Don’t spam your friends on Facebook.

Yes it is a social network. Yes, it is a marketing tool. But I repeat.

Don’t spam your friends on Facebook.

Facebook is a great platform. It allows us to connect with old friends, family members who are far away, and share photos of what we’re doing and where we’re going.

It is not a place to spam your friends and associates about what you’re doing. Intentional posting on Facebook mean you are posting things for the benefit of your friends, not for the benefit of you.

So again, let’s review. Don’t spam your friends on Facebook.

When my kids were younger, I would post pictures of them on Facebook because we live 300-1,000 miles away from our family. I do love my kids, but the reality is I see them everyday. Their cuteness is really for the sake of my family members who don’t get to see them often. And it works in reverse as well.  Here’s the deal, if I post one photo, I don’t need to post more. More than one photo (maybe two or three max) is going to feel like spam. And when people feel like they are spammed, they will unfollow and unfriend. Then they will tell friends you have in common to unfriend and unfollow.

And yes, 50 photos of your fancy dinner last night at a lot of different angles is spam. It just is. One photo is enough, and if it is really fancy, one photo of each course. But no more.

In this case, I’m talking about personal pages. But if you are a small business owner, here’s one for you.

Don’t spam your customers on Facebook either.

If you are a small business owner and you do not have a marketing background, you need to invest in social media training or hire a social media manager. Posting a flyer and tagging everyone you know is spam. And as a matter of fact, in order to protect the integrity of their own brand, Facebook will freeze any account that continuously tags  people over and over.

Yep. Facebook has punishment and will not hesitate to punish.

Intentional Facebook posts are for the benefit of others. You are posting something of value for your friends, family, and customers. So please look at the information you’d like to post and make sure it is going to be an asset to someone.

I understand that as a small business owner, Facebook can be difficult to manage. Again, invest in training or hire someone who has. But in the meantime, make sure your posts are relevant.

Here’s some extra tips that may help.

1. Using a scheduling app to manage your posts on social media is extremely helpful. However, it is not necessary to repost the same sentence, words, or flyer once an hour every hour. This is where a good copy writer or marketing person can help. The same posts over and over and over again are spam.
2. Facebook HATES third-party anything. The only third-party app that Facebook kind of likes is Instagram; and it’s owned by Facebook. So its not exactly third-party. Your people may or may not see the post. If you have a business page on Facebook, you can now schedule your posts right on Facebook. Yes, it takes more time to schedule in Facebook and then use the scheduling program for the other platforms, however until we figure out another plan, that’s what you do.
3. Buying Facebook Ads to promote your business is perfectly okay. Any business, no matter the size, should have a marketing budget. No matter how small your $$, you can create and run an effective Facebook ad campaign that will increase your traffic and  put your message in front of your audience. In this realm, you can’t beat Facebook, so you just need to join them.

So tell me, do you have any tips for posting intentional posts on Facebook?

Thank you for joining my October writing challenge 31 Days of Social Media. To read other posts, click on the images below.