In my last blog post I kind of touched up notion that it seems that Facebook is relaxing its rules for using Facebook for business and that changes, which are currently being rolled out will mostly benefit small businesses.
Well this is true but with any change come also new rules. Are you on top of these? How often do you refer to Facebook’s terms & conditions? Regularly? Once a year? Never? It’s probably the latter, isn’t it?
Ignoring Facebook rules can cost you big time!
I’m not just saying this to scare you. The fact is that with growth and new technology, Facebook is becoming more capable and efficient in finding those who breach Facebook rules.
Why should you care?
#1
If Facebook decides that your page is breaching Facebook rules, it can deactivate your page without any questions asked. How much would that cost your business? – Probably, heaps!
#2
Yes, you can complain to Facebook if you think there has been an error of deactivating your site – but have you ever tried to contact Facebook? If yes, then you know this is not really a solution. I recently had a client who wanted to post a link to her custom tab and Facebook has labeled it as “spammy” link. We filled a complaint and they don’t even deal with such ‘trivial’ requests. Not so trivial for my client, as you can imagine. What I’m trying to say is that getting answers takes too long, so once you are hit with adverse actions, it will take long time to even hear from Facebook, let alone fix the problem.
#3
Even when you speak to Facebook, there is no guarantee that they will give you a chance to fix your errors.
#4
Even if Facebook acknowledges your errors, your reputation will be damaged and you will lose your credibility. Imagine fans looking for you and not being able to find your page. All your marketing materials that link to your Facebook business page will be sending fans nowhere. This could be pretty embarrassing, right?
As you see non-compliance with Facebook rules can have significant impacts on your business, financial and reputational. So, don’t even go there. When it comes to Facebook rules – Ignorance is NOT a bliss!
It’s true that most people are not trying to deliberately breach the rules or push the boundaries. Unfortunately, Facebook is not policing the intent, but they rules.
And for that reason I think hiring a professional social media consultant can save time and money for your business. Imagine what would be a cost to your business to suddenly lose your Facebook page over a simple, unintentional yet avoidable mistake, let say, if your cover photo breaches Facebook rules? Or if you run a competition on your wall which is in breach of Facebook rules? Do you know that such rules even exist? Or that they have recently changed? If not, think sincerely of what you are gambling with. What processes you have in place for staying on top of current terms of using Facebook for business. What about other social media platforms?
Quite often I see that businesses don’t thing about these things and are oblivious to the rules. If you know someone in your network that can benefit of this information, please share this article and raise their awareness.