A few common mistakes to avoid while marketing on Facebook

Where else would you find a customer base of 900 million users, but on Facebook? However, the biggest mistake you can do is to reach out to all of them. It is very easy to make mistakes in the social media domain and blame it on the lack of marketing budget. Contrary to the popular belief, you do not require deep pockets to advertise successfully on Facebook. A concise strategy and relentless approach does the trick here. In this article, we will try to look at few mistakes to avoid on Facebook .

1) Leaving the band page empty

You should be proud of your brand page on Facebook. It should look fulsome and radiate with content. But, it is not uncommon to see empty brand pages on Facebook. This wastes a lot of valuable real estate and also causes inconvenience to your customers. You should include photos, address and other important information on your brand page. It is the first touch point for your customer on Facebook and should create a good first impression.

2) An inappropriate cover photo

Facebook is very particular about the tone of communication with its customers. A picture speaks a thousand words and is noticed instantly by your customers. An illegal photo will only mislead them. Facebook has laid down strict guidelines for photos on the brand page. A cover photo should not provide:

• Price or purchase information
• A ‘call to action’ (asking users to ‘like’)
• Contact information

Here is an example of an image that does not confer to Facebook standards.

It calls for action from user and is promotional in nature. However, your cover page can create the perfect impression on your customers and presents a good branding opportunity. Let us look at an impressive cover photo that abides by Facebook standards.

3) Being careless with contests

Running a contest on your brand page is a good way to generate activity. But, it might not be as simple as it seems. Contests are subject to state and federal laws and it is important to hold them within the purview of law. Facebook has some strict guidelines for contests that are mentioned below:

• Contests that ask for ‘call to action’ from users are not permitted on Facebook
• The onus of ensuring lawful contests lies with the brand
• The brand page should specify that Facebook is not associated with the contest at any level
• Contest winners cannot be notified by Fcaebook

It is a good idea to seek professional help for running contests. A few third party vendors like Wildfire and Offerpop will help you to run contests legally. Let us look at a simple but well-designed contest created for Facebook.

It is a ‘Submit Your Picture’ contest held by Citroen. They asked their customers to submit their photos to display different emotions.

4) Generosity while posting

Companies can get carried away while posting content on their brand pages. There is no magical number as far as the number of posts is concerned, but many brands have noticed that posting more than once per day can have a negative effect on the brand. Excessive content can disperse the attention of your customers and affect your social marketing endeavor.

It is better to post a few excellent contents every month rather than posting once per week. It is more important to be actively involved with your content and reply to the comments of your customers. Tagging your customers will engage them more and give them an impetus to come back. A new app known as the ‘Facebook Brand Page Manager App’ will help you to promote your posts in an efficient manner. Here is a snapshot of the App.

5) Falling in love with ‘Likes’

Likes are the trusted way of measuring the popularity of your posts on Facebook. But, they are not the most important ones. You should focus on converting your customers into Brand Advocates. They should like your posts and also comment on it as well as share it with their friends. This will help you to reach out to a bigger audience base.

Facebook also has a tendency to work better on certain days of the week. For instance, a recent research by Buddy Media has found that the engagement rates for Facebook posts are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays. You can plan your content calendar accordingly and post the content in a phased manner to make the most of this phenomenon. The graph below will illustrate the point.

6) Being superfluous with text

In the world of Facebook, short is sweet. Buddy research has found that posts with 80 characters or less have a 27% higher engagement rate. The trick lies in creating posts that are similar to tweets.

But, it is important to customize your text for Facebook as it is a unique platform and the expectations of your customers are different here.

7) Straying off the subject

Brand communication is subtle art. The rules remain the same on Facebook. Your content should be aligned with your brand. There is no point in wasting your time on creating content that is not concerned with your brand. You should be focused while creating content for your brand and stick to the point.

8) Not taking cognizance of Facebook Insights

Facebook insights provide you a great opportunity to get the information straight from the horse’s mouth. The ‘Friends of Fans’ metric is a useful tool that provides information about the larger ecosystem of your brand’s fans. It allows you to reach out to a wider audience base by tapping the friends of your existing customers. You can even employ Facebook tools like ‘Promoted Posts’ to generate heightened activity.

Another valuable data mine is the People Talking About This (PTAT) section that allows you to assess how your content is fairing in the Facebook ecosystem. Here is a snapshot of Facebook insights.

Avoiding these common mistakes on Facebook will add more potency to your social media campaign and help you to garner impressive return on your social marketing investment. It is important to remember that Facebook is a creative space and demands an out-of-the-box approach. But, you should also employ the various analytical tools offered by Facebook to make your efforts stand out. Go ahead, people are waiting for your latest post!