How Your Content Can Break Through The Facebook Clutter Without Annoying Your Fans [INFOGRAPHIC]

As social media king Facebook continues to grow (there are more than 1.27 billion users, using the network to date), so it's becoming a vital marketing arsenal for business marketers to stay connected with both existing consumers as well as new audiences. Since Facebook has such a huge user base, chances are your potential customers will check out your Facebook presence first. Though setting up a page on Facebook takes hardly a few seconds, but there is more to know than just uploading your brand's logo and posting creepy updates. So how to get the most out of your FB business page check out this cool infographic by verticalresponse called Do this, not that! Facebook Edition.

infographic: How to Compel and Not Repel Customers on Facebook

12 Do's and Don'ts of Facebook Business Pages

Remember the 80/20 rule

Provide a mixture of both work and play. 80 percent of your posts should be social (yet still relate to your industry or audience) and 20 percent should pertain to your products/services.

Respond within 1 hour, no later than 24 hours

Acknowledge just to say "thanks!". What about negative comments? Hancock suggests the following motto: acknowledge in public, solve in private. "In my experience, if negative comments are handled correctly, people will actually apologize on your page," he says.

Keep your posts under 80 characters

According to Kissmetrics posts with less than 80 characters received 66 percent more engagement (likes and comments) than lengthier counterparts.

Build your Facebook following organically

Reach out to your established networks and spread the word about Facebook page by linking to it in your emails, website and/or blog. Send an email specifically telling people they can find you on Facebook; create special offers for only Facebook fans, etc. You also build a robust Facebook fan following by posting great content, links and photos. Quality fans are more engaged, active, and more likely to read/share your content, and make a purchase.

Ask question + Post enticing content

Facebook fans love good question. Question posts have 92% higher comment rates than non-question posts. Posts that have a question located at the end have a 15% higher overall interaction rate and a 2X higher comment rate than those asked in the middle of a post. Salesforce Buddy Media.

Posts no more than 1-4 time a week, 1-2 time a day

Labs42's research reveals: 82% of people think Facebook is a good place to interact with brands, however 47 percent people don't like brands on Facebook because "they cutter my newsfeed".

Don't just Sell

Constantly posting promotions could cause your followers to flee. Posting business things all the time means you don't want to engage with your fans. Trying to constantly promoting your products or services will cause your followers to unlike your page.

Don't ignore your audience

There should always be a human behind the social media platforms. Ignoring customers, whether they write positive or negative comments about your business on Facebook, will only disappoint, or worse, make them angry.

Don't write a lengthy post

Adding context to a photo or link is key, however, crafting a novel length status updates could cause followers' eye to glaze over. You don't want fans to "hide" your future posts for being too lengthy.

Don't buy likes

A plethora of Facebook Likes may seem important to the success of your page, but a faux fan following can have definite drawbacks. Fake fans can equate to low engagement, which will negatively impact the likelihood of people seeing your content. If a low percentage of people engage with your content, the less likely you'll appear in the newfeed. Proceed with caution.

Don't write fake comments

Engagement is a legitimate desire for all business on Facebook, however, writing fake comments will do you a disservice. Fake accounts are also easy to pinpoint and customers will happily call you out! Gaining real customer feedback, good or bad, will help you determine which content works best for your audience.

Don't clutter up the newsfeed

Inundating customers with constant stream of content screams, "look at me!" The number one reason 73% of social media users "liked" a brand on Facebook was because the brand posted too frequently.


image credit: busyconf