Archive for banned
In the previous two blog posts I wrote about Facebook’s unwritten rules which, if broken, can get you banned from Facebook. In today’s post I’m wrapping up this series with some additional thoughts on the subject.
Getting Banned Isn’t the Only Issue
If you follow ethical networking strategies on Facebook and focus on quality rather than quantity you should be okay. However, I’ve heard too many stories from people who just don’t know what they did wrong to be able to guarantee it won’t happen to you.
But getting banned isn’t the only reason to worry. If you’re on Twitter, you might remember Black Tuesday.
In the spring of 2008, those on Twitter logged on one Tuesday morning to discover all their followers were gone, and so were the people they were following. Everyone was alone in Twitter.
What happened?
Twitter’s server crashed and deleted everyone’s followers.
To the best of my knowledge, this has never happened to Facebook. However, as we all know, technology isn’t perfect. You just never know.
But there’s more. While Facebook is selling advertising they are closed mouthed about how their revenue stream is going. Facebook is growing so quickly, I find it hard to believe they will ever go under, but people would have said this about the big three automakers two years ago.
The Real Question
So real the question is if Facebook were to ban you, crash or disappear altogether, what would that do to your marketing efforts? How would that impact your business?
And I think this is an important question for any marketing strategy, not just Facebook. You shouldn’t be dependant on only one marketing tool – you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s just too risky to have all your marketing focused solely on one social media tool.
What’s the answer then?
You need to create an overall marketing plan for your business. Facebook can (and for many businesses, should) be a part of that plan. But it needs to be incorporated and connected to other marketing strategies.
Plan to use other social media sites (I’m regularly on Twitter and LinkedIn as well as Facebook). Attend live networking events. Use PR. Write a blog or newsletter. Advertise. The key is, not to depend on getting all your business from one place.
When it comes to Facebook, spend the time it takes to build relationships and your list in an ethical manner. Give people a chance to get to know, like and trust you.
And while you’re busy building those relationships on Facebook, you need to have a secondary goal in mind. And that goal is to get people off Facebook and onto your own site, onto your own mailing list.
You can’t force people onto your own sites. But if you give people time to get to know you, like you and trust you, eventually you can gently and carefully encourage them to visit your website and join your own email list.
Andrea J. Stenberg
In my business, often I see people go from Twitter, then Facebook, then my blog, then my newsletter. How does Facebook fit into your overall marketing strategy? Have any tips to share? Please leave a comment here.
Yesterday I wrote about things you might do that could get you banned from Facebook. The main reasons people seem to be getting banned is not that they are doing specific actions, but they are doing them too much.
So how much is too much?
That’s the rub. There doesn’t appear to be a permanent line in the sand. No ‘if you send X friend requests you’re okay, if you send X plus 1 you’re out’. The line appears to move.
Not only that, there doesn’t appear to be a set protocol Facebook follows to deal with offenders. Some people get warnings and others don’t.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom if you’re using Facebook for marketing. From talking to many people I have learned some rules of thumb that should keep you out of trouble with the Facebook police.
My first piece of advice is don’t do things on Facebook you wouldn’t do if you were networking in person. If you follow this one piece of advice for every social media site you use, this should keep you out of most types of trouble.
Too many friend requests
When it comes to “too many” it would appear that if you keep the number of friend requests you send out under 20, you should be okay. But remember, if you are sending a personal message with each invitation (and I hope you are) you’re going to have a hard time even hitting 20 in one session.
I suspect that what happens with a lot of people who get banned is they have some event or other promotion happening and suddenly they try to rapidly build their network and cross that invisible line.
You are much better off to be on Facebook three or four times per week and send five or ten quality invitations at a time than to try and do it all at once. As with any networking situation, it takes time to network and build relationships. One hundred friends who know, like and trust you is far better than 1000 who couldn’t pick you out of a lineup. Remember, there are no shortcuts.
Too many identical messages
Another key is personalization. If you write a standard message to send with your invitations and paste it in the message you’re going to get red flagged. That’s what a spammer would do. Go back to the in-person networking analogy. Yes, you may have a standard elevator speech, but I’m sure you don’t repeat it verbatim each time to speak to someone new. You ad lib a little, you alter your message to suit the individual or your mood.
Do the same on Facebook. Instead of pasting in the identical invitation to everyone, type in an individual message for each invitation you send. Yes it takes more time, but it will keep the Facebook police off your back. Plus, it will help you to remember that you’re trying to connect and build relationships with real live people. Put some effort into always treating everyone you meet online as an individual. Trust me, it will pay off over time.
This is also true of writing on other people’s walls. I always try to visit each new friend’s profile to learn more about them. Then I write on their wall. If you copy and paste the same message on every wall post you write, the Facebook police will get you.
But remember, Facebook is about building relationships. If you take a moment to read a new friend’s profile and write a wall post that makes a comment about them or their interests, not only will you avoid that invisible Facebook line, but you’ll be building a deeper relationship with your connections. Focus on quality, not just quantity.
Messages to Groups or Event Attendees
When you create a Facebook group, you can send messages to everyone in the group. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Never mind the Facebook police, think of the members. If you send too many messages you’re going to fill up their inbox and annoy them. Only send messages that add value. And don’t do it too often or they’ll leave the group.
My sources suggest sending messages to your group no more than once a week, and only if you have something of value to say.
For events (such as a teleseminar) you have it even easier. When you create an event in Facebook, make sure people who want to attend have to register off of Facebook. Post a link to your website where they can go to sign up for your email list. Then you can send them regular emails and avoid the whole Facebook issue altogether.
When it comes to groups and events, there’s another danger area – the original invitation. You can send invitations to 100 of your personal friends at a time. What many people do is create a message, paste it in and send it to the first 100 people, then send the identical message to the next 100 and so on.
Whoo whoo whoo … I hear the Facebook police. Make sure you change the message for each 100 people who get your event or group invitation. And if you have several hundred (or thousand) friends, don’t send all your invitations in one day. Spread it out over several days or a couple of weeks.
You join too many groups
This is one case where Facebook’s rules are written. You may only join a maximum of 200 groups. Really? Why would you want to join 200 groups? Unless you are on Facebook full time, how could you possibly have any real connection with anyone in 200 groups? I recently purged my group list to the ones I actually am interested in and have the time to participate in.
Remember earlier where I said not to do anything online you wouldn’t do in person? Well, would you join 200 live networking groups? I don’t think so.
Too many promotional links
I have one friend who does some network marketing on the side. She joined some Facebook groups for network marketers and wrote posts on the walls of these groups with her link included. She wrote four (identical) posts to four groups one week. The next week she wrote four posts (identical to each other but different from the previous week) to four other groups. As she was about to add the 4th wall post in the second week she got a warning from Facebook.
Note, she wasn’t writing on individual’s wall, just on group walls. Additionally, she was only writing in groups dedicated to network marketing. And she only wrote four posts. Four!
The lesson here is to be very careful about posting links anywhere other than your own profile, group, page or event. It doesn’t take much to get you red flagged.
Join me Monday when I post some additional ways you can protect your Facebook connections.
Andrea J. Stenberg
Did I miss anything here? Is there something else you or someone you know has done that got them banned from Facebook? Please leave a comment and share what you know.
Monday morning I saw a Tweet from internet marketer Kathleen Gage; she’d been banned from Facebook. I was surprised to say the least. I know there are spammers and unethical types on Facebook and elsewhere on the web, but Kathleen isn’t one of them. I’m connected to her in multiple social media sites and know she’s one of the good guys (gals?).
So how could this happen?
The problem is that Facebook has some written and unwritten rules about what is and isn’t allowed. If you break one of these rules you may get a warning, or you may get banned without warning, as Kathleen did.
On a site like LinkedIn, they make it very clear that if you don’t follow the rules you’re out. It’s difficult to connect with people you don’t know on LinkedIn. And they have a pretty standardized system of dealing with those who stray. As a result, people are more cautious about what they do on LinkedIn.
But Facebook is different. It’s a little more freewheeling than LinkedIn. There are so many ways to connect with people – search, groups, your friends’ friends, the “people you may know” box – that it’s easy to forget that Facebook does have some rules in place. Add this to the fact that most of these rules seem to be “secret” it’s surprising more committed networkers aren’t banned.
How To Avoid Getting Banned
If many of the rules around networking on Facebook are unwritten, and you can get banned without warning, does this mean you should avoid Facebook? Of course not. Facebook is too valuable a networking tool to avoid. If you learn from the mistakes of others you can avoid the shock of getting kicked off.
Your Facebook account can be deactivated if:
- You send “too many” friend requests in one day/session/week.
- You make “too many” wall posts in one day/session/week – especially if the posts have identical content and links.
- You copy and paste the same friend request message “too many” times.
- You send “too many” identical emails to individual friends and/or friend lists.
- You send messages to your Group members “too many” times.
- You “poke” too many people (please tell me you’re not poking people!)
- You message your Event invitees “too many” times.
- You join too many groups.
- You post too many promotional links
Notice a theme here? It’s not what you do, it’s how many times you do it. If you do any of these actions too many times, you look like a spammer in the eyes of the Facebook police. This is something you must never do.
So how much is too much? Come back tomorrow for some tips to avoiding banishment from Facebook.
Andrea J. Stenberg
Have you been given the boot by Facebook? Received a warning? Please leave a comment and share your story here so others can learn how to Facebook safely.
