10 Facebook marketing mistakes (and how to avoid them)

There is no denying the marketing power of Facebook. With more than 500 million users, it has become a must-use marketing platform for businesses large and small. While Facebook’s staggering membership stats alone are enough to entice small business owners, few actually know how to do so effectively. To help, BizBytes 101 has prepared a list of the 10 most common Facebook marketing mistakes small businesses make and how you can avoid them.

1. Not having a clear marketing purpose.

Whether you’ve created a page for Facebook, now is a good time to evaluate what you want to get out of it. Set clear goals. For example, are you hoping to attract 500 new fans who could become potential customers in a six-month time period? How are you going to do that? Have you designated someone within your company to maintain the page? How often will you be able to post fresh content? If you’ve already created your page, but it hasn’t been updated in a while, it’s not too late to take stock of your purpose and redefine your goals.

2. Not knowing the difference between a personal profile and a business page.

There are major differences between personal profile and business pages on Facebook. It is important that you know what they are so that you don’t run afoul of Facebook’s Terms of Service. A personal profile is the type of account an individual shares with friends and family. A Facebook business page is used by brands and companies for promotion purposes. Another important distinction: If you have a Facebook page for your business, you have fans. If you have a personal profile, you’ve got friends. So don’t ask a potential customers to become your “friend” on Facebook. They need to become a fan.

3. Not understanding how your customers use Facebook.

Many small business owners don’t know how their customers interact with Facebook. When you log into your Facebook account, for instance, the first thing you see is your news feed, not the pages you’ve liked. Therefore, it is important to understand that marketing your business page is not the same as posting a status update to your friends through your personal Facebook account. To get your fans to view your content, post directly to the Facebook page for your business. Your posts will show up in your news feed and will also show up in theirs.

4. Not getting the right URL for your Facebook page.

Do you know how to obtain the proper URL for your business page on Facebook? Many small business owners don’t understand that if you have 25 fans of your business page, you are eligible to obtain a URL for your page that has your company’s name in it. For example, it could be www.facebook.com/yourbrandname instead of the former random number URL assigned. Facebook began allowing the option to create custom URLs in 2009. Log on to www.facebook.com/username and log in to choose your URL.

5. Not responding to wall posts.

Remember that Facebook is all about interaction. It’s important that you quickly respond to potential customers who post questions on your wall. The faster you answer that question, the higher the likelihood of converting that potential customer into a paying one. Adjust your Facebook page settings to notify you via e-mail whenever a new post is made on your wall.

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