The great business marketing race of 2010 is in full swing. The goal? To have people like you. Facebook people. Hundreds, thousands, and even millions of them. Everybody who's anybody in business knows one thing (and in many cases one thing only) about social media: They need lots and lots and lots of people to like them on their Facebook pages. More people liking them equals more popular, which equals more of stuff that's good, like people liking them. Or at least that appears to be the formula.

Who's liking whom?
But wait. These people who like you -- who or, more precisely, what are they? When pursuing people to get them to like you, always be sure to give due diligence to these questions:

• What is their inherent value?
• Is quantity really the end goal for businesses engaging in social media?
• Has quality become an after-thought?
• Does having a million potentially blasé "likes" make for better business than having 50,000 solid brand evangelists?
• What if you want to target only those 50,000 evangelists?
• Can you avoid the other 950,000 people who "like" your business?
• Is there a formula for attracting only the choicest people?

Be wary of followers who aren't friends
Your brand ambassadors/supporters will always do the most for you. The further you get from those who know you and whom you know, the more gray area you reside in when determining the definition and worth of your relationship. This is seemingly true in social media as well. People who love the brand and people who you know love the brand are going to always be your best brand ambassadors.

But what about those people who aren't familiar with the brand? If you heavily promote a drive to attract more people, just who are you driving to like your business offering? Always consider these questions when determining if pursuing a large number of people is the best social media strategy for your page.

Don't fool yourself: Some followers simply aren't
Look, while Facebook offers you excellent opportunities to engage with dissatisfied consumers, remember that this is an opportunity and nothing more. Simply being able to engage a negative person is absolutely no guarantee that you can change his or her perception or behavior toward your brand. In fact, some people may even revel in being against your brand and are "trolling" to engage you in activity.

Be ready for this. Have an exit strategy for dealing with these types of posters. Do not deeply engage them, as these people are often agitators who know how to express their opinions and can converse with and against you using a totally different set of rules than what you follow. Tread lightly and intelligently with any interactions that may occur between you and these types of "likes" because you're only fooling yourself if you really believe you can turn all of them into brand enthusiasts.

Dress appropriately, as you will be thrown under the bus
At some point, somehow, despite your best efforts and intentions, you will be thrown under the social media bus by a person, or people, or a group of people acting together to attack you as part of their agenda.

Nestlé learned this the hard way when it engaged in a back-and-forth with Greenpeace activists who launched a coordinated attack against the brand on the Nestlé Facebook page. The back-and-forth got emotional and out of control, was unprofessional, and put lots and lots of internet egg all over Nestlé's face.

So learn from this incident. When (not if) you face a similar situation, have your exit strategy in place. Activate it. But don't stress out since inevitably, as is the nature of the internet, the bus will move on. Simply do not make matters worse or pour flames on the fire, and another story will take your place in the 24/7 news cycle. Take your little lumps professionally and then move on to something else, because that's what everyone else will do.

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