The Big List of No-No's for Business on Social Media

Feeling a little confused? Not sure what you should be posting on Facebook & Instagram to get more exposure for your business?

I know keeping up with all the changes and is challenging and frustrating.  Just when you thought you were getting the hang of it, the rules change.  

Don’t worry. I’ve got your back friend.  

I know that as a business owner you have about a million and a half things to do and figuring out how to outsmart the Facebook algorithm shouldn’t be one of them.  

So how about instead of creating another TO DO list (don’t we have enough of those?!)...

How about if I give you a not-to-do list?

Yeah, that’s right. I’m giving you permission NOT TO DO things.

Feel like a relief?  

Great! Let’s get started!

THE SOCIAL MEDIA “NOT-TO-DO” LIST:

DON’T freak out.

Sometimes you’ve gotta just go with the flow and have a little faith.

Remember: Facebook is not the enemy.  Look what they’ve allowed us to do! They’ve provided us with a FREE platform to help us build our brands, connect with our clients and broaden our audience.  They’ve also provided us with dirt cheap advertising opportunities and tons of resources to help us learn.  

Face it - Facebook has been pretty cutting-edge with keeping their social media platform relevant for a very long time. They have some of the brightest minds out there working on innovation to keep people coming back for more. And they’ve been pretty darn successful so far.

Need another reason not to freak out?  Every moment you worry is a waste of valuable time.  Time that you could be spending brainstorming and coming up with a plan that is unique to your business!

DON’T turn your personal profile into an advertisement for your business.

I talked all about this on my Facebook Live here.

DON’T spend $$ on Facebook Ads just to get your posts seen.

I’m not gonna lie. I looooove using Facebook Ads. I’m totally for them.  But not without a strategy, my friends.  

Every Facebook Ad that you run should have a plan. Direction.  An intended action that you want people to take or a results you’re looking for.  Whether your strategy is to build your custom audiences, lead people through a funnel or grow your community, you need to think ahead.  Please, please, do not turn a random post into an Ad, waste a bunch of money and decide that Facebook isn’t for you.

DON’T give up.  

Just because you haven’t found what is working for you yet, doesn’t mean you won’t.  

The two most important things for you to do before you decide if social media is worth it:

1. Be authentic and really share you and your brand’s true personality.  People like what is real and unique.  When you can find that “thing” that makes you stand out from other businesses or people or that “thing” that others can relate to on a deeper level, people will go nuts over your stuff.  Just keep digging deep. Be true to you!

2. Give it time (3 months minimum).  Once you start posting authentic content consistently, it will take time to create some momentum.  Slowly, more and more people will see and share your posts.  You’ll get more views on your videos and clicks on your ads. But these things take time.  Just keep going.

DON’T compare yourself to what someone else is doing.  

Spend more time looking inward.  Into yourself.  Into your brand.  Into your business. And into your clients and customers.  Find out what your customers really like and share more of that (the easiest way to find out what they like - ask them!).  

This goes back to personality and authenticity.  Be real. Be yourself.  Share what makes you and your business those two things.  No one can do that for you. And no one can truly copy that.

DON’T run ads straight to a sale.

Oooh, I see this one all the time.  Here’s the scenario: You haven’t had time to post on social media (I mean, ain’t nobody got time for that!).  But you have an event coming up, probably in less than two weeks, that you want to promote.  You need people to sign up...like yesterday! So you run a Facebook Ad.  It’s simple. An image, a little bit of text talking about your offer (which is a super deal, by the way), and a link straight to the sign up page.

And then...crickets.

To be honest, most marketers can’t run this type of ad even if they DO have a huge social media presence and post regularly.  Ads that go up “out of the blue” hit people’s newsfeeds like telemarketers calling during dinner, especially if those people have never heard from you.

Take the time to post consistently and build up some warm audiences so that people are familiar with you and what you do before you start asking them to buy what you’re selling.  

DON’T post all promotional content.

This one goes hand-in-hand with the previous tip.  Social media wasn’t meant to be a marketplace.  It’s meant to be where people connect.   

The only thing that makes your business important to the newsfeed is if people find VALUE in what you GIVE.  

Let your promotional posts be less than 20% of all your social media posting.  That means LESS THAN 1 IN 5 POSTS is promotional.  But more importantly, 4 OUT OF 5 POSTS SHOULD GIVE VALUE TO YOUR READER.  You'll get so much more engagement when you post this way, believe me!

Now that you freed up some time for yourself NOT doing these things on social media, you can go take a nap.  Permission granted.

To more clicks, clients + impact,

Jackie