Facebook marketing has great potential, but because everyone’s doing it, you cannot afford to make mistakes. If you do make them, you will lose likes and shares and fans to your competitors. Here are 10 common mistakes made on Facebook that you should avoid:
Overloading your fans with content. Posting too much content on Facebook is as bad as not posting enough and will make you look spammy. 52% of consumers say they have stopped following a brand on Facebook because the content was repetitive and boring.
(Source: http://socialmediainfluence.com/2012/04/11/whats-driving-social-media-12-must-know-facts/)
Linking only to your blogs and websites. Improve your image, build authority, and become well-liked in your niche by linking to news and review sites, niche portals, and even to your competitors. You can’t lose anything, but you might gain a lot.
Publishing too much content that promotes your brand and its products and services. Facebook, and all social media sites in general, are not marketing but social platforms, and their users don’t log in to their accounts having commercial intent, which means that you cannot directly market to them. Seek to build trust and establish ties instead.
Not answering the questions that your fans leave on your page. Facebook users increasingly use the social pages of brands to request customer support, and they expect a quick and helpful response; when they don’t get it they leave negative comments that damage your social media reputation.
Deleting negative comments. Throwing negative comments into the trash will only multiply them, because those who left them will attack you bitterly, and others will join them. Social media marketing involves a two-way conversation between brands and consumers, and that means negative feedback will always arise. The only way to minimize negative feedback is to tolerate it.
Measuring the success of your marketing efforts by counting your followers. Having 1,000 active fans that are really interested in your niche and in the products you have to offer is, for most brands, preferable to having 5,000 fans that just follow you because you followed them first. The followers that matter most are those attracted by the quality of your content and your message.
Not asking questions. One of the simplest and most effective ways to start discussions on social sites is by asking your fans would you / should you / where / when questions, especially when you add them at the end of a post that covers a hot or controversial topic.
Not adding photos to your posts. Facebook is more visual than textual, and it’s a lot easier to grab the attention of your fans and convey your message with a great photo, video, or infographic than with a wall of text. Mix text and visual content and your marketing will be more effective.
Hiding behind your company logo. Social media marketing works when it connects with customers on a personal level. When companies let their employees get involved and create content, it resonates with users. Let your employees create your social content.
Auto-publishing Your Tweets on Your Facebook profile. Most of your Facebook fans will also follow you on Twitter, so there’s no need to give them the same content twice. Moreover, the posting frequency on Twitter is greater, and there is also the character limit to consider. It’s much better to expand your tweets into longer Facebook posts than to duplicate your content by auto-publishing tweets.
The Bottom Line:
Finally, don’t expect results overnight. It takes months and a lot of good content to build a large social media following, and even then you don’t necessarily get an increase in sales. Social media helps you get closer to your customers, improve your online image, and attract new audiences, but a large fan count doesn’t always mean more sales. Ads help with that.