Like it or not Facebook ‘Likes’ have now become a shiny, new marketing tool.

Dollars and teams are being dedicated to building legions of ‘Likers’ and ‘Sharers’.

The belief is that the audience gained is actually among targeted customers and that they will at some point help build business.

The jury is still out on this, but the frenzied quest for Likes has spawned a new era of trickery and deception, all to get you to click that little button of love.

Here are some classics:

1. Reverse Psychology.This is a fairly new trick to get you to Like/Share a post. They use a little reverse psychology to make you think you are smart by being able to answer a question easily. But before you type ‘Monopoly’ in the comments section, understand that you were just tricked into giving the host a higher SEO and page rank.

2. If I Had A Million Likes.Sneaky! Sneaky! For those of you who have Liked one of these posts, see if any of these people are still in your Liked list. Hmmm. I don’t remember liking Bill Joe’s Auto Dealership.When did I become a fan of Willy’s Widgets? When these cute little kids get a million Likes, they’re cute page magically transforms, in the middle of the night, into a business (auto dealership, radio station, local insurance agency). These companies enjoy the launch of their new social media page with a base of millions of Likes, all gained because you wanted to help someone.

3. The Sob Story. There are multiple fan pages on Facebook based solely on getting people to interact through sad events. They post something that makes you laugh, or cry and you click Like and Share. This puts it in front of all your friends and so on and so on, until you see the story has 3.8 million likes! What you don’t necessarily know is that there could be a company behind this hoping now to sell you, and your friends, and their friends something.

Pressing Like is similar to giving out your email address to everyone!

We at Rocket Branding do not advocate trickery for successful brand building. ‘Likes’ may ultimately be important to your brand’s growth, and if so, then we will recommend some very sound and legitimate ways to do it and win in this arena. What say you?

Visit us at www.rocketbranding.com