Marketing your business on Facebook can be extremely rewarding and a great way to build your audience and attract new customers. It can also be a bit overwhelming if you aren’t quite sure what you should be doing, and it’s easy to make a lot of mistakes while trying to figure it out.

But the good news is that many entrepreneurs have already made those same mistakes, and you can learn from them and be able to avoid making these common blunders. Let’s look at the top 5 mistakes and how you can avoid them. This will help you to move forward faster and build your Facebook presence quickly and in a way that attracts your ideal customers.

Mistake #1: Marketing Their Business in the WRONG Place on Facebook

I see business owners making this mistake all the time. They use a personal Profile to market their business, instead of the Facebook Pages that are specifically for business promotions. Promoting your business on a personal Profile is not allowed (see Facebook’s Terms of Us for more info) and can get your account suspended if Facebook catches you.

It’s even worse when someone tries to use a personal Profile but puts a fake name or their business name on that Profile. Not only does this violate Facebook’s terms, it also makes that business look unprofessional.

Using a Profile instead of a Page also limits you on how much you can do with your Facebook presence. Pages have a lot more you can do with them to customize them and add extra content than the Profiles do.

To avoid this mistake, make sure that you are using a Facebook Page for your business, not a personal Profile. It’s easy to set one up, and will ensure that you are using Facebook’s platform properly.

Mistake #2: Posting Infrequently and Inconsistently

I have seen numerous Facebook Pages that don’t get updated. You’ll visit the Page and the last update on their Wall might be from two months ago. This means no new content for fans, no reminders that the Page is even there, and of course no interaction from those fans, either.

This mistake makes the Page and business look bad, likely turning off potential fans. It also ensures that the fans forget about the Page. Without those regular updates coming through their News Feed, they will soon forget that they ever even joined the Page.

There is absolutely no point in having a Facebook Page if you are not going to use it and posting regular, consistent updates is a big part of how to be successful with your business on Facebook.

To avoid this mistake, plan out your Page updates ahead of time so you always know what you’re going to say and always have content ready to share. Whenever you have an idea for something you can post on your Facebook Page, add it to a Master List of Facebook Page ideas so you have it handy when you need something to post.

Be sure to post regularly. I recommend at least once a day, but test out different frequencies and times to see what your fans respond to the best. If you know you won’t be able to post on a certain day, use HootSuite.com to schedule posts ahead of time so your Page still gets updated.

Mistake #3: Being BORING

Far too many businesses just talk about themselves on their Facebook Page. It’s all about them, what they’re up to, what they’re selling, etc. This is frankly BORING to your Facebook fans.

Remember, they don’t care about you at all! They aren’t there on your Page to read all about you. They want to know how you can help them! They want to know what’s in it for them and why they should stick around and join your Page.

Bored fans will not engage, they will not share the Page and things you share, and they will not buy from you.

To avoid this mistake, figure out what your fans want. You can even ask them what they want! Find out what their one big problem or frustration is around your area of expertise, then look for ways to help them solve that problem. You can offer quick tips, tutorials and other content to help them get results now and move closer to that ultimate solution that they want.

Once you find out what your fans want, then give it to them. Focus all of your content around what they want and share tips, articles, videos, photos, and other resources to help them out. Keep your eyes open for resources that they will find helpful and useful, and this can include other people’s content, as well as your own.

Mistake #4: Using their Facebook Page to ONLY Post Updates

Many business owners think that a Facebook Page is just all about what you post on your Wall, and they neglect some of the other ways to build up the Page and add more value for their fans. Posting updates on the Wall is definitely a very important part of your Facebook strategy, but a well-rounded strategy should include putting together a really great Page that your fans will want to hang out on and explore.

When you focus on just the Wall updates, you miss out on opportunities to add sub-pages with great content and resources that will keep your fans coming back to your Page.

To avoid this mistake, think of your Page as a whole website within Facebook. With all of the different apps available, you can add just about any kind of content you want, so look at what sub-pages you can set up to give your fans some really useful content. You could have a page with some helpful resources, a page with links to your most popular articles, or one showcasing your YouTube videos. The sky’s the limit, so don’t write anything off before you find out if it can actually be done are not. Chances are, whatever you’ve thought of can be done in some way.

Mistake #5: Using their Logo as their Facebook Page Photo

It may not seem like a big deal to use the company logo as main photo on a Facebook Page, but this is certainly not the best way to make your Facebook Page attractive to your ideal customers! Remember what I said earlier about how your customers don’t care about you and your business? They don’t care about your logo, either.

While your logo is a great way to help your fans identify your business and know they are on the right Page, if that’s all you use then it makes your Page boring and uninteresting to look at.

To avoid this mistake, take advantage of all of the space that Facebook gives you for that main photo. The image can be 180x540 pixels, which gives you a nice vertical banner along the left side of the Page. This banner can still include your logo on it, but also gives you room to show a picture of yourself, your tagline, a list of benefits, a client testimonial or something else that will interest potential fans, make your Page look more attractive and quickly describe what your Page is all about.

Your Turn

What do you think? Have you seen Pages making any of these mistakes? Are there other mistakes you’ve seen people making that you would like to add to the list? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

{Image credits: mcfarlandmo}

Author Bio: Jess is a quirky entrepreneur who helps fellow quirks EXPLODE their business on Facebook. She loves all things Facebook and being able to help business owners learn how to build an active audience to grow their business through Facebook. If you'd like to learn more, you can attend her FREE webinar, The Facebook Explosion Blueprint, or join The Facebook Explosion community on Facebook.