10 Commandments of Managing a Facebook Page

You don’t need Moses to tell you that Facebook is king of the social media world (for now anyway). As markets and companies create and manage pages for themselves, they should keep in mind the written and unwritten rules if they want to survive and thrive.

1. Thou shall not slander thy neighbors’ name: Don’t go onto other companies pages and insult them, no matter what the circumstances. It will make you and your company look bad. If you feel the need to comment on a post that you perceive negatively, we suggest you offer constructive criticism in a polite manner.

2. Thou shall not steal they neighbors sheep: In other words, don’t post or comment on your competition’s wall saying “Come like our page! We’re better!” While yes, you are essentially trying to get everyone to like your page, it is considered poor form to try and steal them from other companies pages by marketing your own on their page. Not to mention you’ll seem spammy and you could be blocked by the company, losing your chance for attention. Instead, we suggest making positive comments and agreements on their posts where their “Likers” have the potential to see your company’s name and page.


3. Thou shall be neighborly: When making posts on your own page, be sure to stay personal and interactive with your fans. When they comment or like your post, show recognition by thanking them or starting a conversation with them in the comments (this way, others will see that you’re active without being automated and will be more likely to participate as well). By establishing a rapport, your fans are more likely to interact and share with your company.


4. Thou shall honor they neighbors’ possessions: Simply put: don’t plagiarize. Even though Facebook and other social media are there for sharing information and posts, make sure you’re giving credit to the original source.


5. Thou shall work with vanity: The physical appearance of your Facebook page DOES matter. You should make it aesthetically pleasing by having an appropriate profile picture and keeping your wall looking nice. Some ways to make sure your wall looks nice are:

– Clean up the links when you post them. If you just copy and paste the link in the status update bar without using the “link” button, the link will appear twice, making your post look sloppy. Also, links with pictures look the best.

– Interact with other pages so your “activity” will appear on your page’s profile. This is appealing because it shows you’re active.

– Rotate between posting photos, links, polls (questions) and status updates. It breaks up the monotony of continuously posting one type of media.

6. Thou shall maintain professionalism: Posting and interacting with people and consumers always leaves risk for receiving complaints. Instead of just deleting the complaint and ignoring the person, you should address them swiftly and professionally. This shows the unsatisfied person and everyone else that you’re willing to recognize the problem and do something about it. In doing so, you will also hopefully be able to satisfy the person who had the complaint and maintain a positive reputation.

7. Thou shall keep thy honor: Besides maintaining professionalism, you need to follow through with your promises to your fans and followers and do so in a timely manner. For example, if you hold a contest that promises a prize, make sure to award that prize within a reasonable time frame. If you do not follow through with your promises, people will lose their confidence and trust in you and your relationship with them will fade.

8. Thou shall not limit thy potential: There’s no limit to how much interaction you can have, so take advantage of it. Go “Like” as many other pages as you can, daily. Suggest your page to your friends. Put links to your Facebook page on your other social networks and on your website.

9. Thou shall have good direction: Have the “Welcome” page as your landing page so when people find your Facebook page or click the link, they will be taken there and prompted to “Like” your page. By customizing your “Welcome” page to something that looks fun and is clean and creative, your page will be more “likable.”

10. Thou shall not over-populate: Try to limit the number of admins to around 3 people in order to stay consistent, up to date, keep track of content and not frequently repeat the same updates. Having too many admins can be confusing and potentially make your page look bad, ultimately breaking the 5th commandment of this blog.

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