Alyssa Evans | @lyssevans Having an ample number of likes is very appealing for a business’s Facebook page, and this has tempted some businesses to buy likes in order to boost their image. Something about this practice seems too good to be true, so what’s the catch?

When a Facebook page pays for additional likes, the companies that run these scenes sometimes promise businesses thousands of likes. To get the thousands of likes they need, these spammers have to do some dirty work. They acquire these likes by hacking real user’s accounts or by creating fake accounts. Keep in mind, the likes gained from fake accounts will not provide additional business because no one uses those accounts. Once they have hacked into real accounts, they use these accounts to like your page and then spread spam.

Facebook says that businesses should avoid any tricks or gimmicks to get more likes on the site because they are cracking down on this activity. Facebook actually profits from the elimination of spammers because legal issues have given Facebook the chance to fight back, and so far they have done a great job at winning these cases.

To track suspicious behavior, Facebook has automated and manual systems in place that find suspicious activity for fake likes on Facebook. The site works to monitor various points of interaction. Another way Facebook monitors account activity is by limiting the number of likes per account. If activity rapidly increases on a post or a page, further information is asked for verification. Other social media platforms limit these spam accounts as well. Twitter limits how many likes an account can do per day, though they will not tell you that number, and LinkedIn limits a user to requesting only 3,000 people in the lifetime of their accounts, though users with a lot of account activity can petition this number.

To improve the popularity of your business’s page on the site, Facebook has other paid options available. The “Build Audience” tab on Facebook allows companies to increase their number of likes and recruit users to promote their business. Facebook also has the ability to purchase ads and to boost posts. In order to avoid repercussions from Facebook, companies should stick to gaining likes by posting consistent, quality content rather than trying to buy likes. If you need help legitimately building your brand online, Social Media Delivered can guide you and your company.