It's been established that Facebook provides a great outlet for you to promote your business. Its "Pages" feature is the number one go-to-place for those looking to establish some sort of social media presence - whether it's for a multinational conglomerate or for a two-person startup. However, a lot of Facebook page admins are still missing out on some of the guidelines that Facebook has set with regard to the handling of pages.
Here are some of the policies and terms often neglected by Facebook page admins.
Misleading page names
Choosing a name for your Facebook page can be tricky because they're bound to get a lot of search engine respect. This being the case, some marketers or businesspeople fall into the trap of filling page titles with generic keywords for their SEO value. Don't stoop down to their level because Facebook can surely hunt you down. And besides, no fan or client would want to support a page whose title is spammy, like "Virtual Office Made Easy as 1-2-3" (unless of course if your brand bears the phrase "virtual office" in it).
Promos on wall posts
Have you ever bumped into a "caption this" photo contest from one of the brands you liked on Facebook? It's a solid idea for building communities and generating buzz; plus, it's a great way to engage your audience to the fun side of your business. Admit it, people enjoy working with fun businesses more than uptight and serious ones; and this is one of the promotional tactics that doesn't require as much effort and resources as compared to conventional or tri-media campaigns. So inevitably, a lot of businesspeople - both big and small - jumped right in.
Everybody does it, but actually, it's illegal and Facebook can take down your page if you do it. Surprise, surprise.
According to the Facebook Pages Terms, a set of guidelines which pretty much governs what can and cannot be done with pages, "promotions on Facebook must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App." It says administrators should not "condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall."
So if you're running a contest or sweepstakes directly posted on your wall, which includes a prize and a winner determined via voting, raffle, or individual judging, take it down immediately and start using the proper methods of promoting your stuff on Facebook. You can go through an app (which releases Facebook from any responsibilities as regards to the promotion) or just post a link to the contest (you can upload the details on your blog or website) on your wall.
Advertising on cover photos
When Facebook rolled out its new timeline layout, one of the new features introduced was the ability to add cover photos - large images that appear on top of each page or profile - to give a unique and individualized feel for every user. A lot of enterprising individuals and companies took advantage of this feature by turning the page into ad spots and putting things like "Like our page and get a 10% discount on your phone service subscription!" or "Get the new album on iTunes!" and such.
Since Facebook wants to prevent users from getting outright financial gain from their pages or profiles ("we have Facebook Ads for that," they'd say), they rolled out some guidelines, which cover (pun intended) in great detail what cover photos should NOT have. Again, as quoted from Facebook's official guidelines for pages:
- price or purchase information, such as "40% off" or "Download it on socialmusic.com";
- contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page's "About" section;
- references to Facebook features or actions, such as "Like" or "Share" or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features; or
- calls to action, such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends."
So, make no mistake and avoid such fluffs while you still can.