Have you ever heard of “Facebook jail?” It’s an occupational hazard for small businesses and worth exercising caution to avoid it. There you are, going about your business engaging on Facebook to build your brand, and suddenly you are blocked from taking the very actions that were moving you forward. If you have had this happen, you know to be wary. If you didn’t know this was a thing, let’s talk about staying out of Facebook jail!
If you are marketing your business on social media, you hopefully already realize how important it is to interact with your social media audience. I generally recommend being assertive about building your community. That includes all different ways of reaching out to to your target market, including getting off your own page, visiting others’ pages, and having conversations with them. If this is a new idea for you, read here, because I want you to understand how pivotal this type of communication is to an effective social media marketing strategy.
You hopefully already realize how important it is to interact with your social media audience. #business #smallbiz #smb Share on XThe hitch in the plans comes when you’re suddenly thrown into Facebook jail for reaching limits you didn’t know existed.
To be fair, a lot of social media platforms and search engines are minding the type and volume of your interactions. They are looking for bots and trying to prevent spam when possible. On many other platforms, if you are reaching some sort of limit you didn’t know about, you may get warnings or they may just keep checking on you with captchas to ensure you’re real. It might slow you down and make you more deliberate about what you are doing for outreach.
But Facebook? They might give you a quick warning, and then they will block you from taking that action at all. Hence, “Facebook jail.” Depending on what it is they are trying to limit, the amount of time you are in Facebook jail may vary by days or weeks. You may not be told how long you are being blocked from the action as they review the case. You might not get a response from customer service if you complain or inquire.
The truth is, there are a lot of reasons why someone marketing a business could have a high volume of interactions in a short period of time. Liking pages, commenting, messages. We are interacting for business, and for most of us that involves a lot of conversations at once. We SHOULD be having those conversations if we want our brands to build.
While Facebook might hope to divert businesses to engage by advertising instead, the two things do not actually have the same function at all for a business. One is about community management. The other is advertising. To get the most out of social media marketing, having actual conversations is key.
To get the most out of social media marketing, having actual conversations is key. #business #smallbiz #smb Share on XHowever, there are volume limits on Facebook on various actions you could take to market your business. The challenge we have is trying to guess the limits. These are set and arbitrated entirely by Facebook. As a business owner, it is best just to know that limits exist and to be mindful of warning signs that you may be reaching one if you are doing a lot of one type of action.
There are volume limits on #Facebook on various actions you could take to market your #business. #smallbiz #smb Share on XThese limits were something I used to caution my community about a lot more frequently. Years ago, I used to host a Fan Page Friday networking party on Facebook, as did a number of other businesses. I put a Fan Page Friday post up on my page, and businesses from all over commented with a link to their own business page so everyone could go around liking and engaging with each others’ pages. This was a regular business networking event happening all over Facebook, and back in the day you might get 400+ people to a party! BUT…..we started hitting some pretty hard limits around how much we were allowed to support each others’ pages, message each other, and interact. People would divide the list into three or four segments and spend the rest of the week engaging with those pages.
Since that time, the limits seem to have gotten stricter, and I continue to hear about businesses being thrown in Facebook jail for other reasons.
With all this said, the intention here is not to worry you. Be your business on Facebook. Market your business on Facebook. There are a lot of ways to do it that involve good, old-fashioned conversations and no advertising dollars at all. I want you to find those ways that are right for your business and for building your community.
Just be mindful of any actions you know you will take in volume. Facebook jail is not a productive place for a business to be. Look for that first warning sign. And respect it so you can stay out of Facebook jail!