5 common mistakes businesses make on Facebook

During the first quarter of 2021, Facebook reported almost 1.88 billion daily active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. That’s a lot of people who could potentially engage with your brand. A Facebook page can provide many new opportunities to create interest in your business, engage your audience, and keep them informed about what you’re doing. 

Anyone can create a Facebook business page. The real challenge is to make it work. Several mistakes keep your efforts from generating results. We highlight the five most common ones that businesses make on their Facebook page and give you tips on how to do better in the future.   

1. Underestimating the potential of Facebook ads

According to Sixads, a worldwide ad start-up, Facebook has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. The social network has built-in tools which use your business' location to target users in your local area. So you can directly reach your target audience.

If you know your customers, you can use Facebook ads to engage with them. The benefits are endless, and it is cheaper than almost every alternative source of advertising. Facebook has an advertising audience of 2.14 billion, an average cost-per-click of $1.72 (Wordstream), and an average click-through rate (CTR) of 0.9% (Statista). 

If you are looking for a fast way to drive traffic and conversions, Facebook ads is a great option. 

2. Inconsistency

If you publish ten posts over a month and don’t share anything for the next two weeks, you are not being consistent. Building a community on any social media platform takes time and effort. When you post new content, it tells visitors that your Facebook page is active, which increases the possibility of them following you. 

Publishing every other day or twice a week should be fine if you do so consistently. A word of caution – don’t post too often as your followers may get fed up with seeing your business name pop up in their news feed. However, when posting more often than usual, some events may be more acceptable, for instance, when you run a promotion or share live updates from an event. 

Also ask yourself: Do I need to create a Facebook page for my business? Don't be afraid to realize it just isn't a fit for you. If your target audience is more present on other platforms, it won’t make sense to put lots of energy into creating content for your page. If your target audience is active on Facebook, of course, you should be too. 

3. Difficult to find or share

It’s wrong to think that users will automatically find your business’ Facebook page after you created it. Your page is one of the faces of your business. Your page must be easy to find and share. As mentioned above, one of the ways to make your page easier to find is to post regularly. 

Oher effective methods include using Facebook widgets or share buttons on your website, including your Facebook page's URL on business cards and other marketing materials. Ensure that your website, Facebook page, and other social media use the same name, title, or keywords. Link to your page wherever it’s suitable. 

4. A Facebook profile instead of a page

There are still plenty of people who do not understand that having a business presence on Facebook is utterly different from maintaining a personal Facebook profile. There are several reasons why you should never use your personal Facebook profile to promote your business. First and foremost, it could be an infringement of the terms of use. You don’t want to waste valuable time creating your presence on Facebook only for it to be deleted?

Secondly, personal Facebook profiles don’t have the useful analytics tools that could otherwise help you gain insight into how you operate. And finally, many people would consider it unacceptable for a brand or company to send friend requests, which makes you look very unprofessional.

5. No specific strategy or goals

Above all else, your business should consider why you are using Facebook before jumping right into it. Many companies join Facebook only because they know they should, but they don't think about their overall goals or strategy. 

The first step should always be to set specific goals. What results do you want to achieve? Are you trying to build brand awareness, increase website traffic, boost your engagement rates, gain leads, etc.? Once you have defined your goals, you can adjust your Facebook marketing strategy accordingly. There is no one-size-fits-all Facebook marketing strategy. Setting goals is how you make sure your strategy responds to your needs. Facebook has the power to put your page in front of people who may have never heard of it. Determining the right strategy from the beginning will help you a lot. 

Many business owners feel that Facebook does not work for their business, but they have not determined what they want to achieve or how they intend to achieve it. To succeed, you need to know what you’re doing and have a proper strategy, or you’re missing all kinds of opportunities. 

Facebook is a huge social media platform and thus can be a very profitable opportunity for marketers. We hope that this article gave you some insights on promoting and boosting your business on Facebook. If you still have any questions, feel free to get in touch - we are happy to help & advise you.