5 Common Mistakes Business Professionals Make on Facebook

Facebook is a great tool to help you promote your business, connect with people and find out what your market wants and needs. But it’s also easy to make mistakes that can cost you friends, turn people away from you or your business, keep your message from getting out to those who most need to hear it and cost you money.

These 5 common mistakes are easy to slip into – but they are also easy to stop doing. Just a few tweaks can get you back on track with growing your following and connecting with your right people.

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Mistake #1:

Adding Anyone and Everyone as Friends to Boost Your Numbers

Success on Facebook is not all about the numbers. And adding random people that you don’t know as friends is not going to bring you the money and success that you think!

When adding friends on Facebook, always be sure to either add people you know personally, or include an introduction when adding people that you don’t really know. Let them know why you are looking to connect with them. Do you have something in common with them? Were you referred to them by a mutual friend or acquaintance? Did you read their article or stumble across their website?

Personalizing your friend requests will ensure that people know why you are wanting to connect with them and will make you stand out from all of the other anonymous requests they get. It will also cause you to look more closely at why you are adding people and how you are wanting to connect with them.

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Mistake #2:

Using a Picture of Your Dog, Cat, Child or Business Logo as Your Profile Photo

People are not on Facebook to connect with your dog or cat.

And a picture of your child or of yourself when you were a child will not help them to recognize you on Facebook.

As for the business logo? That might be okay on your Facebook Business Page, but it should not be your main photo on your personal profile!

Use a nice head-shot of yourself, with your beautiful smile and no one else in the picture. People want to know who you are and what you look like. If they can recognize your face from meeting you in person or seeing you other places on the Internet, they will be more likely to connect with you. Your picture can also help to start to develop that know, like and trust factor that is so important.

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Mistake #3:

Only Trying to Sell Your Stuff

People are not on Facebook to be sold to. Period. They are there to connect, build relationships and keep in touch with people they know.

They don’t want to be marketed to or have someone trying to sell them something all the time!

Be very careful how you are trying to promote on Facebook. Are you constantly sending out promotions for your products and services? Are you pestering your friends with invitations and suggestions to attend your events or like your Page? Is the only stuff going through your feed all about YOU and YOUR BUSINESS?

Why not start throwing in something of value to your friends and followers. Try sharing tips to help them with problems they are facing. Share links to articles and videos that can help and inspire them.

And don’t forget to share their content as well! If they post something that is particularly helpful and of value, pass it on to your feed as well. Take the time to help them out and share stuff that is non-promotional and will make a difference to your followers.

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Mistake #4:

Never Engaging with Your Friends and Followers

Take the time to engage with people on Facebook. Focus on building relationships, getting to know them, and finding out how you can better help and serve them. Send personal messages, write on your friends’ walls, comment on their updates.

Saying thank you and showing appreciation is one of the easiest ways to let people know that you care and are interested in them. Take the time to say thank you!

If someone shares your content, send them a note and thank them. If they add you as a friend, send them a personal message and thank them for connecting – let them know that you are looking forward to getting to know them.

If they comment on something you post, reply back to them and thank them for the comment, or answer any questions they may ask.

Take the time to build that communication and develop relationships with people. Schedule it in to your daily routine and make it part of what you do in your online marketing strategy.

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Mistake #5:

Inviting ALL Your Friends to EVERYTHING

Your group of friends on Facebook is not your personal email list. Be very careful about sending invites and suggestions to everyone at once. Chances are, they are not all interested in what you are inviting them to!

Instead, pick and choose who you send invitations to. If you’ve just set up a business page and want to suggest it to your friends, go through your friend list and choose who you want to send it to. Pick people who you know are interested in your business and only send it to them.

If you are inviting people to a local event, only send it to the people who are in that local area. People on the other side of the country will not be interested in attending – and probably don’t really care about your event!

Always be careful about who your invitation or suggestion is going to and make sure you are not just sending a blanket invitation to everyone. Be thoughtful about who it is going to and whether they will actually be interested in it or not.

Did you see yourself in any of these mistakes? Did you pick up some tips on how you can improve your Facebook strategy? Do you have any tips that you would add to this list?