Seven really easy ways to improve your Facebook page
- by merylpixelmagic
- posted October 22, 2016
In this day and age, most businesses have realised how important it is to have (at the very least) a Facebook business page.
And to keep costs down, most small business owners are running their pages themselves.
And because they’re better at running their business than at running social media, silly mistakes that are easy to fix creep in.
Here are 7 of the most obvious, and how to correct or avoid them:
1. Your profile pic and your cover pic are swapped around.
Your profile pic needs to be your logo. End. Klaar.
Why?
Your profile pic (NOT your cover pic) appears on:
- The news feed of your followers
- Posts on your page’s Timeline
- Replies in comments
- Comments & posts you make on other pages while using your page
The most important of these is #1, of course – the news feed of your followers.
Above all, you should be designing your profile pic for THAT location.
And while you may think it’s cute to have a pic that’s funny or witty – most companies just can’t pull this off without looking a little ridiculous. And a photo becomes too small to see clearly when it’s a Facebook tiny icon.
So stick with a high-quality logo that brands your company well!
TOP TIP:
Facebook offers these instructions for creating your profile pic:
Page profile pictures are square and display at 160×160 pixels on your Page. The photo you upload must be at least 180×180 pixels. We recommend uploading a square image. Rectangular images will be cropped to fit a square. Your Page’s profile picture will also display next to your Page’s name around Facebook to represent your Page.
Of course, this means that you can have tons of fun with your cover pic, and change it every month!
2. You share from your personal profile to your business page.
No! Badnaughtywrong! For a number of reasons:
– If you have the visibility of your original post set to “friends only”, ONLY people who are friends with you personally on Facebook can see that post, even when you share it to your page. Which means the general public who you are trying to woo sees only the dreaded “attachment unavailable” all over your Facebook business page, which doesn’t engender a sense that you know what you’re doing.
– It also negates the whole idea that your business has its own ‘voice’ and ‘identity’ separate to you, which is really the point of a Facebook business page, and of social media for brands and businesses generally.
– Even if you set the posts you share to public, it sets you up for customers and clients trying to add you personally as a friend on Facebook, and you are then no longer able to keep precious private family and friends separate from business.
TOP TIP:
You can like or comment on other business pages as your page!You’ll need to be an admin, editor or moderator to like or comment as your Page on another Page’s post. If you’re an admin or editor, you may be able to publish as your Page on another Page’s Timeline, depending on that Page’s settings.To like or comment on another Page’s post as your Page:
- Go to the Page post you want to like or comment on
- Click your profile picture in the bottom-right corner of the post
- Select the Page you want to like or comment as
- Like or comment on the post
To publish on another Page’s Timeline as your Page:
- Go to the Page you want to publish on
- Click your profile picture in the top right
- Select the Page you want to publish as
- Create your post, then click Post
Note: You can’t publish, like or comment on a person’s posts or Timeline as your Page.
3. You don’t invite people to your events
You’ve worked out how to use Facebook events (which is brilliant, they’re super powerful) for product launches, sales or social events. So you set up the event, or an editor sets the event up for you … and then you don’t invite anyone.
That’s a bit like planning a huge party and then not telling anyone about it – don’t be surprised if you’re left all alone on the big day, crying into your expensive cake!
Sharing the event is all very well but has limited reach – and every single person you INVITE gets a personal notification about it on Facebook … and a reminder.
Hit that invite button HARD!
TOP TIP:
You can only invite 50 people to an event from your desktop computer …. but you can invite another couple of hundred off your phone!
4. You post or share links, photos or events with no text explanation
What you’re sharing make may a ton of sense to you, but remember that the general public who are viewing your posts may only get to see them a few days later – and even if they see them immediately, may have no idea of context.
So tell people why you’re posting that event, link or photo! eg: “Wouldn’t this be a fabulous date night idea?”
TOP TIP:
You can @tag people and other pages in your shares which spreads the share love even more. Click here to see more about tagging
5. You don’t use CTAs in your posts
In marketing, a call to action (CTA) is an instruction to the audience to provoke an immediate response, usually using an imperative verb such as “call now“, “find out more” or “share with your friends“.
You have to tell people what to do next. Or they don’t do it.
TOP TIP:
You can be more creative than “click here now“.
Think about using CTAs like “So if you were waiting for the perfect time to seize this opportunity, the time is now. Read more here …. “
6. You post bad photos
The cry of “get a real camera” can be heard echoing through the rafters of comment sections for many Facebook pages. We think everyone should have a dedicated camera, but a good photo is a good photo, regardless of the gear used to take it. As is a bad photo.
Don’t post photos on your Facebook page unless they LOOK like they’ve been taken by a professional.
Bad photos give the impression of unprofessionalism on your whole company’s part.
TOP TIP:
You CAN take great pics with your phone!
Thanks to our mobile devices and the editing apps that come with them, we can now take high quality photos and edit them without too many bells and whistles — all from the same device that we use to make calls.
Click here to see some great tips on taking better photos with your phone.
7. You post too infrequently – or too often
You’ve neglected your Facebook page for weeks and in a rush of Social Media Guilt, you post 15 posts in under 10 minutes.
Then you go back and see that each post only has one or two views! All that hard work for nothing!
Yes, that will happen if you flood your page.
The rule of thumb is: One post per week per hundred fans until you hit 1000. Then one post per day per thousand fans. If you are going to post more than once a day, leave at LEAST 3 hours between posts.
TOP TIP:
You can schedule Facebook posts.
If you’re expecting a few busy weeks, sit down one evening and schedule a week or so in advance. (Don’t forget to check back afterwards to see how your posts are doing!)
To schedule a post:
- Start creating your post at the top of your Page’s Timeline.
- Click next to Publish and select Schedule.<
- Below Publication, select the date and time when you want the post to publish.
- Click Schedule.
So if you find yourself doing one or more of these things on your Facebook page, slap yourself on the wrist and make sure you correct them!
