Biggest Facebook Marketing Mistakes you Should Avoid

We have all seen the adverts for Facebook and the millions upon millions of people who use it. And, many people see these numbers and think that Facebook marketing is the greatest thing to ever happen to the business world. They run around saying how there are millions of people on there and how you can communicate with them for free. This is all true, but then you could grab a soapbox and a megaphone and visit a busy New York high street to do a bit of selling–it doesn’t mean you are going to get a sale! Here are a few mistakes that you should really avoid making with your Facebook marketing campaign.

Facebook Marketing Mistakes | Image credit: Nycwebdesign.com

Never be over promotional or pushy

This is the first and most commonly committed mistake. Facebook is not optimized for being pushy or over promotional. Every social media that has allowed businesses to do that has failed. People do not log onto Facebook in order to be advertised to, people hate advertising. If you are even slightly pushy or promotional then people will not look at your site.

Do not misunderstand this rule. You can show people what you have on offer. If you are a photographer and have a new photo deal, then show your frames, picture sizes and formats in a pretty hamper. But do not put, “sale” or “cut price” etc on the Facebook post. In fact, if you put a price on it then make it a very small and subtle price tag. For example, the South Park Fan Page on Facebook just shows clips as a sort of “remember this bit” reminder. Family Guy run quizzes about whom is the funniest character in their show.

Don’t spend hours trying to make friends

This is another classic mistake that too many people make. They will spend hours making friends on their page and getting “Likes” on their fan page. They will spend two or three days getting hundreds of supporters and then brag about it. They then notice that five months later, all of their “Friend” and “Like” hunting has won them 0% new business.

If you are measuring your Facebook success by how many “Friends” or “Likes” you get, then you are woefully misguided. If you are measuring your success with social media monitoring tools then you are slightly less misguided (though still missing the point). You should be measuring your success with analytic programs measuring metrics on your website. The more traffic that you see coming from Facebook (as a domain, not just from your pages) then the better you are doing.

Facebook Marketing Plan | Image Credit: social-media-optimization.com

Don’t start a Facebook campaign without a plan

If you do not have an overall plan, and an overall goal then you will just waste your time on Facebook. You need a very specific long-term goal, and you need a way to measure your efforts. You need to be able to see data that proves that what you are doing is productive and is providing you with a return on your investment. You simply cannot afford to make a plan and hope for the best. You need to know how well you are doing so that you can optimize your efforts and make sure that what you are doing is paying off in some way. If it is not then you need to change what you are doing so that it is.

Never start a Facebook session without a session plan

If you are going to spend an hour or two then you need to know exactly what you are going to do with that time. You also need to be sure that what you are doing is going to provide you with some sort of return on your investment. There needs to be an outcome at the end of your session. If there is no outcome then you are wasting your time.

Don’t assume that “Likes” or “Friends” are valuable

People pay money for more “Friends” and more “Likes” even though they do not actually hold any value at all. Their SEO benefits are negligible and more “Likes” or “Friends” does not mean more money or more sales. People brag about spending their time on Facebook and getting “Likes” but unless those metrics are related to your overall social media campaign, then what use are they. What was the point of you spending time getting them if they will never realize a benefit?

Don’t rely on the number of likes and friends | Image Credit: facebook.com

Never criticize or attack your competitors

Not only will you make your competitors rally against you, but also, all of their supporters and customers will start attacking you in return. What looks like a power play could end up being a PR nightmare.

Do not try to relate your customers’ less savory habits

Your customers may be known for kicking sailors or spitting at old ladies, but you must not relate or engage with such behavior. They will always have more savory interests, for example do they have kids? Are there other ways to relate? Do not forget that they are not your friend.

Never try to direct sell via Facebook

Everybody who has tried has failed. A list of reasons could be produced in order to prove this, but just deal with it and understand that you cannot direct sell on Facebook.

Stay away from adult industry images, drug use or terrorism

This is just something you do if you do not want to offend the Facebook community. They have members that are very young, and even if there were filters to stop them seeing it, their parents will not understand these filters and will assume their kids are being polluted by your content.

Do not install an app on your wall unless it is an official Facebook one

People have tried to install apps and viruses on Facebook walls and all that happens is that their accounts are deleted. Just do not do it, because there are far better and easier ways of getting Facebook traffic to leave Facebook in search of your content.

This is a guest post Kate Funk coaches individuals in SEO and business networking skills at Tutortop.

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