Every day I come across businesses who are costing themselves money when it comes to their Facebook marketing practices. Here are five mistakes that I see the most and a few tips on how to correct them.

1) They use a personal profile for a business page

I see a lot of businesses use who are using a personal Facebook profile for a business page.

Here’s why it doesn’t work.

There are a few reasons why this is bad for your business. One of which is, your profile could get deleted. Facebook has announced that it will get more aggressive in removing businesses that use personal profiles to represent themselves.

Next, you are missing out on important features like Facebook Insights. With Facebook insights you can learn a bunch of stuff about your customers. You then take what you learn to help inform future marketing decisions.

You can more about you is engaging with your page. Stuff like age, are they most likely male or female and what products or topics do they respond to best.

Finally, you can also run Facebook Ads, contests, conduct surveys and assign roles for managing your page if you find it hard to keep up on your own.

If you are making this mistake don’t feel bad. It is something a few of my clients where doing when I started working with them. And it is understandable. As a business owner you quite a bit on your plate as it is and do not have the time to stay on top of the latest Facebook changes.

To fix this, just set up a business page and start migrating your followers from your current profile to your fan page.

Need help with that? Let me know.

2) They never update their page

Many businesses post once per week or less. This is mistake.

It is likely that your customer is not visiting your page on a regular basis. If you are not showing up in their timelime by posting new content, you don’t exist. Out of sight, out of mind.

If you want to stay in front of your customers, you need to post as often as you can. At a minimum you should post once per day.

You should post content that you think your customer would be interested in. It can be a mix of your own content along with blog posts, videos and pictures related to your niche.

This may sound daunting because it adds another thing to your plate but it doesn’t have to be. There are strategies you can use to simplify and streamline the process.

For instance, if you have a smart phone there are all kinds of ways to add good content to your Facebook page that take less than 5 minutes. A bar and grill client of mine sends out pictures of that days specials and/or comments on sporting events. My car audio client shares in progress photos of speaker boxes or installations. My photographer client uses her smartphone to share behind-the-scenes information. this is quick and simple way to fill in the blanks between the sharing of her high quality images.

What would your ideal customer like to see or learn more about?

Want more ideas or help putting together a content strategy? Let me know.

3) They broadcast rather than participate

I see a lot of businesses who are constantly posting sales messages or pitches but nothing else.

Nobody comes to Facebook to be sold something. They are there to hang out and stay up to date with friends and family. Also, Facebook is starting to clamp down on blatant advertising because they know their users do not like it.

A better approach on Facebook is to participate. Keep in mind that you part of an online community. Like in real life, if you are constantly talking about yourself eventually people are going to phase you out.

Get involved in the conversation by chatting about the things your customer cares about. Be a part of the community, rather than a business looking for a sale. If your customers love football then talk about football. If they are watching Breaking Bad, talk about Breaking Bad. If they like underwater basket weaving, share your thoughts or a video about that. And make sure you are authentic.

Once you have provided some value, your customer will be more likely to check out an “occasional” offer and act on it.

Want to some ideas specific to your business? Let’s talk.

4) They do not collect emails

Many of my clients were not collecting emails from their customers when I started working with them. In fact, very few businesses collect emails. It is underrstandable because its one of the biggest mistakes I made when I started marketing online.

By not collecting emails you are limiting the amount of times you can engage with a potential client. You are also forfeiting the opportunity to build a lasting relationship with customers who have given you permission to make them offers. Consider this statistic.

“ExactTarget asked almost 1,500 US online consumers (age 15 and up) about how they prefer to get permission-based marketing messages and a whopping 77 percent said email.”

Also, by collecting email, you get more out of your advertising dollar. You pay to get that customer one time and then keep them around forever. Another stastatistictisic.

“It’s 8X more effective to bring back an existing customer than get a new customer.” – The LMC Group 2012

Email is a great tool and can quickly become one of your businesses greatest assets. One of the oldest saying in internet marketing is “the money is in the list.”

Building an email list is something that can be done online and off. You could start with a free Mailchimp account. They provide you with a code that you can add to your website and integrate with many of the top social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. If you are a brick and morter business, you also want to collect emails from customer in store.

The best way to get customers to opt-in is to offer your customer something of value. Could be email subscribers only deals, coupons, special access, tip sheets, etc.

Want to brainstorm some ideas for your bsuiness? Let’s talk.

5) They do not use Facebook Ads

Many businesses spend thousands on radio and newspaper ads. Those ads can be effective for certain businesses. But they typically offer little or nothing as far as customer targeting and tracking return on ad spend.

With Facebook, you can identify your customer and target them and only them. If you want 35-45 year old moms who make $50K – $75K per year, read Family Circle Magazine and live within 5 miles from Winona, you got it.

Not only that, you can track every eyeball that saw your ad, whether they clicked on that ad and whether they bought your product. And you only pay when they click on the ad.

It is easy to start using ads is by using the Boost Button (which isn’t ideal) or by clicking on “Build Audience” in the top right of Facebook Business Page.

But before spending your money, educate yourself (ideally from someone other than Facebook). It doesn’t take much to blow through your ad budget without getting any results if you don’t know what you are doing.

If you have any questions, let’s talk. I’ve been running Ads in a variety of niches and for a wide variety of businesses. I can point you in the right direction.