FACT: I am an active Facebook user and a “Liker” of pages (from here on out, I will refer to myself, when referring to pages, as a “Liker” – I know it used to be “Follower” but that changed a while ago). Maybe it’s partly because I am a consumer so I enjoy the somewhat voyeuristic and personal part to interacting with a company or brand Facebook. I like to feel like I’m “in the know” – so I will “Like” pages that I want to be “in the know” with. You know? Yeah. You know.

I also happen to be very active in social media myself and have a lot of experience managing Facebook pages for brands myself. I am NOT claiming myself to be an expert. Nope, no I’m not. In fact, Facebook’s community guidelines and policies change so much it’s often hard to keep up. However, I have had enough experience that I can tend to know what generally works and what, well, generally doesn’t.

I am going to preface the rest of this post by saying: yes, I am making sweeping generalizations here. I understand that every company has their own marketing plan and strategy in place and marketing managers or social media managers most of the time know what’s best for their company’s pages on Facebook. I am just simply expressing my general pet peeves when I encounter something on a company or brand-managed Facebook page.

With all of that being said, here are FIVE pet peeves I have come to realize while being a “Liker” of Facebook company / brand pages:

1. Having WAY TOO MANY pages for one company. 
   • I get it. ESPECIALLY with companies that have brands that span the entire globe, this is a tough one. However, you are making it REALLY difficult on yourself for a “liker” to find the right page to, well, like. For example, the other day as I was working on something on rAVe’s own Facebook page, I was looking for the official page of a particular company that shall not be named by rhymes with “SCHMEPSON.” It LITERALLY took me 10 minutes or so to go through and filter through ALL the 20+ SCHEMPSON Facebook pages to find the one I needed to interact with. No consumer or user should have to spend that much time trying to figure out if they’re on the right page or not. And SCMEPSON is not the only one guilty of this…
   • If you’re an international company like SCHMEPSON, consider having ONE page. Just consider it. Think about a company like Coca-Cola. They are a majorly international company… yet they have one (very successful, I might add) Facebook page. If a user is in India, their Facebook is customized to translate text in Hindi, etc. etc. Anyone can interact with it… not just someone in the United States.
   • Having 20+ pages for one company is over-doing it. Majorly.
2. Not following Facebook’s contesting guidelines. 
   • There are so many brand pages guilty of this it’s crazy. If you want to hold a giveaway / contest on your Facebook page… you HAVE to do it through a Facebook-approved platform. Try a free one like Rafflecopter – I have used it before and I LOVE it.
   • Having a giveaway where all that is required is to “Like, Comment, or Share to Enter” is a violation of Facebook’s guidelines. You do it too many times, your page can be shut down.
3. Visiting another Facebook page (as a Facebook page) and “asking” for a “Like” back.
   • Okay, this one doesn’t happen AS often as some of the others, but it happens often enough that it annoys me. Say I log-in to my Facebook account and I choose the option to “Use Facebook as rAVe.” So, now when I mosey about Facebook and interact with people, I’m commenting, liking, sharing, etc. as rAVe – not Molly Stillman. Now, say I go to the Facebook page of another company or brand and I write on their wall, “Stopping by to “Like” you from rAVe. Great stuff. Come by our rAVe page and give us a “Like” back!” No. No. No. No. No. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call “trying too hard” and “looking desperate.”
   • Instead of visiting and, literally, ASKING for a “Like” – how about visiting the page of another company and actually INTERACTING with them? For example, I comment on a recent post of theirs with a thoughtful response. I visit some of their Facebook photo albums and like, comment, and maybe even SHARE something of theirs. Then maybe, they may see that I am interacting with them as a page and, in turn, “like” me back. Think of it like an, “I scratch your back you scratch mine” kind of thing.
4. Making it IMPOSSIBLE to find you elsewhere on the internet.
   • Did you know that there are other websites out there beside Facebook? I know you did. However, your Facebook page would never tell me that you did.
   • There is an “about” and “website” section on your Facebook page for a reason. Fill it out! Use it to your advantage! Promote your WEBSITE! Promote your other social networks. Use that space to tell your “Likers” how to find you and how they can interact with you ALL OVER THE PLACE!
5. Not allowing “tagging” of your page.
   • Now, this is turned on or off in your page settings. I also understand that some larger companies want to turn this off to avoid spam and abusive users, etc. However, there IS a profanity blocklist if this is something you’re worried about. There are other ways to control what appears on your page and what doesn’t. It’s just sad to me when I want to tag a page in an image or tag a page in a post and I can’t because they have that functionality turned off. I WANT to promote their page! I am WANTING to share something about them! But I can’t… so, I just say, that consider turning those things ON as they are great tools for getting your page’s message out there through your “Likers.”

So, those are my five pet peeves (for now). Again, I know there are extenuating circumstances with some brands / companies and their pages. I know that every situation is different. But these are just some of the things I’ve come across as both a user AND a manager that can drive me batty.

What about you? What are YOUR pet peeves when it comes to Facebook pages? Do you share any of mine or do you have any different ones?