Top 5 Mistakes Made by Businesses on Facebook

Facebook may appear to be wobbling with the increased popularity of its video-based rival platforms. But it hasn’t disappeared just yet!

Keeping up to date with the best practices for every platform is important.

Here are some common mistakes we’ve seen on Facebook, and how you can avoid making them. 

1. Not using a customised banner on your business’s Facebook page.

This is a common mistake where the banner photo used is a generic photo, low-resolution, irrelevant or out-dated. This is a great feature to invest some time and creativity into as it often responsible for making a good or bad first impression on behalf of your business. The banner should be refreshed regularly and used to your advantage. For example, changed seasonally or per campaign. The colours should complement the logo, which should be your profile picture, to make the page tie in nicely. Think of it as an official website for your business rather than just another social media presence.

2. Not using your company logo as your profile photo.

Unless you’re an influencer – where your face may be your business – using a high-resolution, full colour logo is essential. It’ll be present on every interaction your business makes on Facebook, so make sure it’s simplified and clear so that it can be recognised easily when it’s minimised on a comments thread.

3. Not making the most of the first 140 characters.

Facebook allows 140 characters in a post before it cuts your text off with a ‘read more here…’ link. So make it count. It should be a sentence that grabs readers’ attention, creates intrigue, controversy or humour to encourage them to click that expanding button. It’s recorded as an ‘interaction’ in your post analytics, which will impact the likelihood of your post being suggested to Facebook users outside of your following.

4. Not using hashtags in your posts.

Hashtags work a little differently on Facebook to other social media platforms. But this doesn’t mean they should be neglected. Hashtags make your post searchable, particularly if it’s about a popular or newsworthy topic. However, use them sparingly – this study revealed that the more hashtags used in a Facebook post, the lower the engagement rate. So best stick to one or two valuable hashtags to get yourself found.

5. Crowding your posts.

While long posts are generally frowned upon, Facebook can be the platform most suited for this kind of long-form text – when it’s relevant. When the opportunity arises, be brave and take advantage of a long-form post. But allow space to create short bite-sized paragraphs to keep the reader going. Remember that most users are reading your post on a phone, so a few sentences can suddenly look like a novel – how exhausting! 

Bonus tip:

Keep your posts publishing on a regular schedule. Neglected Facebook pages reflect poorly on your company’s image as new customers won’t know if you’re open for business or not. It comes across as a poor first impression, and could lead to assumptions being made on your level of customer service. On that note, make sure your reviews tab is visible – if there’s ever a red flag, having the reviews button disabled on your Facebook page is it!

Sounding like a little too much for your business at the moment? Get in touch with us to see how we can help you achieve your brand’s Facebook short or long term goals. We can help with community engagement, content creation, influencer management, social media strategy plans and more.