Do we really like Facebook 'Likes'?

Have you ever been told/(sold) that the more 'likes' a company has on Facebook (FB) or how many tweets contain some particular hashtag that they must be immediately the best then all the others?  

Not too fast.... 

In a recent atricle they state:
"It’s easy to tell how many likes, tweets or clicks your posts are drawing, but when it comes to measuring sentiment or opinion from social media, things get decidedly murky" and I'd agree.

Do we 'like' FB likes? 

To add question to this FB likes claim, did you know that you can buy FB likes? A quick Google search for "facebook likes" will result in a number of companies willing to sell you "100% True Facebook likes"? I had no idea! I guess they are basically a commodity now.  (See end blog for a short list I found)

One site says it is easy as:


Another pushes you to buy buy like by stating:
 
But does anyone know the value of a FB like? 

The Research 

My hunt took me to two recent studies have shed some light on what the 'true' value of a Facebook Like : “The Facebook Factor” via Forrester and the “Power of a Like 2” the sequel to comScore’s “Power of a Like” released last year.

Both studies dove into the use of FB across several large, retail brands (Best Buy appeared in both). The comScore article they indicated that  BB fans "spend on average 131% more in Best Buy stores and online than those who are not Fans of Best Buy."[1]

To me that is amazing amount of increase from a FB like! 

  
We all believe that FB fans are important but both studies indicated that the 'right' FB likes is what a company should be looking for but the reviewing article I found cautioned:

“Profile and target your Facebook fans. Use demographics, marketing preferences, and online and retail behaviors to tailor your marketing strategy to them. Your fans are among your highest value customers — they spend more, and they are advocates of your brand. Target your customer retention marketing strategy to appeal to these valuable customers.”

Take Aways 

So the take aways I got from reviewing the articles listed on this post and other sites are to:
1) Use FB likes as a part of your marketing effort.
2) FB likes are not created equal.  Because the person who likes you are unique . 
3) Be on the look out for more FB indications other than likes (humorous one below).
 4) With your fans you should goal should aim to "deliver maximum reach, achieve brand resonance,
and hopefully influence  consumers to purchase or  engage with the brand." [2]
 


Those willing to sell you FB likes:
http://get-likes.com/
http://fbsupplier.com/  
http://officialfacebooklikes.com/ 
http://socialbuzzer.net/buy-facebook-likes/

[1] http://socialmediatoday.com/steve-olenski/699696/real-value-facebook
[2]comScore's article