Content Marketing

7 Facebook Blunders You Want Your Company to Avoid

Facebook is a great way to reach customers, create relationships, and promote your brand. But many companies that jump on the bandwagon, slip right off and land on the ground. 

Used correctly, Facebook can provide major benefits. Here are some  common mistakes that many companies make, and the ways that you can avoid them.

1. No Plan

Too often small business owners and corporate executives think that just showing up is enough. It’s not, though.

Just like you wouldn’t send a letter without knowing what you wanted to say, on Facebook you need to know what you’re promoting, you need to be clear on who’s responsible for managing the page, and you need to set the tone from the outset. Once you’ve done that, you can update and modify your page depending on how your customers respond.

2. Too Many Posts

You get consumers to your page and post a lot, in an effort to keep them engaged. But unless you post items worth reading, you’re boring your audience and ensuring it will ignore your feed.

Avoid this by putting yourself in the customers’ shoes. Get on Facebook and
like a number of brands. You’ll see who’s got a good rhythm of communication. You’ll also discover at what point companies cross the line and lose interest and business.

3. Hiding Customer Complaints

Being criticized is never fun, and no one ever satisfies all the people all the time. But you still need to face, and respond, to complaints posted on your wall.

Don’t make the mistake of deleting those comments. That will further annoy or enrage the person, and broaden the problem. Instead, quickly acknowledge the issue, and note that you’ll follow up privately. Then do so.

Resolving the problem can turn a complainer into a supporter. But even if that doesn’t happy, learn from the criticism so that you can avoid similar situations in the future.

4. Broadcasting, Rather Than Conversing

People go on Facebook to have conversations, not to listen to lectures. So don’t treat your Facebook page as a megaphone; rather, see it as a telephone, and the customer, the person on the other end of the line, as someone to communicate with.

If you don’t pay attention to them, they will lose interest in doing business with you. Let conversations develop at their own pace, and listen and learn from them.

5. Dullness

A cardinal sin in marketing being dull. Avoid one status message after another, particularly if they come across as the corporate equivalent of forcing people to watch movies of your vacation.

Switch things up. Have some links that interest people that aren’t about your business. Post videos that will engage your audience, and that don’t relate to your business. Run a poll that isn’t about your business. Notice a pattern here?

6. Underestimating What It Takes

Think about what it’s like to use your personal Facebook account. How much time would it take to really keep on top of what all your online friends are doing? Now scale that up to the number of people that interact with your business page.

You need someone accountable for posting entries and links, reading comments, replying to customers, and otherwise acting as the company’s presence. Appoint one person, and make sure to give him or her sufficient  time to do all that’s required.

7. Not Reading the Fine Print

Company pages have significantly different terms of use than personal Facebook accounts. Unless you keep to the letter of the law, you could lose your page. Be sure to be very detail-oriented with your account.

Facebook can do a world of good for you. Use it properly, so your business will get all of the advantages it offers.

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