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I run profitable Facebook marketing campaigns. Here's the problem with this guy's argument: He expects people from Somalia to be as responsive to his content

I run profitable Facebook marketing campaigns. Here's the problem with this guy's argument: He expects people from Somalia to be as responsive to his content at people from the United States. That makes exactly zero sense. These aren't "likes", these are people. And the people from Somalia apparently don't like his content. But, according to his very own numbers, people from the United States are very responsive. Are fake likes the obvious answer? Or is he completely ignoring marketing fundamentals?

mikeg8 13y ago
Please write an article about how you run these "profitable" campaigns. Seriously. It seems like you are the only person I've ever heard make this claim and I'm sure people here are dying to know the secret.
- dangrossman 13y ago
  I've run many profitable campaigns on Facebook -- by not buying likes or advertising a Facebook Page. You can advertise normal links on Facebook and that operates like any other online ad -- some text and a picture, linked to a landing page for your own site. There's no "likes" to count or "engagement" to measure other than the normal conversion metrics -- how many of the clickthroughs completed whatever action you wanted them to complete on the landing page, how many eventually convert to paying customers, and is their LTV higher than their CPA. Facebook's also a great channel for retargeting. I run a campaign for Improvely there and the ads only appear to people that have already hit the signup page within the past few days.
  - AznHisoka 13y ago
    Sounds like that's the only viable way to have profitable campaigns: having ads that go directly to your landing page. I for one am confused as to why people chose the other indirect, convoluted way: buying likes, directing people to their FB page, THEN hoping they click through to their actual website.
    - bauc 13y ago
      You can save money on a Facebook ad by linking to a Facebook page, well on a per click basis but I'm not sure if it's a good strategy overall.
- brandnewlow 13y ago
  Our company has seen lots of profitable campaigns run through us onto Facebook. We know this because our customers track the sales they get from the ads and it can be easily compared against the amount they spent.
ebabchick 13y ago
I think you're misunderstanding the word "fake" in this context. He means they are inauthentic likes, aka likes from real people who don't actually like what they're clicking the Like button on.
- JacobJans 13y ago
  The problem is that he's intentionally buying likes from people he KNOWS aren't responsive. The simple solution? Stop targetting the unresponsive countries. It's not rocket science. It's actually super-brain-dead obvious. If you're buying likes from India -- and no Indians are responding to your content -- then why would you keep buying likes from India? This is stuff you can spend $5 to figure out. It is very, very, very easy to stop targeting the countries that don't respond. He claims certain countries give him a good response, and certain countries give him no response. His solution is to stop advertising and complain about "fake likes." Why doesn't he just stop targeting markets that don't work for him? Maybe so he can make a link-bait youtube video?
  - dangerlibrary 13y ago
    I see you are a proponent of the third way. http://xkcd.com/1285/ http://xkcd.com/1285/
  - 0x0 13y ago
    He was buying likes only from the US and he was still getting fraudulent likes from profiles that liked thousands of pages.
    - interstitial 13y ago
      It's funny how he predicted all these stock objections to his claims of fraud in the video, and yet they all appear here in the HN thread. Let's all watch the video again shall we?
  - KaoruAoiShiho 13y ago
    You didn't watch the video...
Finster 13y ago
If the people didn't like his content, then why did they "like" it?
- mikeg8 13y ago
  winner winner chicken dinner
- 2772726262562 13y ago
  Because the internet is just a big video game with few consequences for trivial, meaningless actions. Click any button you see, FTW! Who cares?

mikeg8 13y ago

Please write an article about how you run these "profitable" campaigns. Seriously. It seems like you are the only person I've ever heard make this claim and I'm sure people here are dying to know the secret.

dangrossman 13y ago
I've run many profitable campaigns on Facebook -- by not buying likes or advertising a Facebook Page. You can advertise normal links on Facebook and that operates like any other online ad -- some text and a picture, linked to a landing page for your own site. There's no "likes" to count or "engagement" to measure other than the normal conversion metrics -- how many of the clickthroughs completed whatever action you wanted them to complete on the landing page, how many eventually convert to paying customers, and is their LTV higher than their CPA. Facebook's also a great channel for retargeting. I run a campaign for Improvely there and the ads only appear to people that have already hit the signup page within the past few days.
- AznHisoka 13y ago
  Sounds like that's the only viable way to have profitable campaigns: having ads that go directly to your landing page. I for one am confused as to why people chose the other indirect, convoluted way: buying likes, directing people to their FB page, THEN hoping they click through to their actual website.
  - bauc 13y ago
    You can save money on a Facebook ad by linking to a Facebook page, well on a per click basis but I'm not sure if it's a good strategy overall.
brandnewlow 13y ago
Our company has seen lots of profitable campaigns run through us onto Facebook. We know this because our customers track the sales they get from the ads and it can be easily compared against the amount they spent.

ebabchick 13y ago

I think you're misunderstanding the word "fake" in this context. He means they are inauthentic likes, aka likes from real people who don't actually like what they're clicking the Like button on.

JacobJans 13y ago
The problem is that he's intentionally buying likes from people he KNOWS aren't responsive. The simple solution? Stop targetting the unresponsive countries. It's not rocket science. It's actually super-brain-dead obvious. If you're buying likes from India -- and no Indians are responding to your content -- then why would you keep buying likes from India? This is stuff you can spend $5 to figure out. It is very, very, very easy to stop targeting the countries that don't respond. He claims certain countries give him a good response, and certain countries give him no response. His solution is to stop advertising and complain about "fake likes." Why doesn't he just stop targeting markets that don't work for him? Maybe so he can make a link-bait youtube video?
- dangerlibrary 13y ago
  I see you are a proponent of the third way. http://xkcd.com/1285/ http://xkcd.com/1285/
- 0x0 13y ago
  He was buying likes only from the US and he was still getting fraudulent likes from profiles that liked thousands of pages.
  - interstitial 13y ago
    It's funny how he predicted all these stock objections to his claims of fraud in the video, and yet they all appear here in the HN thread. Let's all watch the video again shall we?
- KaoruAoiShiho 13y ago
  You didn't watch the video...

Finster 13y ago

If the people didn't like his content, then why did they "like" it?

mikeg8 13y ago
winner winner chicken dinner
2772726262562 13y ago
Because the internet is just a big video game with few consequences for trivial, meaningless actions. Click any button you see, FTW! Who cares?