I presented a course entitled, “Social Media, An Introduction” today. In this, the first of a two-part session, we explored blogging and Facebook. As you can imagine, in the time allotted, we barely scraped the tip of the iceberg. We could have gone on for hours.
One topic shared by my guest speaker, Chuck Lasker of Kauai Inbound Marketing, was 10 Facebook mistakes that small businesses often make (several of them come via Mashable). Take a look and see if any of these are on your list of “boo-boos.”
1. Setting up a group or personal profile for your business – a faux pas frowned on by Facebook.
2. Broadcasting (one-sided).
3. Not investing enough time.
4. Being boring or predictable.
5. Being too personal so it doesn’t enhance your brand.
6. Failing to learn about Facebook mechanics & tools.
7. Violating Facebook’s terms (i.e. spamming, privacy).
8. False posts – creating a “fake” personality so you can then post under that name on your own Fan Page. 🙁
9. Deleting the negative. Find a negative comment on your Fan Page? Instead of deleting it, how about addressing it in a positive fashion? It shows you care and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate outstanding customer service.
10. Disappearing. You create a Fan Page and then after a few posts, you stop posting and responding. What’s the point?
In addition to the Mashable list Chuck outlined, here are three more I’ve added (to make up the Baker’s Dozen):
1. Creating a Fan Page, but not letting your colleagues or peers know about it. Send an e-mail to those you know and ask them to visit your Fan Page and “like” it.
2. Not having a link from your Web site to your Fan Page.
3. Obtaining 25 fans and then forgetting to request the custom URL for your page.
Have a faux pas you want to share? Facebook is constantly evolving and changing. So, please offer up any valuable pointers you’ve discovered with your business’ Fan Page. Leave your comment here so others can learn from it. Thanks.
