Business owners are often puzzled by why their Facebook marketing results are worse than expected. However, it’s not a mystery why many businesses fail at social media marketing. They usually make one or more of the following common mistakes.
1) Infrequent and/or Inconsistent Posting Schedule
Building an audience on Facebook requires time, effort and, of course, planning. Too many businesses rely on a haphazard posting schedule. Businesses that receive the full benefit of Facebook marketing frequently and consistently participate on the social network. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to build and retain a community of followers, since they are not regularly reminded of your business’ presence.
Solution: Create an editorial calendar and schedule your posts in advance
While posting on Facebook several times a week may seem like a serious time commitment, it’s possible to reach this goal by planning a calendar of social content. Then, by scheduling Facebook posts in advance, business owners have the ability to regularly post at peak traffic times without being forced to be in front of a computer at that given moment.
2) Little to No Engagement with your Audience
A common complaint among businesses who use Facebook is that they receive few likes and minimal comments.
There is a reason for this.
Facebook marketing without an effective strategy rarely yields results. As businesses everywhere try to capitalize on the power of social media marketing, the bar has become higher.
Solution: Write posts that prompt responses or piggyback on trending topics. Respond to every message and comment quickly.
Social media gives the opportunity for businesses to have a two-way conversation with their followers. This dialogue can build loyalty among customers that can translate into higher sales.
3) Forgetting about Mobile Viewers
Since nearly 100 million people log into Facebook on their mobile phones every day, this growing audience has become more and more important to social media marketing.
Solution: Optimize Facebook pages for mobile
Although not every business realizes it, Facebook pages do not automatically appear properly on mobile phones. However, they can be easily optimized to appear just as perfectly as they do on a desktop computer.
4) Not Taking Advantage of Facebook Ads
Today, Facebook users are bombarded with waves upon waves of information. The social network now has about 50 million small business pages, which compete for readers’ attention amidst a seas of posts by friends and family.
As a result, businesses often have difficulty gaining traction among Facebook’s wide, diverse audience.
Solution: Pay to Play
Businesses can promote their page or individual posts on Facebook to reach more people.
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5) A Facebook Marketing Plan Focused Solely on Selling
Since Facebook is inherently a social network, a strategy of promoting or selling in every post tends to be ineffective. Pages that don’t create a balance in their posts are often ignored or unfollowed.
Solution: The Rule of Thirds: Promote, Share, Engage
Many social media marketers follow the Rule of Thirds to build a business page’s audience. This rule recommends that social media accounts spend a third of their time promoting products or services, a third of their time interacting with others and the last third sharing industry news and tips that benefit followers.
Businesses which can learn to avoid these five missteps will gain a larger online audience to help their business grow more successful offline.
