It's no surprise that Facebook is still one of the hottest social networks around. Check out these statistics published by Facebook as of March, 2016.
- 1.09 billion daily active users on average for March 2016
- 989 million mobile daily active users on average for March 2016
- 1.65 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 2016
- 1.51 billion mobile monthly active users as of March 31, 2016
- Approximately 84.2% of our daily active users are outside the US and Canada
As with anything in life or business, when there is opportunity for goodness, there is also much opportunity for risk and even damage to your brand and business.
Facebook is no different. Facebook presents tremendous opportunity to nurture relationships, establish and grow community, increase brand awareness and even your business bottom line. However, if you don’t understand the ecosystem, how you can best fit within it to build relationships and your brand, you may wind up hurting your brand more than helping it.
It is is as important to understand not only best practices but also worst practices that can damage your personal brand, corporate brand and business success when it comes to social media, business and life!
Here are 15 things that smart, social savvy business marketers never do on Facebook.
1. Post spam. Know the difference between real value and content that is spam. If you have to question if it is spam you are posting, then it probably is.
2. Spam the Facebook wall of your friends. You know the type of person I am referring to here. The person who you haven't talked to in years, yet all of a sudden you get 3 posts on your wall sharing their latest book or goods and services. Respect the walls of your friends if you want to keep them your friends.
3. Friend new people so you can spam them. This is the worst way to hurt your brand more than help it. Don't invite people to be your friend so you can sell your services to them and spam their wall. Instead focus on connecting with people you can learn from, people who you can share mutual value and have relevant, meaningful conversations not only on Facebook, but also in real life when possible.
4. Auto tweet everything from Facebook to Twitter and other social networks. Every social network is different. The norms, language, tone of content and conversations is different. For example, Facebook posts do not usually perform well and are not highly appreciated on Twitter, which has 140 character limit. Take the time to make sure the content is relevant for the platform for which you are posting.
5. Create a fake persona so you can spy on other people or spam them. There is only one you. Be that person, period. The truth will only come out when you try to play fake like, click and troll games online.
6. Invite people to play games with you. Do NOT spam business contacts your game wins or ask for points. Make sure to check your game feeds and notifications privacy settings. Unless this is part of your business model and persona, it's usually best to keep them private.
7. Take credit for other people's work. Don't just scroll your Facebook newsfeed in the morning looking for ideas to steal. If you find something interesting, give credit where credit is due. It will also help you build relationships and connect with influencer in your community and network who are helping you learn and grow. Your online community will respect and thank you for the valuable information that you are taking time to curate for them.
8. Post things just to get attention. Remove the drama. Most of your Facebook friends don't want to hear about the fight you had with your spouse, neighbor or kids. Walk away from your desk, take a breath, get some fresh air outside and think about what you are posting and why. Come back when you have a clear mind. Facebook is not the place to constantly vent about your life and business problems.
9. Accept friend requests from people you don't know just because everyone else accepted their friend request. Be very careful with this. Not only does it put your personal security at risk but it also may clutter your newsfeed, making it harder for you to connect with the people who really matter to you in both life and business.
10. Have conversations on a public wall that should really be happening in a private conversation in real life, Facebook messenger or email. Bottom line, if the conversation should be private, keep it that way.
11. Constantly compare yourself to others. Quit worrying about your competition. Focus on your customers, your business and your brand. Your time is much better spent on this versus looking over the fence worrying about your competition.
12. Setup personal Facebook profile as a business page. Facebook has very clear terms and conditions regarding the setup and usage of Facebook personal profile pages. A profile page can not be used for a business page. If you do such, you assume the risk of Facebook being able to remove the profile at any time. We have seen this happen with many clients who come to us to help them get the profile back under their control. Instead use a Facebook business page and you'll be just fine!
13. Post bad pictures of yourself and others. Sometimes what happened in Vegas should stay in Vegas. Always make your client and other look good. No bad butt photos! Ha ha :)
14. Spam groups with content or invite people to groups unknown. Be careful with the use of groups on Facebook. Do not join 20 new Facebook groups so you can spam them your latest product, service or job openings. If you want to post a job opening, there are plenty of groups setup and designed specifically for such. Make sure your posts are relevant and fit the group guidelines.
15. Boost irrelevant posts that appear as spam to others. Be careful what Facebook posts you boost and the frequency of how often you pay to boost your Facebook posts.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I share 15 things you should never do on Facebook.
Episode Highlights
- 15 things you should never do on Facebook
- Focus on relationships over spamming
- The importance of managing your privacy by being careful who you let into your Facebook network
- Be yourself and never fall to tactics that waste time stalking and copying competition
- How to ensure you don't lose people at hello when inviting them into Facebook groups
- The importance of giving credit where credit is due when sharing other people's content
- The differences of how you communicate and post content to Facebook vs Twitter
- The importance of customizing content for your Facebook audience vs blasting the same content to every social network
- How to avoid the drama and negative posts and conversations on your Facebook wall
- Why you should never setup a personal Facebook profile to use to solely promote your business
Supporting Resources:
- Digital Body Language: 105 Factors Impacting Your Personal and Business Brand (white paper)
- Do You Really Know Your Audience? (episode 4)
- Fake Followers, Spam, Trolls & Bullies – Quit Faking it Until You Make it (episode 37)
- Social Trust Factor: Ignite Results with Trust and Authority (episode 20)
- Brand Humanization in a Nutshell (episode 5)
- Brand Humanization: Authenticity vs Transparency (episode 16)
- Social Trust Factor: Igniting Results with Trust and Authority (episode 20)
- Launch & Influencer Marketing Strategies for Startups, Entrepreneurs (episode 35)
- 15 Things the C-Suite Must Do Before Hopping on Twitter (episode 45)
- How to Convert Facebook Personal Profile to Business Page (blog post)
