The power of Facebook is undeniable – 2 billion monthly users and a wealth of demographic information that no other platform can provide – it’s no wonder businesses strive to harness some of that power and yield it in the direction of their consumers.
However…with great power comes great responsibility.
If you screw up on your personal feed it can be at worst, a tad embarrassing, and at best highly amusing fodder for your friends. But if you jeopardise your business page, even in the smallest of ways, it can compromise your brand and audience engagement in the worst possible way.
Here are 10 Facebook Fails that you might want to avoid….in my book these are tantamount to a spell in Facebook jail (I hear that really exists by the way….)
- Use of bad grammar, punctuation and spelling
This is just about bearable in a personal feed because its informal, but unless you want your consumers to make some pretty harsh judgements about your business and professionalism, this is a complete no-no. Predictive text is a blessing and a curse – make sure you double check all copy before you post, in case that naughty predictive text has changed ‘pens and pencils’ to something much more colourful…
- Badly cropped images, irrelevant images or no images
Facebook was pretty much conceived on the premise of uploading and sharing images. You don’t need a marketing expert to tell you that if you want to promote your business effectively you need a visual or image to go with your copy. Copy alone will grab the attention of zero users. Facebook is a sea of images – make sure you can be seen with a visual that is relevant to your message, well cropped and positioned and will speak to your audience.
- Badly thought-out copy
There’s a definite skill to this! The beauty of social media is that it can position your business right under a consumer’s nose via mobile news feed – literally. But you’ll be vying for that top spot with hundreds of other like-minded businesses, and you only have the time it takes someone to swipe up their news feed to grab their attention. Keep it short, sharp, snappy and to the point, and if you can include a call to action, it’ll be all the better.
- Out of date content
There’s nothing worse than visiting a businesses Facebook page for the first time and seeing that they haven’t posted anything fresh for a few weeks – it’s not exactly dynamic is it? Create a buzz by posting regularly. Don’t be afraid to mix up the content with blog posts, videos, infographics and engaging images.
- Posting a link to your webpage with no pull through description or title – and not bothering to fill it in…
By some weird quirk, Facebook occasionally doesn’t pull through information from URLs, so you are left with just a shortened link that no one understands and an image with no title. There is no excuse for this because if you click in the box, you can actually add a title. Leave it as it is and there’s a good chance no one will engage with your post because they won’t know what the hell its about!
- Confusing your personal feed with your business feed
This is especially easy to do if you are a small business, comprised of just yourself (like me!). It’s incredibly easy to blur the boundaries between your business and your personal page because naturally the two are inexorably linked if you’re a one-woman/one-man show. But where possible you should try and keep the two separate because what’s appropriate on your personal feed may not translate so well to your business feed…
- Liking your own posts
Kinda not cool – right?? Be modest god damn it! Your audience will like you all the more for it. There is one exception – if your business isn’t named after you, and its not an obvious connection its OK to like it from your personal account.
- Upsetting Group Admin’s
Aaargghh, I could do a whole separate post about group admins! If you rely on networking groups to promote your business and you are NOT the admin, be sensitive to the various rules on the right days to do business posting etc. It really gets up an admin’s back if you consistently flout the rules to sell your wares – and looks a tad desperate too. The same goes for oversharing your content. Group Admin’s are like the doormen of Facebook – and you will get thrown out of the party and not allowed back in.
- Not engaging with your audience
If someone posts a query on your page, or makes a comment on your post, it’s a fantastic opportunity to engage with them on a one-to-one level. Don’t waste an opportunity to develop a relationship with your audience – show them your listen and you care and they’ll like you all the more for it. There’s nothing worse than being ignored!
- Having multiple tones of voice
This can happen if your business has several people involved in managing your social media pages and feeds. Different writing styles and different ideas on what should be posted can be confusing for an audience. If you can, designate one person to take the lead role in social media management. If this isn’t possible, make sure you develop a brand tone of voice and set out some guidelines that can be referred to by others when writing content for social media.
Of course, you could avoid all of this by outsourcing your social media! If you’re feeling the strain and you can’t get your head around social media, or you just don’t have time to manage your pages effectively, feel free to contact me for some advice!