With more than 1.94 billion monthly & 1.28 billion daily active users, Facebook has overtaken the major traditional advertising market (i.e. newspaper ads, hoarding etc.). Those mediums are also used to generate leads and sales. However, Facebook has changed the whole scenario forever, so we necessary to avoid social media marketing mistakes.
Nowadays, Facebook is not only a place for networking or gossip. It is also a leading platform for businesses to acquire more customers. It has risen to the top as a high generator of leads and improves branding and visibility across the globe.
On the other hand, Internet users are becoming intelligent and knowledgeable while conducting transactions and interactions on social media.
- They check how many people have like your FB page.
- Internet users check when you have shared interesting content last time.
- Followers will check how active are you on social media networks.
- They are actively taking time to measure your credibility and branding.
Perhaps you are starting to think Facebook is the right platform for your business and your branding. If so, you need to make sure that you do not do any of the following Facebook marketing mistakes for your brand page.
One crucial thing to bear in mind is that a ‘dead’ social media account equates to not having one at all. There is no good reason for creating a Facebook page for your business if you are not able to remain active on it. Therefore, in order to maintain your presence on Facebook, you will need to share interesting content. However, maintaining a presence is time-consuming work that can feel like a Herculean effort. There is good news. There are numerous Facebook marketing tools available on the market to make your social media sharing easy and effective.
A word of caution: one of the biggest drawbacks of such tools is that it has the potential to mess up your brand page with their own branding. Let me share with an example of Buffer.
As shown in the above example, if you are using an automation tool like Buffer and shared something on Facebook page or profile then it shows “Published by Buffer” with your post. Though it looks small thing, it makes the following impression on your fans and followers.
Why Promote Someone Else?
- Your page is managed by robotic tools. Where’s the human touch?
- When someone click on “Hootsuite”, it takes a user to their website. Are you merely a source to drive traffic to their page? Are you drawing your fans attention to other stuff rather than your content?
- It’s very irritating to show someone else’s brand name or product name on your profile or company page.
We are glad to share that Hootsuite alternatives like SocialPilot understands the importance of branding.
2. Don’t Post Funny, Boring or Off-Brand Content:
We know every time you talk about business or products on your Facebook page, it tends to reduce your existing customer’s interest. However, make sure you are not posting too many funny, boring or irrelevant posts on your Facebook page. You want to make sure that your audience will still be able to relate to it. Whether you post text, images or video, everything should remain a reflection of your brand.
Offer variety but make sure you don’t go out of context. If you own a company that makes mobile phone covers, it doesn’t make sense for you to post about a startup project just because you think it’s cool. Being on-brand is an important forecaster of engagement. Just because people like your product doesn’t mean they share all of your interests. Therefore, give them a mix of content related to the product.
In order to gain a massive audience, many companies are using an irrelevant hashtag on their Facebook page. This is the equivalent of a car salesman on TV using senseless banter to get you to like him enough to buy a car. If you only use trending hashtags for promoting your products or services, you will get likes and visibility for a short time. However, this will ultimately be harmful to your brand. If you are using proper hashtags, it helps you to make engagement with your target audience as well as makes the positive impact on your brand.
This is because they have their own unique meaning, purpose and importance. There’s no doubt that you’ve used a hashtag here and there. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Here, you can see this online pharmacy has used the trending hashtag #valentinesday for promoting their store. Instead of using this type of trending hashtag on your brand page, make sure you are using a hashtag that is relevant to your brand or product.
4. Response Rate Must Be Higher Than Your Competitor:
The response rate is important on your Facebook page because it shows how responsive you are and that creates brand impact. Your fans and customers not only expect you to respond, they expect you to respond quite quickly.
Being responsive to your customer’s concerns is important. Therefore, take a look at the examples set by Magestore and Amasty.
As shown in the above example, Magestore and Amasty are competitors of each other. However, Amasty replies within an hour of being contacted and Magestore replies within a day. If you want a response rate to show up on your page, you have to do your best to respond to a message as quickly as possible. The response rate is as important as the number of likes and comments your content receives.
The majority of people expect brands on Facebook to respond at least within a day. So, check out your Facebook page twice a day (or more); connect with your fans and engage in conversation on your page. You have been an online customer for a business before. If you had a concern, how quickly would you like to be answered?
5. Don’t Buy Likes and Followers:
Sure likes are important. More likes mean that your message reaches more people. However, the main focus should be winning brand promoters and not just likes. Don’t be fooled into paying for followers or likes on Facebook for marketing purposes. When you are paying for fan count and likes, it only increases your numbers. Conversely, this doesn’t invoke engagement with your audience.
Actually, it is harmful to your brand and a bad method so you should avoid this. You will end up misrepresenting what your brand stands for and your followers will see right through it and leave.
For example, you may have thousands of likes on the Facebook page. However, it does you no good if people don’t know about your brand and you can’t relate to your target audience. Therefore, it doesn’t make any sense to have these kinds of likes on your Facebook page. Nowadays, Internet users are more educated. They are acutely aware that if you don’t have any engagement on your page you have paid for your likes. It is a time wasting activity if your audience is not engaged with your post. In the end you are really just fooling yourself.
6. Remove Negative Comments of Visitors:
One of the important things about your business page is the fact that your fans can post to your timeline as well. When your fans post to your timeline, please don’t ignore them. Facebook is all about engagement. Therefore, it is a bad idea to ignore their comments or messages. You need to build your relationship with fans and respond to them. This is a great way to create value and bring honor to your brand. Responding to your visitor’s posts not only shows your concern for your customers but also shows interest in engagement.
Samsung’s Mistake
Here’s a great example. The leading company Samsung got a negative review about their services and customer support. In addition, Samsung had not given any response to their customer. If you ignore this post, it will potentially create a negative impact in your customer’s mind. Say goodbye to any credibility or loyalty. When you’ve lost that customer, they are gone for good.
In addition, Facebook gives you the ability to review the post before you publish it. Consequently, if you find a post that is not relevant to your brand, delete it from your Facebook page. The best way to handle a customer problem is to respond apologetically and engage with the customer about their issue. Your goal should be to make them feel that you are concerned about their problem. Read this article about providing better customer service on Social Media.
Facebook is the great platform for businesses, but only if you avoid this grand mistake. It is indeed the best way to create a successful Facebook presence. Treat your customers and followers the way you as a customer would want to be treated. We hope you got some great insight from this blog. We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences in the comment box below.
