Last updated on April 3rd, 2019

Is your Facebook fan page like a ghost town, despite you having a gorgeous cover image?

Do your posts reach next to no one on your page?

Are you considering quitting Facebook altogether because it just doesn’t seem worth it?

If so, read on!

Having a Facebook fan page for your business is not enough these days and I’m sure you know that.  I’m also sure you know that advertising with and on Facebook is considered key to driving engagement and reach these days.

But did you know that despite all of Facebook’s efforts to get you to pay up, there are a few things that YOU, yes, you and your business may be guilty of because of which your Facebook page is suffering massively.

So, before, you decide to fork out your hard-earned dollars for Facebook advertising, go through this list of the 7 sins of Facebook posting to ensure your small business isn’t guilty:

1. Not Posting Enough

One of the first sins of Facebook fan page management is to not post often enough. No that one post last Thursday doesn’t count. Posting randomly and infrequently will not work well with Facebook’s internal algorithms and chances are even if you have 1500 fans, only a couple may see a post from you.

Fix It Fast: I’ve said it earlier and I’ll say it again, create an editorial calendar for your social media marketing. Have a strategy in place for sharing content on Facebook consistently and regularly. Posting frequently, without overdoing it, is a great way to start showing up in feeds.  Anywhere from 3-6 updates a day is great.

2. Posting Too Much

Ahem! Yes, this can be a sin if you’re shooting off updates every 5-10 minutes and basically, clogging up feeds like crazy. People will start to unlike your page faster than you say “FB”!

Fix It Fast: See the Fix-It for #1. Create an editorial calendar. Period. 

3. Link Vomiting

Sorry for that graphic picture in your head right now, but this is a serious sin for many business pages. All they do is throw out links.

“Check out our new product… link”

“ Read our post…link”

“Go to our website…link”

No.

No.

No.

For one, your page will look awful with all those link-style posts. Secondly, your fans will start to tune you out. Thirdly, you’ll not be showing up in feeds again, because Facebook puts link posts at the bottom of the pile.

 Fix It Fast: Make sure your social media editorial calendar has a great mix of content – photos, questions, fill-in-the-blanks, polls and more! And yes, links too.  Need ideas? Download the FREE 100+ Facebook Fan Page Posting Ideas booklet.

4. Not Engaging with Your Community

Your Facebook page represents your brand and would you want to be known as a company that doesn’t care about its customers? I think not.

So, engage with your community.

Fix It Fast: Interact with your fans by sharing information that they’ll LOVE. Acknowledge replies to your questions. Answer their queries fast. Deal with complaints promptly. Show an interest in the people who care about your business enough to let you show up in their personal Facebook feeds. That’s a big thing. Value it.

5. Not Sharing Your Page with Your Audience Elsewhere

So, keeping your Facebook page all to your self? Not so smart.

Fix It Fast: Make sure you’re including a link to your page in your email signature as well as other online correspondence, including your business newsletter.

Have the Facebook widget or icon on your website,  @ tag your page occasionally on your personal profile.

Comment as your page when interacting on other pages. Include your Facebook link on your other social media networks, like Twitter or Pinterest.

 6. Only Relying on Facebook for Social Engagement

Is Facebook the ONLY place customers can find your brand online? Small businesses, like you and me, with our limited time and resources, often choose one network and pour all our efforts into it only to be disappointed when either that network stops performing for us or worse, when we find that our ideal customers may really not be there! Ugh!

Fix It Fast: I share this with all my clients in our premium 1:1 workshops that they must have a blog. MUST. Relying on any one or even, two networks is business hara-kiri. A network can shut down overnight or lose favor or just stop giving you the results it did. But a blog is your own property. It is a great place to create and nurture a community. It is awesome for SEO and it will bring people from social media back to your website. It should and must be your social hub and everything else can follow. Need more reasons? Here is more on why your business NEEDS a blog!

7. Not Checking the Settings and Analytics for Your Page

Finally, when was the last time you checked your page settings? When you set up your page? Uh, not good, my friend.

 Fix It Fast: Review your settings to make sure they’re reflecting your current business website address, contact details and also, to turn off any location-specific settings, especially if you aren’t a location-specific business.

 Case-in-point: I joined a lovely virtual yoga studio sometime back to get in some much-needed exercise. Now I was keen to “like” their Facebook page and each time I’d click on the Facebook icon on their website, I’d get redirected to my personal Facebook news feed. I contacted the owner of the studio and asked her to check her settings. Sure enough, her page was set to US-only. Considering she has a virtual business with customers worldwide, that wasn’t a good thing. So, if you think your page isn’t getting new fans, check this first.

Also, keep a watchful eye on your insights. The new Facebook insights show you exactly which type of posts are performing well so you can fine tune your updates accordingly. Also, knowing which areas your fans are from will help you time your updates optimally and share location-specific updates as well.

So, is your Facebook page guilty of any of these “sins”? Don’t be shy! Share with us in the comments!

Psst: Want me to take a look at your page for you? Win a FREE 1:1 consultation!