10. Long Updates: If you are writing updates the equivalent of an epic movie script, stop! Updates should be limited to one line when possible, no more than two.
9. Sideways Pictures: I follow hundreds of fan pages, and you wouldn’t believe how often I see this. This is simply not acceptable. Turn your picture correctly before you upload, or use the picture tool “options” in the bottom right to correct the issue right away.
8. Nobody Home: Make an effort to keep your fan page updated or get rid of it. There is no reason to go months in between updates on a fan page. Having a fan page, advertising it, and/or linking to it from your website, and then failing to post anything on it is doing more damage than good.
7. Contest Violations: Do not run a contest or giveaway from your fan page. It is against the rules, isn’t user friendly, isn’t equipped to give you the best results, and can get your page deleted by Facebook. I see many violations of this every day, and knowing the rules prevents me from participating in the contest when I’d love to. These violators put people like me in a catch 22; if I help you out and share the contest so you get better results, I could be the one that inadvertently alerts Facebook to your contest violation.
6. Slapping Your Fans: How do you slap the face of your fans, you ask? You want fans to engage with your page, so make sure you display what they post to your page or better yet, highlight it! This takes effort by the administrator to watch for new posts, click on the “x” in the right side, and then select “allow on page”.
5. Long URL’s: Now that Facebook will allow you to import a link and then delete the long, unsightly (visible) URL, do it. That way people can concentrate on your update message. Simply highlight the URL with your mouse and “delete”.
4. Profile, Not a Page: Not only is it against the rules, but setting up your business fan page as a personal profile only limits you. You can’t grow your fan base, you can’t use all the business features, you can’t be indexed in search engines, you can’t run contests, and the list goes on. Plus even 13 year old kids know you’re doing it wrong, and you should know more about your business than a kid!
3. Arguing: Save it. Don’t publicly argue with a fan on Facebook. Participate in discussions, answer questions, and keep things lively, but obnoxious banter should be avoided.
2. Misspellings: People on social media are sensitive to incorrect spelling or grammar. Twitter is more forgiving with abbreviations, but use care when crafting updates on Facebook. When posting a photo, you have the option of fixing a typo in the “edit” section, so use it. You can always delete a post if you catch it right away; then re-post the message.
The #1 Mistake You Don’t Want to Make?
1. No Cover Image: There’s got to be something you can use! Don’t leave your cover image blank. You need this space to make a good first impression. You don’t have to have a big budget or be a designer to take advantage of the cover image space. You get one chance at a first impression, so don’t blow it.
Do you agree with this list? Is there a mistake that you’d add to this list?
