Time and time again, I see small businesses making the same mistake after the same mistake on Facebook. Below are a few tips of what you should NOT do on Facebook.
#1: Spam – Facebook marketing has become mainstream. Why? Because it has shown small businesses great success. And when a marketing media becomes mainstream…well, it begins to attract some shady marketers with some shady marketing practices.
For instance, when direct mailing began to prove successful you began to have companies sending tons of junk mail to your mail box.
When email marketing became the new direct mail marketing…you began to see 10x as much junk mail in your inbox.
What happens when social media becomes mainstream and successful? Well, the same thing happens. But there are many businesses not even realizing that they are practicing shady marketing techniques.
Small businesses create a Facebook or Twitter account, and they start to attract followers. Their mistake is when they begin to treat these followers like direct mail or email subscribers. They begin to post status updates with marketing offers and sales links.
If Facebook small businesses were a lake I could throw a stone into it, and wherever that stone landed… Chances are that small business’ Facebook profile would have 10 or more recent Facebook posts with nothing but sales pitches and sales links.
When you do this your followers will start to unfollow you. BUT you can use Facebook to further your marketing endeavors.
The solution? Post some interesting and non-related posts. Develop a connection with your Facebook fans BEFORE you start pushing them for sales. Instead of 1 non-related post for every 10 sales posts. Let’s change that ratio to 10 non-related (fun) posts for every 1 sales posts.
You will be amazed at how responsive a Facebook page will be when you follow that simple rule.
#2: Multiple Accounts – I see small businesses making this mistake time and time again!
Here is what they do. They create a personal Facebook profile. They create another profile for their business. They create even more profiles for their products and brands.
It is against Facebook’s Terms and Conditions to create multiple Facebook accounts. So, you need to create only one Facebook profile.
However, Facebook does give you the ability to create special Facebook pages for your business. In fact, this is where the third Facebook DON’T comes into play.
#3: Personal Profile – Like mentioned a moment ago, Facebook TOS only allows you one Facebook account per page. And Facebook also gives you the ability to create special business page’s for Facebook.
So, do not create a Facebook profile for you business’ brand. Instead, create a Facebook profile for yourself. Then you start creating Facebook pages for your business and brand.
Why? You could use a Facebook profile for your business, but you would not have all the features Facebook gives business’ in order to connect with their customer base and targeted market.
If you settled on using a Facebook profile for your business, then, you would be limited to 5,000 friends. And you would have to approve each and every friend. Instead, using Facebook pages to create your business’ presence on Facebook would allow you to have an unlimted number of followers AND you do not have to approve each person that wants to follow you. They simply “like” your page and they are connected to your business.
Still, there are many other features and benefits to a Facebook page for a business as opposed to a Facebook profile.
So, what do you do? Create a Facebook profile to get started creating your first Facebook page for your business and brand. (By the way, you can have an unlimited number of Facebook pages!)
#4: Turning Off Wall – The whole purpose of a Facebook page is to connect with your customers. How can yo do this if you shut off your biggest connection tool — Wall Posts and Comments?
Facebook page’s wall comments allows those that follow you to post on your Facebook page. When they post on your page, then, other fans can comment on it. This allows your community to engage itself AND allows you to connect with your customer base.
Also, the wall posts get shown on your fans news feed, and if they comment on a post or create the post themselves then their friends will also see the wall post on their news feed.
So, it can be a powerful viral marketing tool as well as as communication and interaction tool.
Conclusion? Do not turn off your social tools unless you do not want to interact with your customers and you want to lose followers.