I often see so many websites with
nice looking Facebook buttons on the page but when I click and go to the actual
page on Facebook, there is complete disappointment. The pages are so badly
maintained that I feel like telling them that they are better off without those
icons on the website. Obviously badly maintained pages do more harm than no
presence at all.
I have observed some very common
mistakes which businesses make on Facebook. This article describes 7 such
common mistakes and some suggestions on how to avoid those.
#1 Incomplete Page Information
Facebook offers great options to
brands to position themselves properly and create a nice image. Brands often
neglect the About, Contact Info and Basic Info sections and fill those out with
some incomplete information. Remember to treat Facebook page as important as
your website with accurate and complete information.
Secondly, there are things like
Cover photo, profile picture. These offer you great way to create visual appeal
on your page. Make sure you don’t ignore Facebook’s guidelines while designing the cover photo. Create a profile picture which is visible in your posts. Creating a profile picture with brand logo which gets cropped in smaller size creates a
very bad impression.
Facebook also allows you to carefully
select top 3 tabs for your page. You can select those so that you can integrate
other things like Twitter handle, YouTube Channel for your brand, Contests etc with
your Facebook page. Set nice images for
those tabs which go well with your brand.
#2 Lack of Theme
By theme I mean the content
theme. The job does not end with creation of a page with nice photos and
profile picture. In fact, it starts after that. Before you join the social
media bandwagon, please do think and decide your social media objective. What
are you going to use Facebook for? Don’t use it for posting some random things
or don’t treat it as another advertising billboard. Create a theme for your
page. Let people connect with the theme. Let them look forward to your updates.
#3 Lack of Consistency/ Too much Posting
This is something which I have
observed with many pages. There is a
whole bunch of activity during the initial period or during some major event. But
as the time progresses, the activity reduces. There are no updates, the page
information is old, the page shows incorrect phone numbers/ website URLs,
questions by users are not answered etc. On the other hand, some pages get over
excited and start posting even if someone sneezes. Anything extreme is not
acceptable. Maintain consistency. Attain engagement. Identify the ideal time
when your users can be best engaged by posting only relevant updates.
#4 Incorrect Handling of Negative Comments
Most of the brands are scared
about negative comments on social media. They choose either to ignore them
completely or handle them very poorly. Handling
negative comments on social media is tricky but one fundamental rule you
need to remember is that you MUST respond to all negative comments. Never
delete those leave or leave them unattended. When someone posts something
negative, use that as an opportunity to take care of the issue and turn an
unhappy user into a loyal brand advocate.
#5 Ignorance to Messages
Did you know that your users can
send you private messages in your Page’s inbox? Make it a habit to check those
and respond. Many times, people are not comfortable vouching their concern
publicly on timeline or need to bring something to your attention through a
private message. Respect that and respond to all private messages.
#6 Quantity over Quality
Your main focus on Facebook
cannot be only increasing the fans. There are numerous ways to increase the
fans – including purchase of fans. I would strongly recommend not going by this
way. If your objective of being on Facebook is to connect with your users, get
them involved in your brand and provide them an additional platform to interact
with you, then the fake profiles do not add any value to your page.
#7 Lack of Engagement
Ignoring user comments, not
answering the questions, not acknowledging appreciations, not paying attention
to grievances – all these things tend to lack of engagement on your page. Unlike
advertisement, which is essentially one way communication, Facebook offers you
an opportunity for two-way communication with your product/ service users. Isn’t
this a great opportunity to listen to them, know what they want, provide immediate
solutions to their problems and get them involved in your brand? Why not utilize
it to the fullest?
Have a critical look at your page
and see if you are committing any of these mistakes – knowingly or unknowingly?
