Seven years after social media became too popular for the average citizen (and marketers) to ignore, it’s still a source of confusion for business owners. Conventional wisdom says you should have a Facebook and that you should have a Facebook business page. But to many business owners, using this social media network effectively is akin to figuring out how to split atoms.
Facebook has a cool mystique about it among business owners. They’ve got a page, their name is in lights. Now what? What often comes next is a complete butchering of the medium and muddled posting that leads many users to tune that business out or shake their head. Don’t be that business. Be the business that succeeds, not the business committing Facebook fails.
Before Your Business Flees in Terror, Step Back and Review Your Efforts.
Common Facebook Page Marketing mistakes:
The natural inclination when one realizes their Facebook strategy isn’t working is to give it up entirely. How many times have I heard someone exclaim, “This junk doesn’t work!” Unfortunately, it’s a common occurrence. Instead of giving up and abandoning your business’ efforts, let’s take stock of the reasons why you may have failed on Facebook. Keep calm and breathe as we review the mistakes you may be making:- Frequent posting fail. Are you posting in 10 minute increments all day like you think you’re CNN’s running news feed? Stop. Stop now before every fan who liked you hits unlike and runs. When you post too frequently, people get annoyed or scared by your strong come on. Instead, shoot for 1-3 posts per day.
- You wandered off brand. Your business’ Facebook page is not your personal page. It is an extension of your brand. You should be posting content which relates back to your brand and which further communicates this brand to consumers. You shouldn’t be posting any old thing you run across on the internet. You could be driving customers away. They liked you for a reason. Stick to topics, pictures, and discussions which relate back to your brand.
- You stuck your foot in your mouth and offended people. Nothing screams inappropriate like political posts, religious debates, and curse words. Unless you’re a political analyst, keep the politics at home. This is a public business page which will communicate your brand image, not the hatred you may have for a particular political party. Nothing drives customers away faster than contentious and offensive posts.
- You’ve become a used car salesman overnight. Did your last 9 posts reference that sale today? If every post you make is sale sale sale or buy buy buy, you could start to hemorrhage fans. Don’t use your statuses as a never-ending pitch. Use them to engage people in discussion, to share relevant on brand content, to inform and entertain.
- Your page is all text and no visuals. Oops, you forgot that people like to look at pictures. Visual marketing is more important than ever these days. To harness that power, post some pictures. Take a team picture at your store, post a unique cartoon that discusses your industry, or put up a picture of your newest product. Give people something to look at. If you’re not visual, you could be losing customers.
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