We all know that social media is an ever growing and highly effective source of communication with our existing customers and key target markets, but by making a few silly mistakes you can quickly and easily undo all your hard work. Customers can often be fickle in their opinions and decisions, especially when it comes to brand loyalty and parting with their hard earned cash. Think about it from their point of view; if you saw a business carry out something you felt was unprofessional on social media, would it knock your confidence in their capability?
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the five biggest mistakes that people make on their business’ Facebook page so you can avoid these common pitfalls and ensure your online presence is in tip-top condition!
The five biggest Facebook Marketing mistakes include:
1.Cross posting from Facebook to Twitter
It can sometimes be difficult to think of several interesting, fun or witty posts to share across all your social media platforms, especially if you’re posting more than once per day. Don’t be tempted to simply copy and paste the same update into each platform because you’re missing out on a trick – if an individual follows you on more than one platform the message you put on Facebook (for instance) may not interest them, whilst the same message in a reworded form on Twitter could grab their attention!
The other fatal mistake made by businesses is linking their Facebook page to their Twitter account. The main reason you are promoting your business on Social Media is to drive traffic to your website so people find out more about your business and enquire. Having the Facebook and Twitter linked is both counterproductive and can seem lazy to potential customers.
2. Liking your own posts
Whilst a large number of ‘likes’ for each post can be viewed as a measure of success in reaching your potential and existing customers, adding that 1 extra like can have a negative, rather than positive effect. If you are posting something into the public domain it is clear and apparent to all who read it that you would of course agree with the statement (otherwise why would you post it?), but amazingly by clicking ‘like’ as your business on your own post it can appear unprofessional.
3. Tagging people in irrelevant photos
Tagging people is a great way of grabbing their attention, but if it’s not relevant or doesn’t offer them anything of substantial interest it can have a hugely detrimental effect on your credibility as a business. Focus on creating excellent content that naturally grabs the attention of individuals who may be interested in your products or services and relay that message through the tried and tested means – don’t simply bombard people with information that they might not be interested in through unscrupulous means.
4. Adding people to a Facebook group without permission
As well meaning as it might seem to add someone to a Facebook group that you have just created, it’s not an advisable tactic. Whilst it can be a quick and easy method of gaining extra members in your new group, you may find a combination of low engagement and high rate of members choosing to leave the group – certainly not the desired effect! Advertise your group and mention it by all means, but allow it to grow organically and you’ll reap the benefits.
5. Forgetting to change your cover photo
So you’ve found or created a great cover photo that perfectly suits your business, looks professional and catches the eyes of visitors, so let’s leave it there for the next 3 years because it’s so great, right? Wrong. By periodically changing your cover photo it gives the impression that you’re an up-to-date and forward thinking business that would provide an excellent service and top-notch products to their customers.
So when you’re next venturing onto Facebook to increase your business’ profile, just remember our 5 biggest mistakes to make sure you don’t fall victim unwittingly!
If you want to learn how to get the most out of your Social Media Marketing, visit our training page to see how we can help.
