Facebook Foul

Facebook pages are an easy and free way for a business to establish a presence on Facebook. However, we’re seeing a growing trend where Facebook literally becomes the business’ website, used as the sole source of information. This is simply bad practice. Here’s why:

• Facebook owns the content.
• Facebook requires an account to view its content—but the whole world isn’t on Facebook, nor does everyone want to be.
• Timelines are unorganized and cluttered with irrelevant posts and banter.
• Posts aren’t searchable, making information extremely difficult to find.

It gets even more annoying when businesses mash up social medias that simply don’t go together, for example:

• Using Twitter to push Facebook posts.
• Spamming Twitter feeds with “I posted a new photo to Facebook.”
• Tweeting Instagram (Facebook) photos that aren’t viewable in-line using Twitter products, which results in fewer views, clicks and retweets.
• Begging followers on Twitter to follow them on Facebook or Instagram.

Businesses need to streamline their content and interactions, as not all followers are the same.

Bottom line: A business’ website should be the hub for all info. Social media should drive traffic to that hub, not be the hub. We recommend that businesses install a blog or other CMS solution, use it to archive all updates, and then alert their social media followers accordingly and drive them to the source. Everyone wins.

It should be an easy task for consumers to find information, not an unpaid part-time job.

Respect Beer. ■