Facebook Pages: Daily Dos and Don’ts

Posted October 09, 2012 |

Social media might have a short history, but already marketers have learned what flies and what flops. Jeweller has developed a check-list on what the experts say is best practice.

• DO post four to five times a week.

• DON’T post multiple times a day…
… simply for the sake of it. Fans will flock to the ‘unlike’ button if their newsfeeds are flooded with boring and irrelevant content.

• DO communicate with other pages.
Support supplier brands and interact with other company pages that are relevant to your core business. Comment on their posts, tag them in photos and mention them often to not only increase your store’s visibility across Facebook but also to strengthen supplier relationships, which can lead to future benefits.

• DON’T harass other brands.
Publicly airing your grievances never paints your own brand in a positive light. It’s a bad look that can reflect poorly on both parties. Keep positive, and hopefully the same vibes will be returned.

• DO post entertaining material…
… that is relevant to customers. Inspiring jewellery ads, or personal accounts of happenings at the store can put a real human face on a company’s branding, and attract customers.

• DON’T post irrelevant material.
Photos, videos and copy that are irrelevant to your business are unlikely to attract the audience you want. While there may be some ‘likes’ for posting a video montage of Will Smith’s best movie punch lines, other fans will wonder why it’s coming from a jewellery retailer. Your fans visit your page for jewellery and community-related content, so deliver that to them.

• DO promote Facebook pages in newsletters and emails to customers.

• DO allow users to post whatever they want.
Make sure page settings allow fans to tag themselves in photos, as well as post their own videos and pictures. This increases your ‘Talk about this’ statistics.

• DO start discussions…
… regarding issues relevant to customers, even scheduling them beforehand to give fans notice of important announcements.
DON’T ignore the insights bar.

It gives invaluable information on which posts and promotions work, and which don’t. Monitor what kind of content is getting the best activity and attempt to channel that more often. Businesses should be aiming at consistent growth from social media pages, that means keeping users engaged so they spread the word.

• DON’T ignore comments from fans.
A study by Conversocial reported that almost 50 per cent of Facebook and Twitter users would be “far less likely to buy anything” from a company that ignored their social media queries. A further 38 per cent said it would negatively affect their perception of the brand. So…

• DO reply to all comments.
Make your replies personal, make customers feel valued, and answer any questions directly. If they should be asking the question or making the comment to someone else, send them in the right direction and ensure that they get a response.

• DON’T delete negative comments.
Only remove posts that are likely to be offensive to other users, because of language or slurs. History says that ignoring and deleting social media rage only makes it stronger. Take critical posts as an invaluable opportunity to publicly respond with a message from the company.

• DO ‘highlight’ and ‘pin’ important posts.
You can pin posts so they stay as the first story on your Timeline for up to a week, and you can also expand posts to stretch across the breadth of the page. You should generally pin for event, key new products, and important announcements, and highlight appealing videos and landscape pictures. See your Timeline as a real website where the posts are blocks that you piece together to make something beautiful. Pinning and highlighting posts enables you to present your page the way you want.

• DO try multiple media platforms
Social media users are interested in a variety of ways of presenting and sharing content. By incorporating new media types and integrating multiple social media platforms you stand a better chance of engaging with potential customers more effectively. There are apps and plugins easily available to do this.

• DON’T create ‘ghost accounts’
The online version of ghost towns, these happen when you join various websites, but never visit again. This results in your brands being linked to empty, inactive accounts. If you cannot commit to using a new platform to represent your brand, don’t sign up for the sake of joining.

• DO give your online presence a personal touch.
Given that jewellery is a very personal product, people searching for it are more likely to respond to a brand that is clearly centred on connecting with people and friendly in nature. Giving your business a personal touch by introducing key team members and uploading fun photos of your workplace is a great way of breaking through the corporate wall and inviting customers to interact with you and your staff on your page.

• DON’T lose control of your voice
It is not uncommon for some companies to have pretty much their whole team posting on behalf of the brand. While this will give you volume, it can also confuse the reader. You also don’t want people posting about the exploits of last weekend under your company logo. Ensure only designated people post on behalf of your company.