5 Ways to Flop on Facebook
Following this advice will help ensure that you flop and fail with your Facebook
page. In other words, don't follow this advice!
1. Don't use your cover photo for promotion.
Your profile picture is different from your cover or header image. Profile pictures rarely change. Your cover can change periodically, but if you want to flop keep it stagnant and boring.
The cover image is in a free space that doesn't cost you any extra to use. You don't have to boost it or decide a budget for it. It's ideal for upcoming events, holiday specials, or an insider promotional discounts. Make sure that it still coordinates with your overall look. Someone visiting your website or getting a newsletter or flyer in the mail should still be able to tell that you are one in the same company. When you update your cover photo, it appears in your followers' news feeds. In other words, it's like getting a two-for-one deal on exposure. It shows like a post and is front-and-center when someone checks out your page. If you have an upcoming event, by all means don't use this space to showcase it if you want to fail.
2. Don't have your Facebook business page link on your website or your website link on your Facebook page.
You wouldn't want to make it easy on customers or potential customers to interact with you and find out information about your company, would you? Social media has evolved to be much more than just a feeder for your website. Customers want to like brands, interact with them, advocate for them, and feel like an insider when it comes to your brand. Give the people what they want (or don't if you really are looking to flop)! Strive to give the best overall customer experience possible by making things as easy as possible for your market. This means having the Facebook logo on your site, easy to find, with a link directly to your page. Make sure you periodically check the link. Verify that it's not broken and still takes you to the right place.
3. Don't listen to or talk with people.
Notice I didn't say talk "to" people; I said talk "with" people. When using social media, like Facebook, for business marketing, it's sometimes easy to forget that it's not like print. It's not one way communications. Even with Facebook Live, it's not one way broadcasting like television. Facebook is a multi-way intersection of communication. You can't only push, push, push. According to a recent survey conducted by Sprout Social, "...nearly 60% of users are annoyed with too many promotions by brands. The perils of over-promotion only escalate if brands are unresponsive...only 1 in 10 messages on social actually get a reply from brands." What?!? ONE IN TEN get a response. That's pathetic. Would you ignore nine people who walked into your store front and asked you a question or gave you a compliment, then speak only to the tenth person right in front of the other nine? If you visualize that little scenario, then you get how unfathomable this statistic is to anyone who cares about customer service. If you're going to have a business page on Facebook, or any other social media site, then really BE THERE. Your Facebook followers are people not just numbers. You want them to talk with you and get <clears throat> SOCIAL with you!
4. Don't utilize your call to action button.
A year or so ago, Facebook rolled out the call-to-action button worldwide. We in the U.S. got it earlier, but I still see plenty of business pages that don't have a designated CTA button. This is a missed opportunity to interact with people. Again, like adding a link on your website to your page, it's a great way to make your customer's experience easier and better. There are, at this given time, 11 different options to choose from for your action button. Pick the one that's most important for your desired outcome. Facebook even gives you analytics, or "insights", directly related to your CTA button. You can change this as often as desired. I suggest that you give some thought as to how your CTA button relates to your cover photo. For instance, if you're using the cover space to showcase an upcoming event, then choose the "Sign Up" call-to-action. Facebook also offers the opportunity to promote (paid service) a CTA button.
5. Don't post, or don't post regularly.
Last, but for sure not least, is forgetting to post on your business page. This is a great way to fail! You can be hamming it up all day long on your personal Facebook page, however if your company's site hasn't posted in a few weeks or months, people start thinking that there's nothing going on, business is not going so well, or you're out of business. It's also a signal to hackers that you're not active and could be an easy target. All kinds of people use Facebook for all kinds of reasons. Keep in mind not only your current customers, but also hackers, bots, potential clients, competitors, future employees, current employees, project partners, traditional media, etc. Each has different reasons she might be looking at your page, but regardless the motive, don't you want to look like you're "home"?
Don't fail at Facebook! Just do the opposite of these five pieces of "advice." Follow THAT advice, and your Facebook future is bright.
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Now, go forth and be social!
