The 10 biggest mistakes people make on Facebook
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 21 seconds
Keeping with theme of two previous articles written here on Guerrilla Freelancing, today we’re going to check into facebook and showcase some of the mistakes people make on facebook. If you’re interested in reading the other articles, the links are below.
Updating your profile once a month
One of the first mistakes I see (and have fallen to myself in the past) is setting up a facebook profile because everyone else has one and then never updating it. It’s fine to not have a social profile everywhere – stick to the ones you use most, and if you are going to set up a profile on facebook, use it.
Mass adding without any type of connection
My main rule of thumb here is to not randomly add anyone unless the facebook recommendations show 10 or more common friends between myself and the other person. This way, I know they’re a part of the circle I talk to in one way or another and I know that their input on things will be valuable. Plus, it doesn’t look so spammy compared to when you’re adding people who have zero common friends.
Not setting up a fan page for your site
If you run a website of any kind, setting up a facebook fan page, in my opinion, is a must. It not only allows you to promote your site throughout facebook, but it’s also a way to get your visitors interacting with you, signed up to a specific place where you can send out notices (similar to a newsletter) about your site, contests and freebies that people can’t get elsewhere.
Only sharing your own content
I’ve mentioned this before in our other posts about stumble upon and twitter, but it crosses over into facebook as well. I see people who sent out status updates with links to their sites, but never mention anything about any other sites they’ve visited. I assure you that your friends will enjoy reading content if it applies to them, so by sharing articles on facebook that relate to your website topic, they’ll gain more value from your updates and feel more comfortable clicking your links (including the ones to your site).
Updating your status 50+ times a day
Twitter is a place to update 50-100 times a day. Facebook isn’t. Facebook should be used as a place to hold longer conversations than 140 characters and not just a place to broadcast link after link (after link). Try your best to utilize facebook for what it should be used for – connecting with friends, discussing things and sharing what is up with you.
Forgetting that potential clients will be seeing your profile
Some people use facebook and forget that their potential clients can, or will, see what they’re posting on their walls and in their pictures. Yes, you should be yourself as much as possible, but if being yourself means losing clients because you’ve got half naked pictures on your facebook, you may want to rethink the business you’re in 
Also, if you’re designing websites for churches, you may want to tone down your atheist views – I don’t think it would be good for business. So remember, keep things light, but not bright 
Running your blog posts through facebook’s notes
This is one that I don’t see many people talk about, but it’s a definite dead end when it comes to utilizing facebook for traffic and comments on your blog. What a lot of people do is run their RSS feeds through facebook notes and give everyone the ability to read their entire post right there on facebook. When they’re done reading, they move on and don’t visit your site. You’d be better off just sending out a wall update letting people know about the new post so the traffic goes to your site instead of your notes section.
Posting self-glorifying messages on your friends walls
This is one I’ve had to deal with numerous times recently. “Friends” who are utilizing facebook as a place where they can post a comment on your wall, discussing their site. News flash, that’s what your wall is for. If you write on someones wall, mention how much you liked THEIR article, not link to your own stuff. It’s unprofessional, rude and a bit annoying.
Sending advertisements to your friends through facebook messages
Another one that I’ve seen happen more lately is the unsolicited advertisement messages you receive on facebook. Something along the lines of “I just seen this and knew you’d like it” although, your name isn’t mentioned in the message and the topic is something you’re definitely NOT interested. Don’t do it anymore if you’re one of the ones doing it – people hate it.
We’re not facebook friends yet
So, in keeping up with how I’ve done the twitter and stumbleupon mistakes articles here, I thought I should mention this one here as well. I’m on facebook (click here to be friends) and I also have a facebook fan page for my start up, Giant Themes. Would you like to see a fan page for Guerrilla Freelancing? I think I need to set one up, especially after writing #3 above
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Love it and you are very right about using notes to run notes.
But I wonder what happens if I add you as a friend given the fact that I am just a reader. (refering to #2)
You’re a reader of my blog, which means we’re already connected
So you’d definitely be someone I’d love to be friends with on Facebook. And thanks for the comment. I’m glad you liked the article 
A good place to find people with a common interest are in groups.
As soon as I finished reading this article I clicked over to Facebook and someone was posting some spammy affiliate link on a comment on my wall…needless to say they are no longer my friend.
Sweetie had to copy and paste your link for my Fan page link. Where’s your facebook Button. Great post!! very very good. I became a fan to check your updates.
I’m on Twitter 2
Definitely good items to consider. I am trying to keep a moderate separation between facebook and my site since facebook is for personal connections and the fan page is for business. Thoughts?
For your personal facebook page, I’d recommend keeping it clean and more “friendly” than just about your business. On your fan page though, spread as much love about yourself as possible – it’s what people are becoming fans for – to hear about your business and what’s going on with it.
Hey Mike-
Thanks for sharing these FB tips. Twitter has been easy for me and FB a mystery…usually it is the other way around for most. But, until recently I didn’t see the marketing benefits of FB. Your article has really helped. Now, I guess I need a fan page too…
Lori
Great post mike! Some of these things I never thought to do lol.
I’ve had facebook since the very beginning of time (back in college haha) and set it up to goof around with friends back when facebook blew, and myspace was still cool.
So a lot of what is there is really from then and I really only use it for real life local friends if I use it at all, but recently, in the past year or so since facebook has become the social giant that it is, I have finally been using it more.
But since then I have started my freelance career obviously, so those two worlds kind of collided on facebook LoL. So I guess I have some profile updating to do
Probably re-vamp the whole thing around my business rather than my old college years 
haha yeah, you don’t want clients seeing your binge drinking pictures
Thanks for the comment Andy. I hope all is going well with you and the family.
Hi Mike, what’s your take on Networked Blog pages as opposed to a regular fan page?
Great post.
Richard
Thanks for this post, Mike! I’m not a big fan of Facebook, but I’ve been thinking about setting up a fan page for my blog. After reading your article, I think I’m going to take the plunge and do it. I’ve become so accustomed to connecting with people through Twitter, but I suppose I could give Facebook a try
Agree about the Facebook fan page. I recently finished a school project and have both a follow us on twitter and be a fan on Facebook because surprisingly a lot of them still don’t use twitter.
Great article, there are some things that I have habits of doing like treating Facebook like Twitter, going to stop that haha.
Hi! I’ve created a fan page thou I’ve been thinking if it is necessary. But after reading your article, I know I made the right thing.
Thanks for sharing this
Thanks for the tips. I would love to see fan page for Guerrilla Freelancing. Let me know when you set one up. I’m trying to figure out who best to use SocMed for our business. I’m starting to use FB more and am just trying to keep up. If you were to pick one, which SocMed site do you think is the best site to use, and why?
Thanks again.
Laura