It was only a matter of time before another company decided to publicly announce the launch of a service which sells Facebook Page fans for next to nothing. That’s exactly what Viralee is doing this evening. We’ve been receiving inquiries from numerous companies which sell fans under the table, but none have been willing to make a public announcement.
The real issue here is that many services may technically violate Facebook terms. Even if they don’t, it’s direct competition to Facebook in one regard which is why this is shaky ground to operate a business on. In the past week alone, Viralee claims that they’ve sold over 1 million fans. That means serious cash is being spent on fans and according to the underground companies we’ve spoken to, brands are flocking to the “pay per fan” model which we’ve written about numerous times.
So how long does it take for Viralee to turnaround fan orders? The company’s founder, Dominic Holland, has provided us with the following numbers:
For 1-100 fans – same day
For 1,000 fans – inside of 5 days
For 10,000 fans – inside of 14 daysAnd one plan for the corporate guys is 1,000,000 fans which we guarantee within a month
The only other public competitor that we know of currently, USocial, has already received a Cease And Desist letter after reportedly spamming users and gaining unauthorized access to user accounts. Dominic Holland, founder of Viralee, tells us that “We do not take control of any users account at any time. We create a page for the user and market it within and externally to facebook.”
Pricing for fans through Viralee depends on how many you purchase. For 10 fans it’s 50 cents per fans, whereas for 10,000 fans it’s $0.099 cents per fan. It’s unknown whether or not Facebook will try to crack down on pay per fan services as most fans will be untargeted. Facebook in contrast provides homepage engagement ads which can drive a large number of targeted fans. As I wrote yesterday morning, Verizon was able to attract over 100,000 fans in a day from a single homepage advertisement.
While engagement ads are sold on a CPM basis, we’re hearing that the effective cost per fan for homepage engagement ads is anywhere between $5 and $10. Facebook appears to be experiencing growth in brand ad spend though which is why they may allow untargeted marketing services to peacefully coexist. Oh and if you were wondering who Dominic Holland is, he’s the guy that Orabrush acquired the “Kisses” page from in a bidding war with Hershey.
10 cents sounds like a great deal until you peel back incentivized traffic and the fact that is isn’t US traffic necessarily. It’s probably Turkey, India, Chile, and places that you can’t monetize.
Whilst your skepticism may be warranted, perhaps you should test the service before making any assumptions. We can provide targeted fans for a page!
At what cost for US fans Dominic?
I will need more information regarding how many fans total you are after, and what % of them you wish to be from the US. Feel free to email me info{at}viralee.com
The hope Dominic is that if a brand is paying you money, and they are a location based in the US that you not only are going to deliver them all targeted traffic, but also primarily US based (city and state or at least a close proximity) to where ever the company is based out of.
You shouldn’t be saying “we can provide targeted fans” but rather “we will provide targeted fans”
Otherwise you are delivering junk traffic, making for unnecessary and unauthentic fans, and praying on the ignorance of brands and making the overall experience unpleasant for many people in the long run.
Hi Thomas,
I appreciate your comment. The truth is that Facebook is obviously global medium of marketing. The vast concentration of users (and hence fans of all of my page) are from the US, UK, Europe and Australia.
Additionally, I have had great success and furthering the brand recognition of major global corporates. Additionally, the nature of viral marketing means that purchasing 100 fans exposes the friend groups of those 100 fans to the page as well, this is not directly measurable by me and obvious not charged for.
Like any marketing resource, whether online or offline, targeting is not FREE and carries more work, and hence a higher cost. Any professional who has paid for marketing services before would be aware of this.
Dominic,
I assume that fans that are acquired via a paid program are less valuable than those acquired naturally. This is not a knock on your program - much like direct traffic to a site has a higher value (conversions and AOV) than cpm advertising on MSN does.
Have you studied the value of the fans you acquire for clients vs those acquired via cpm on facebook vs those acqired virally?
Dennis: Can’t be chinese traffic, as there are only 50 000 Facebook users in China:
http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/CN/
But maybe it could be India, where there are almost 5 million Facebook users:
http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/IN/
But the question is how much these “bought” fans are really fans.
This a great deal, We first need to know what Facebook will do about it.
I want real fans-people who look-Interact-with my app-not someone who looks once and doesn’t give a rats ass–
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Le-Roy-NY/WWWSHEDGUYWS/39614942779
where do they get the names from? any shmuck can have thousands of fands, but is that sales? no!
Facebook will definitely not allow this - as it is both a violation of their TOS and a direct competitor (albeit a poor one) to their ads.
If you want fans, you should run a contest or a promotion that gives incentive to your existing fans to spread the message.
See this example that IKEA did. http://bit.ly/4AxXcC
Authenticity is key to a successful social media campaign.
Well i totally agree with Dennis, 10 cents may sound like cheap but it’s like throwing a net in the open ocean and trying to grab anything that comes by…and that means poor catch… frankly FB has a long long way to catch up with other ad platforms… i won’t mention them here coz i don’t want extra competition hehe..
Dominic, a well put rebuttal, and when you put it that way I can see how you are able to build value in the eyes of the brands that come to you.
For Brands that are Global, this methodology does have sound merit. To me though, it makes as much sense as justifying a tampax commercial during Monday night Football because there are women that watch football.
My guess is though, the million fan package is not the primary focus of your business, nor is it the thing you pitch when approached by companies.
Surely it sounds quite enticing to a company, global or otherwise, that knows very little except they “have to be on facebook” to get 10,000 fans for the justifiable cost of $990. This is a price that even regional or local businesses can justify when they believe that they’re going to be the next big brand online. It is an understatement to say that this is a price point is very easy to upsell.
My hope, though I have my doubts, is that you also put an emphasis on being engaging. Otherwise, brands that are now taking the leap are going to find themselves with a page full of fans, and no one to talk to.
Dominic I truly believe that time either promotes or exposes a person. In the long run I hope you find a way to actually provide value to a community instead of serving your own interests.
I ordered 10 days ago and have received NOTHING. I cannot even get a follow-up email.
Well the only response that effected me and my realities is Matt Abron’s Thank You!
We all know the INTERNET, social networking and commerce is global. I want to know if the site is reputable. If I win and pay for a winning bid can & will I get my widget.
All the rest is philosophy rhetoric we have already heard. Such will be digested when our economy is better, I must survive today.
thus my primary concern is if this site is viable.
Again Thank you Matt Abron for sharing salient data.
I had ordered 1,000 fans to test the service (as one commenter says “Perhaps you should test the service…”), and had received nothing. Not even replies to any of my e-mails past day 5 (when I asked why there weren’t any new fans,since Dominic Holland states in this article that he can get you 1,000 fans in 5 days).
No email replies, no facebook replies. I tracked down Matt, who talks about how he got no results. Matt told me that he had to threaten to sue to get his money back.
On day 30, I requested a refund through Paypal. Mr. Holland did not reply to that e-mail either. Paypal gave me a refund a week later– but it was Paypal, not Viralee that gave the refund. They ruled in my favor in this dispute.
Since I shared my experience on my blog, I’ve had another person say they got nothing (2 months now), and one person that said they got their followers from Malaysia, and they would not do it again, as the followers are of extremely poor quality.