirts bro.

Why "buy likes" the whole point of being in a band is for the music and reaching people yourself...

 

[StefTD]

not worthy at all-you want your fans to share it and interact, create new content and so on (like posting pics
from your shows or writing that they dig your cd).
If you buy fans, you get nothing besides the little number that tells you "oh, seems like 1000 guys on facebook
like that band", there are a few companies around ehre that did it, some people realized it on one of the pages
and the real fans were like "guys-that's not cool, I am out"

 

[updog]

http://www.fiverr.com

i can get some chick out on the street, in a banana suit, to record a video message of whatever the fuck i want, and most importantly, for fucking $5???

SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

 

[rispsira]

Meh. Unsustainable growth = terrible business model. Pretty worthless IMO. You want an active fan base, not a ton of likes.

this

 

[sinewavealex]

I would much rather pay someone 5 bucks and have him post that link 800 times on various internet locations rather than having 800 likes from zombie computers he controls through his botnet...

 

[Benny H]

If this is your life.. then that's just sad really.

 

[schwinginbatman]

It's a bunch of crap for reasons listed above. You can have as many Facebook likes as you want, but if they aren't genuine, you aren't going to get anyone hearing your music, are you? I'd rather have 100 likes of people who would regularly come see my band, then 5,000 fake likes.

 

[updog]

You can have as many Facebook likes as you want, but if they aren't genuine, you aren't going to get anyone hearing your music, are you?

not entirely true. if the profiles that give the likes have any friends whatsoever, some of them are likely to check out a band out their friend appears to like. this is why facebook is a powerful tool to gain real fans as well.

 

[schwinginbatman]

not entirely true. if the profiles that give the likes have any friends whatsoever, some of them are likely to check out a band out their friend appears to like. this is why facebook is a powerful tool to gain real fans as well.

Well, yeah, you're entirely right, but I was under the assumption that these profiles weren't real exactly, just for the purpose of giving likes.

 

[NoSoup4you22]

That's what I'm not sure about... Some services claim to get you "real" fans and others are just obvious junk profiles. In any case I'd rather just pay someone to do PR for us.

 

[anotherpaul]

Buying likes/plays actually makes some sense only in a way that some people like booking agencies or managers don't even consider working with a band that has for example less than 5000 facebook likes.

I'd rather just pay someone to do PR for us.

Any particular names, links? I'm interested in finding a PR/social media marketing agency of some sort that would take an underground band seriously and actually do something valuable.

 

[Skadsson]

Only very bad booking agencies/concert promoters will only look at your likes. The key is fan interaction. A band from my home town gained 5000 likes within a month of them starting. They didn't even have one complete song on their facebook page, no merch, pretty much nothing except a bunch of fotos and an infotext. Their fan interaction now lingers at the same level like that of a small band with just a few hundred likes - even though they actually bought on to some tours with moderately well known international metal bands.

If you're looking for fan interaction, maybe you should consider running a facebook ad and post content frequently. It's all about keeping people interested.

 

[anotherpaul]

Sorry for OT, but maybe someone can point me to the right source to read.

Thing is, my band has been around for 7 years, we have 2 LPs out, but:
1. We're from Russia, we have 4500 "likes" in russian facebook-like network and only 580 on facebook. No matter how hard we post shit on fb, only 10-100 of our facebook friends react and news rarely go outside the small russian facebookers community.
2. We don't tour so there's not much to post about. I've been reading my favorite bands' twitters and facebooks, they just post about their shows and how they meet people on tour.
3. We don't know anything about "keeping people interested" and I would gladly pay someone to teach me how to reach fans, make relevant news out of nothing and basically share my music with more people.

 

[Skadsson]

That was just a more general statement. While I have delved into the subject somewhat, I am no expert by any means. I just learn shit as I go along. Our band doesn't have too many likes either, but I'm rather happy with the amount of interaction that happens when we post something.