Your organization has a Facebook page. Maybe you set one up because everyone else has one so or you heard about hundreds of millions of users and Googled, "How to set up a Facebook page." Either way, we were all rookie users at one point (still are in many ways) and searched for the how-to articles. But once you did some more reading and posting on your own, you probably came across the basic mistakes to avoid like "not listening to your audience" and "posting too often."Today, I want to share some advice that you probably haven't heard mostly because I've made them myself over the last few years as a Facebook page admin. Avoid these five things when posting to your organization's Facebook page:
1. Ask a Question That Is Too Hard to Answer
Asking questions should be an important piece of your Facebook communication strategy. A question is not only a good call to action but also helps to sparks discussion. However, you'll run into problems when the questions you ask are too hard to answer. When in doubt, go with a simpler version, like, "What do you like better: Spring or Fall?" rather than, "What aspects of Spring do you like the best?"Think about the Facebook homepage - where people find your posts. If people cannot quickly click like or comment, they'll move on. Keep your questions simple.
2. Ignore Your International Fans
Let's look at a campus recreation Facebook page, for example. You could have students, faculty, and fans from all over the world. First, check your statistics to see where all of your fans live. After that, you can target posts by country or even more narrow than that. Therefore, it makes more sense to wish a "Happy Canada Day" to only your Canadian fans, rather than all of your fans.
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3. Mention an Organization Without Tagging It's Page
If you mention another city or organization in a Facebook post, be sure to tag them. First, this will allow you to increase your visibility because the other page admin will see the tag and may choose to share your post. Also, it's important to give credit. In the social media world, a tag is a casual way of giving credit when mentioning another organization.
4. Post Text-Heavy Statuses
Attention spans are short. Tweets are 140 characters or less and people scroll through Facebook mini-feeds quickly. For that reason, your posts need to be short. A lot of times, your post should be quick and enticing and offer a link for people who are interested to read more.
5. Click "Like" on Your Own Posts
This happens too often. While using Facebook as the organization, an admin will click like on the post he or she just made. I haven't seen a statistic about the negative impact of this mistake, but it doesn't look good as Facebook users scroll through their mini-feeds.As I said, I've made these mistakes myself at some point or another over the last few years. They are common, but not often discussed. Avoid these in order to make your Facebook marketing as effective as possible.
