Among the many tasks social media managers face, one is learning how to navigate the ever-changing world of Facebook. Previously on our blog, we discussed the most common social media strategy mistakes. Today, we want to focus on specific Facebook mistakes social media managers need to avoid.
To put it plainly, there is much anxiety surrounding the do’s and don’ts of social media, especially when it comes to what social media managers should do. In light of the recent changes to Facebook’s algorithm, the following are 8 common mistakes that can be avoided on Facebook.
8 Facebook mistakes social media managers should avoid
Overly promotional posts
According to the recent changes with Facebook, they will be reducing the number of overly promotional page posts in users’ News Feeds. This is as a result of an ongoing survey with Facebook users, in which the most common feedback was that people wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content. An overly promotional post is one that solely pushes people to buy a product or install an app, enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context, or reuse the same content from ads. The best way to avoid creating overly promotional posts is to leave product promotion to Facebook Advertising.
Example of this type of post:
Not using Facebook insights to learn about your Facebook audience
There’s no excuse for not taking advantage of the power of Facebook Insights. Facebook Insights help you understand the demographic breakdown of your audience which then informs your content. The data from Facebook Insights helps you understand which content resonates the most with your audience, and what communication style your audience responds to the best.
Deleting or not responding to Facebook posts and comments on your Wall
One of the best ways to build an audience and meaningful relationships on Facebook is by engaging with your audience. Make sure you respond to all messages and posts your team receives on Facebook—even if there are negative comments. Keep in mind that every negative comment is an opportunity to learn about your product, and to possibly turn a critic into a fan.
Posting too much
In order to keep your audience engaged but not overwhelmed, don’t flood their News Feed. Think “less is more.” Instead of posting all the time, post less but more valuable content. Once you have a general idea of the content you will be posting, develop a content calendar. This helps ensure your brand consistently publishes high-quality, well-written, high-performing content pieces. A content calendar includes what type of content you intend to post, how often, who your target audience is and how you will promote the content. (i.e. Facebook ads, Twitter posts, etc.)
Not posting high-quality images
In relation to the ever-rising tide of highly successful visual apps, the bar has been raised in terms of what is acceptable for images. Ensure you post high-quality images.
Not having a completed profile
Like any sort of online business, it’s in your best interest to make sure your profile is as dialed as possible. Make sure you include your profile, cover photo, a concise company bio, website URL, location, and phone number. For more information on profile and cover photo dimensions, check out this social media template.
Wrong format of posts
Though it can be easy to mix up the different social networks, with Facebook it’s unnecessary to include @mentions, but Facebook now welcomes hashtags. Also, as Twitter is built on brevity, keep this in mind when posting to Facebook. Keep things concise and digestible. The other thing to consider is to only include one call-to-action link. Including more than one link and actionable goal ends up being confusing and distracting from the main point of the post.
Not replying to private messages
As with responding to your messages on your Page’s Wall, private messages should be just as important. Just because the communication is not happening in the public eye, it doesn’t mean you can sweep it under a rug and ignore your customers. Make sure you engage with them in a timely fashion, and if they have issues, find a solution.