3 Basic Facebook Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid

1.59 billion! That’s the average number of daily active Facebook users for June 2019. Perhaps except for China, we all know it is hard to find someone you know that does not have a Facebook account. After all, Facebook is the king of social media.

With nearly 1.6 billion active users daily, Facebook provides brands with endless opportunities to connect and improve their brand visibility. Brand visibility can come in two ways: positive or negative. Positive brand visibility is what every brand wants. But since most digital marketers just post as many updates and hope to get the most “Likes” or “Shares”, do they really know how to improve or even maintain their brand visibility?

Before we dive into the top 3 mistakes, let’s see how a Facebook marketing blunder can bring your brand negative visibility. London Luton Airport attempted to use humour in describing its safety record by publishing a plane crash photo on their Facebook page.

On the surface, this sounds okay. But there was public uproar with multiple negative comments because the very plane crash image was a 2005 Chicago flight which lost control on the runway, resulting in a 6-year-old boy losing his life.

‘I am pretty appalled that this is your official page and that this is the image and wording that you use.’

Kelly Garrett, a Facebook user

Negative comments and publicity could have been avoided if the good judgement was used and research on the photo was conducted.

Since social media has the power to either bring brands up or down, it is important to avoid these 3 mistakes.

Mistake 1: Too focus on promotions and deals

As a marketer, you may take pride in your company’s accomplishments and what they can offer to the public. However, Facebook Audiences are not looking for that. They are using Facebook as a platform to connect with brands that provide value to them and if you ain’t, they are going to simply unfollow your page.

One may argue that value may be subjective depending on individuals and the nature of business. That may be true to an extent but there are other ways to convey value beside special promotions or sale. Brands should find innovative ways to inspire visitors and give them a reason to connect.

Hence, instead of focusing on sale promotions, try using other topics such as congratulating an employee for completing 10 years with the company. That provides a more humane method of engaging with your audience and differentiate you from your competitors.

Mistake 2: Out-of-Context Topics

We earlier mention trying using different topics to engage your visitors. But it is important to remember that whatever you publish on your social media platforms reflects your brand. Failure to align your posts with your brand would confuse your audience. While it is important to ensure a variety of post, it is even more important to ensure that whatever context you use match the core message of your brand.

Take the instance of Luiz Suarez (star forward for Uruguay’s soccer team) biting the defender of Italy’s team. This global event led to leading brands like Snickers, McDonald’s, Trident Gum, etc. taking advantage of the situation. We will leave you to judge how relevant the incident is to their brand message.

Mistake 3: Incomplete Brand Page Information

This should be a no-brainer to any professional social media marketer. The information on your brand page reflects the personality of your brand. An incomplete brand page is worse as it can simply reflect your brand attitude and professionalism.

In today mobile world, you never know when your audience might want to find information or contact you through social media. Hence, it is important to provide as much information as possible.

At the bare minimum, your brand page should mention hours of work, address, contact details, URL, and whatever you find important for your visitors to know.

A Final Note

The position of Facebook in the social media landscape is set to stay for the next decades or so. While there are tons of strategies with regards to Facebook, you do not need to know to implement every one of them. It is more vital to understand your audience needs and what they are looking for then to randomly use every single strategy you know. Most importantly, if you are struggling to maintain and manage your Facebook page, it may be even more cost-effective to engage a professional social media agency such as MarketingGuru to help you with Facebook marketing strategy. They would be better in helping position your brand in the best possible way by being always kept updated on the latest Facebook marketing trends and updates.