Don’t Be Disliked: 6 Popular Facebook Marketing Mistakes | Chappaqua NY Realtor

Many companies are creating Facebook accounts as a way to market their business. Having a Facebook presence is important, as the popular social network is a great way to reach out to a large audience, provide the audience with information and build relationships.

Like any other marketing tactic, there are certain methods that need to be completed in order for Facebook to work as a marketing tool, and too many businesses are unaware of these methods. The following are six of the biggest Facebook marketing mistakes that companies make.

1. Creating an account, and that’s it.

Simply having a Facebook account is not going to help market your business. If your page sits there and isn’t active, nobody is going to find you or “Like” your page. If you don’t gain fans or followers, there is nobody there for you to reach, and your lack of effort will produce lax results.

2. Leaving out information.

When you create your Facebook page, make sure that you fill out as much information as possible. Many customers will visit your Facebook page before visiting your website, so it’s important that you let them know who you are, what you do and where you can be found.

Think of your Facebook page as another website and include all the information a user would find on your regular site. Hours of operation, phone numbers and photos are all things that need to be on your page. All of this information is beneficial to your overall Facebook success.

3. Using the wrong cover photo.

Facebook Timeline allows you to use a large cover photo to appeal to your customers, but Facebook has guidelines as to what this image can and cannot be. For instance, a cover photo cannot contain a call to action or offer a discount, and if your cover photo contains this, you could find yourself suspended.

Make sure that your cover photo complements your brand and tells people a bit about what you offer. The more enticing the image, the more inclined people will be to check out your page.

It’s also important that you change out your cover photo every now and then. A new cover image could be just the thing to drive more traffic to your page, so try to make a habit out of changing up your image every so often.

4. Posting too much.

If a customer’s news feed is constantly bombarded by status updates from your company, you can be sure they will quickly block your page. Posting too much is not good for your marketing strategy because nobody wants to feel as if you are constantly in their face.

Try to limit yourself to one post per day. Ask a question, share a fun photo, hold a poll—all of these are perfectly acceptable as long as they’re done in moderation. Use the less is more approach, and you’ll keep your fans happy.

5. Holding illegal contests.

Facebook is a great place for companies to hold contests, and many companies use this as a marketing advantage. What most companies fail to realize is while Facebook allows you to hold contests, they have rules in place that you need to abide by. It’s important that you know Facebook’s contest rules before you launch a contest. Not only can breaking the rule suspend your Facebook privileges, but if your contest gets shut down by Facebook in the middle of the contest period, you can rest assured you will receive some backlash from your consumers.

6. Long posts.

Unlike Twitter, Facebook does not have a character limit set on their posts. But just because you have the ability to rant on and on does not mean that you should. A recent study by Buddy Media has shown that Facebook posts that contain less than 80 characters have a better chance of being read than those that exceed 80. So if you want to share information via Facebook, keep it short and to the point for maximum exposure.

Facebook is a great marketing tool to have on your side, and as long as your company is not at fault for any of these marketing mistakes, you are on track for having a successful social media marketing experience.