There is a purge coming from Facebook and it affects all business pages. Various social media outlets have carried out their own version of “swift justice”. Twitter and Instagram recently purged a lot of fake fans and it seems Facebook is joining in too. So what’s going on exactly? Starting March 12, Facebook will begin to purge likes on business pages that are from duplicate, false or inactive accounts. If there’s one thing Facebook cares about the most, it’s authenticity.

As an advertiser on Facebook, you should care about your ROI (return on investment) and if your message is being delivered to the right audience. You’re paying for results and that’s what matters. Will your page’s engagement rate decline? Yes, if you’re all about is the number of fans and how popular the page is. The purge won’t affect your reach or true engagement at all. Think about it; the fake fans won’t interact with your page and they won’t see any of your posts because they’re not real.

The important thing to remember is that Facebook filters out fake profiles better than anyone else. That’s why it’s always been hard for people to “buy likes” for Facebook in recent years. You will lose likes during the purge but it won’t be catastrophic.

Facebook clearly states “We’re removing voluntarily deactivated and memorialized accounts from Pages’ like counts to ensure that page audience metrics are meaningful and consistent. As a result, you may notice a dip in your aggregate page likes in early-March. This change does not affect organic or paid distribution of your content.” In case you were wondering, if a person deactivated their account and decided to come to Facebook, their “like” that you’ve earned will come back as well.

This is truly a GOOD thing that Facebook is doing. When your fan count drops, your reach and engagement numbers will rise. Real humans interacting with your page will cause the growth. This is yet another reason why buying likes and fans just doesn’t pay. Facebook is just getting rid of useless space and it’s about time. With that being said, keep an eye on your pages and don’t panic when the dip happens.