Facebook, much like Twitter and other social media tools, has become a necessity for many businesses and organizations. Facebook can be a powerful tool for providing better and more proactive customer service to your clients, for learning more about your customers habits and even for generating new sales.
Because of the importance of Facebook, starting a company page should not be taken lightly. Here are the top mistakes, in random order, to absolutely avoid when creating your corporate Facebook presence.
Lack of Objectives
Many businesses will rush and start a Facebook page for their company without sufficient forethought. As with any other business endeavor – advertising, expansion, marketing etc – you need to determine what you are trying to achieve.
What do you want to accomplish by having a formal presence on Facebook? Increase sales, gain exposure for a new product or service, improve customer service and client relations? And once you have your goal, how do you plan on determining benchmarks to test the effectiveness of your efforts?
Rules? What Rules?
Facebook has terms and conditions just like any other business. They are letting you know what is admissible and what is not. Too often, businesses tend to ignore the rules simply because they think that it is a standard agreement that does not merit attention.
Did you know, for example, that it if you plan on running a promotion or contest on your Facebook page, that you are not allowed notifying the winner via Facebook? It states:
You cannot: Notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.
While it may seem insignificant, there is no reason to take a chance running afoul of the Facebook terms and conditions.
Not Getting Informed
Another common mistake that businesses tend to make when using Facebook is not taking advantage of the available tools. Facebook Insights, for example, is a free service that lets you see statistical data about your page.
For example, you can see how many times your posted content was seen in a news feed or directly on your company page wall. Using Insights, you can discover what your most and least popular content is and then adjust accordingly.
It’s also important that you know what you are doing. Creating a personal profile instead of a proper Facebook page is against Facebook terms and unwise.
Too Little Promotion
Another error that gets made is not promoting your Facebook page. You can, for example, post a link to your page from your corporate website. You can also find creative ways to tie in your Facebook page in other corporate communications.
Too Much Promotion
This is another potential problem for businesses utilizing Facebook. No one likes spam and rarely is being overzealous a positive thing. Over-promoting your Facebook page not only can be annoying but is also not necessary if quality content exists on your page to begin with.
There is no need to invite and add people you do not know to your Facebook page because chances are that they will refuse to do so anyway.
Not Being Available
Starting a Facebook page requires an understanding that, should it become popular, it will require a minimum investment in time. Users may ask questions using your page or may post useful comments about your services. If there is no official company response to these posts, then you are losing a golden opportunity to directly interact with your users.
Poor Content
Posting low quality content on your Facebook page will not attract attention nor will it be enticing for current subscribers. If posting an interesting link on your wall, then make sure to include a comment about why you feel it is important.
Another important tip is to post Facebook-only content, whether a contest or special discount etc. This gives your users an incentive to go to your page and are more likely to interact.
Fake Posts
This “no no” is apparently not obvious to everyone. Creating fake Facebook user accounts in order to inflate the number of Likes you receive or to make your page seem more busy is not a good idea and should be avoided. Not only does it potentially break Facebook’s terms and conditions but also is a waste of your time that should be spent elsewhere.
Too Personal, Too Funny
There should be a balance between being professional and being personal on your Facebook page and many businesses tend to get carried away. If your business is looking to interact directly with your users in a familiar and friendly way, then make sure that it fits in with your overall corporate image and is always focused on serving your brand or product.
For example, one company that makes accessories for the Amazon Kindle ereader recently posted a picture on their Facebook page of a specially designed accessory done by the company CEO honoring the death of his dog. This is an example of good content: an offbeat post that showcases the company’s product and generates interest.
Forgetting Where You Are
Facebook is an online social network. This may sound obvious but you are creating a public presence on the internet viewable by anyone. Make sure that you do not include content on your page wall that you will come to regret later. Your Facebook content may get indexed by Google (or other search engines) and therefore have a wider audience.
Facebook is the largest social networking website with millions of potential users that your business can have access to. When creating a Facebook presence, it is important to avoid some of the common mishaps that are often committed to get the most out of your marketing efforts and reach the most clients.
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