So I saw that Janet Slack was doing a teleseminar on the top 10 Facebook Marketing Mistakes – but I didn’t get to attend. So I asked her if she could send me the recording or a transcript or something which I could learn from and then share here.
And she did just that.
In her own words, here’s Janet Slack talking about the top 10 Facebook Marketing Mistakes.
Marketing your small business on Facebook is the latest hot marketing trend. But recent research shows that only 37% of businesses are getting new customers and revenues for their efforts. Here are some of the mistakes you just don’t want to make with your Facebook marketing or you risk wasting time and effort.
#1 Diving into Facebook without a strategic plan. Know your purposes for your Facebook marketing since each will require different activities on the massive site. Productive Facebook marketing goals include visibility, creating a community, advertising, driving traffic, brand recognition and developing referral sources.
[stextbox id=”alert”]HOPE IS NOT A MARKETING PLAN![/stextbox]
#2 Setting up your profile incorrectly. In its terms of service, Facebook tells you that you cannot use your personal profile primarily for business purposes. That means don’t use your business name or logo there. Make sure you are business-like on your personal profile, hide or quit any games or extraneous apps that you use and make sure to say on your profile how to get to your business page.
#3 Not understanding privacy issues. To maintain your brand and business demeanor on Facebook (and to not ostracize your family and friends), you need to take three steps concerning privacy. First, you MUST put all your personal profile friends into at least two “lists” – for business and one for personal connections. Step two is to carefully set every option in the Facebook privacy settings. Step three is to understand that each post you make can be designated to be displayed only to certain people or certain lists.
#4 Bad decisions about whether to have a page or not. A Facebook business page is a commitment – of your time and energy. To be effective, you must build relationships and a community, be in conversation and find/post interesting material. If you are not able to do this on a daily basis, don’t start a business page. No Facebook page is better for your business than a neglected Facebook page.
#5 Making posting mistakes. Not posting enough on Facebook is a mistake – if you are not posting you are not being seen. It’s a mistake to only post about your business and your offers – share the resources of others as well. You need to be providing valuable information of interest to your target market with links, pictures and videos. You need to be conversational in your posts by asking questions and conversing with others.
#6 Being too aggressive. If you only post about your business, you are too aggressive, even if you are posting on your own page. Posting on anyone else’s page about your business without permission is too aggressive. Using the “post as your page” tool improperly is too aggressive. This should be on everyone’s top 10 Facebook Marketing Mistakes lists.
#7 Not tracking your page results. Facebook gives you a wealth of information about the effectiveness of your business page through the Insights link. You can understand who is connected to your page, where they came from, which of your posts are most effective or most visible and even monitor results of outside marketing campaigns through Insights.
#8 Letting the road end at Facebook. Never put all your “marketing eggs” in one basket. Find ways to get to know your Facebook connections in other venues. Move people onto an email list through special offers or events. Use Facebook messaging, email and the phone to further the relationships you begin on Facebook.
#9 Ignoring Facebook ads. The targeting and budgeting capacity of the Facebook ad system makes this an option every business needs to consider. You can specify exactly who will see you ad (perhaps female massage therapists in San Diego between the ages of 25 and 30) and exactly how much to spend each day to advertise to them. Facebook also gives you amazing statistics about the performance of your ads.
#10 Not using the other business tools of Facebook. The first business tool every entrepreneur should use on Facebook is the search function. Learn how to use the filters and research exactly what is happening and being said in your target market. Facebook events can be a powerful way to promote your business without a business page. Facebook groups help you meet and start relationships with people in your target market.
And a bonus item, #11 in the top 10 Facebook Marketing Mistakes, that will change everything that you do on Facebook if you really understand it.
#11 Not taking advantage of the viral aspects of Facebook. Everything you do on Facebook should be crafted around making yourself visible and viral. Make sure you understand thoroughly who sees what on Facebook. The system does NOT display everything to every person that has Liked your page or to all of your friends. Learn the ins and outs of how to get more visible in order to get more results.
These tips are explained in depth in the webinar training Facebook 4 Biz. Janet Slack of Solopreneur.Biz walks you through exactly what you need to know to stop the frustration of incomplete or dated information.
So, Janet and I are of the same mind on these things. In fact, some of what she wrote is almost verbatim to things I teach in my seminars. I encourage you to take Janet’s class. It’s great stuff!