Facebook is the granddaddy of all social media platforms. With more than one billion users, it offers marketers unlimited possibilites. I could be wrong, but chances are you already have a presence on there either as a page or a profile with the Subscribe feature turned on. And that’s a good thing. As a part-time social media consultant, however, I regularly see mistakes being made by rookies and seasoned Facebook page owners and administrators. These mistakes could be detrimental to your efforts in generating awareness of your page and brand and also hurting your ability to engage and connect with your audience.
Below are the 7 biggest Facebook posting blunders I see happening time and time again. How many are you guilty of? Share your stories in the comments below.
“Liking” Your Own Posts
If you’re the owner or admin of a page, don’t like your own posts! When you do, it shows as the page liking what it has just shared. Online this is the equivalent of high fiving or shaking hands with you, yourself and yours. Not only does this look pompous and narcissistic, it also looks very amateur. Generate authentic “Likes” by posting great content and encouraging people to interact with your page and posts. Here’s what liking your own posts looks like:
Leaving URLs in Posts
Facebook still hasn’t streamlined the “Write something…” feature by adding a separate box below the content space for posting links. Like being stuck in the Commodore 64-age, you have to copy and paste a URL into the box for it to show up as a nice link and description below. Once it shows up, go back and remove the URL from the content area. Leaving it serves no purpose and looks messy. Deleting the URL after the story information populates will not delete the story. Which one looks better to you?
Posting Long-Winded Updates and Mini-Novels
Unless you have a cult following or reached celebrity status, you’re competing for eyeballs and people’s time. People scan their news feeds, picking and choosing which updates to read and interact with. If your updates are long-winded, you’re most likely losing a lot of people. Keep Facebook posts to three lines of text or less, when possible, for maximum impact. Facebook takes this one step further by suggesting that keeping the post length to less than 250 characters generates more interaction and engagement. According to Facebook, posts of that length generate 60 percent more likes, comments and shares than posts greater than 250 characters.
Posting Too Many Times Per Day and Too Often
If you haven’t heard by now, Facebook recently changed their Edgerank algorithm and added a new feature called Promoted Posts. What does this mean for you? Fewer of your daily updates are now being seen by people who have liked your page, unless you opt to promote them. Sounds unfair, right? Well, this is a Facebook world. Do Promoted Posts work? Page owners are split down the middle, but here’s a good case study. On a similar note, you could be further diluting your effectiveness by posting too often. Posting several times per day is considered the ideal balance for both Edgerank and readers. Make sure your posts are spread out.
Failing to Respond to Comments and Questions
The whole point of having a Facebook page is to engage with people who like your brand. If someone posts a comment or asks a question, it’s your job to respond. Facebook is not about one-way conversations and pushing content. It’s a two-way street with incredible community-building opportunities. Take advantage of them!
Posting One Type of Content Only
If you’re posting text-based update after text-based update, you definitely missed the memo. Some of the most shared content on Facebook comes in the form of images and videos. But that doesn’t mean you only post images. You have to mix things up to keep it interesting and fresh.
Using Hashtags
Hellooooo? This isn’t Twitter. People do not want to see hashtags on your Facebook posts and they don’t work anyways. If you are pushing content to Twitter, consider using another service like Hootsuite for managing all your posts.
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