Are you promoting your business with social media? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other sites can be fabulous ways to get in front of your ideal audience and connect with more people. But each site comes with it’s own rules and guidelines that you need to be sure you are following so you don’t lose your profiles or fan pages.
If you’re using a social media manager, make sure they’re aware of these types of rules and aren’t violating the terms or you may end up in trouble for their mistakes (oh no!).
Today I’ve got a helpful word of warning for you from social media manager Lisa Miller about how to avoid having your Facebook fan page shut down by Facebook.
Avoid Having Your Social Media Profile Shut Down
A Facebook account or other social media can be a great way to market your business. Setting up your profile and then working to get people to “like” you can be difficult and time consuming. Creating a fan base can take time and effort, but if you don’t follow the terms and rules that are on Facebook and other sites, you could lose all that hard work and have your social profile shut down. Some social media companies tend to “stretch” the rules and this can mean the end of your account if Facebook enforces them.
For example, I’ve seen dozens of contests that violate Facebook’s promotion policy. Some are pages with thousands of fans. With all the time and effort spent building your social media presence why would you risk having it all taken away from you?
These are asking for likes and comments on a Wall post as part of registering for a contest—which is against Facebook rules.
“You must not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app. For example, you must not condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall.” –Facebook.com
It’s not just contests on Facebook that uninformed or unscrupulous page managers are violating; the guidelines for the timeline cover image are disobeyed just as often.
For example, Facebook states that it is against the rules for your cover image to include:
“ . . contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section…calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.” –Facebook.com
Nor can you reference Facebook features like having an arrow pointing toward the “like” button; it is against the rules to have:
“…references to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features;” –Facebook.com
Read the full promotion and cover image guidelines at Facebook Pages Terms (http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php). Be sure to do the same with every social media site you use—few things are more disappointing than losing thousands of hours of work just because you forgot to read the terms of service!
The majority of people do not even read the rules and regulations of the social media site that they are on, but it can get your profile shut down if you do not follow the rules. Just think of all those followers or friends that you will lose if your profile is removed because you are not following the rules.
This is Dirty Little Secret #2 of our ebook, 7 Dirty Little Secrets of Social Media Services. There are other ways that social media services stretch the rules and you want to be sure that you stay away from these pitfalls.
Download our ebook at http://www.buzzaccelerator.com/7secrets and make social media your most significant marketing tool.
Article by Lisa Miller, Buzz Accelerator
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Lisa, I’m afraid I know too well the dangers of not reading the all important terms when it comes to social media. I was surprised not too long ago with the dreaded “account suspension” ribbon on one of my twitter accounts. It was okay since It was a fairly new account but it made me read the terms to understand why the account was suspended.
It was eventually reinstated as they said it was accidentally put into a batch suspension with other accounts but to be safe I just deleted the account. I know people maintain numerous accounts for one social media platform but for me, I’m sticking with one.
Great post – I knew the thing about the contests but I thought there must have been a change as I still see people running them. Big companies run contests (corporations) that require you to “like” their page – in fact I just did a b2b where you had to like the page in order to access the sweepstakes entry.
You can require a like for your page, but not for a status, if I understand correctly. I think the safest option is using one of the services that manage the contest legally and in line with Facebook rules. :)
Thank you Michelle, I wasn’t aware of the difference. (like vs status) I also was unaware of approved contest apps – that makes sense. Contests are a tricky thing because you really need to know your stuff – like not to do raffles or lottery’s.
Yep. We’ve got not just Facebook regulations, but local city, state, and national regulations to watch out for as well.
Here’s a great article with some app suggestions: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-promotions-what-you-need-to-know/
It’s amazing some people will spend so much time designing their cover but not check out the rules around it. It would be a shame after all the time it takes to build up a Facebook fan page or money spent to grow it to only have it shut down. Love your title!
It’s crazy, isn’t it? It only take a minute but so many people don’t stop to see if there are rules. Anytime we’re on a platform we don’t own, there are rules to play by. Being an “outlaw” isn’t a safe approach!
This was an incredibly helpful article. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful, Christine. Lisa is a great resource for social media help. :)
I too was not aware of these rules. Very few people read any terms & conditions and you’re quite correct. These are some easy ways to shut down your fan page.
I’m smiling because of this post. I was consulting with one a client who has a Facebook fan page and he doubted me when I told him he could not put his phone number on his cover image. His competition was doing it; therefore, it should be OK for him to do it.
Approximately two years ago, before I became more knowledgeable about Social Media, I was banned from Twitter. I couldn’t understand why, I had not logged into my account for months. I had not added any new friends. Evidently, in my ignorance, I had given permission to an app to auto follow and my ratio to followers and following were out of balance.
Lesson learned.
Thanks Michelle and Lisa for another helpful post
Good info to know. Thanks!
It’s probably wise to look for changes in Facebook policies, too. Now that they are a publicly traded company, there may be additional pressures for profitability.
Lisa,
The importance of following the rules on social media cannot be overstated. Not only must we follow the initial rules, but keep up with changes as well. Ignorance of the rules will not be accepted as adequate excuses.
Thanks for helping us steer clear of trouble on Facebook.
As a business person who set up a business page on Facebook, it makes no sense to me why you can’t advertise your phone, website etc.. on your timeline cover photo. Is it really all about Facebook wanting you to purchase ads? They’ve recently implemented paid posts and started showing page owners their “reach” which is pitiful unless you have hundreds of dollars per post to spend to get seen by people who have already liked your page..
I’m a an author with a lot of Facebook friends who run contests (illegally) on Facebook for book and e-reader giveaways. I’ve yet to do one but why put the effort in if it violates TOS and shuts you down?
My Page was taken down for no apparent reason on Nov 14th, I posted artwork copyrighted by me and only me… 5200 plus fans wiped out… paid advertising fees, for what, to start a fan page over again. Never sold anything or profited by my page, just posted my art. I read a very disturbing article how a page can be taken down for no reason through a DCMA take down notice… Never heard of it and I never even crossed my mine that this could be a malicious attack until fans of my brought it to my attention… and according to articles I read the only way a site is taken down is if it is reported…That is great, I am being punished for posting my own artwork that I own and FB will do nothing about it. So where is the protection for the page owner.
Article worth reading
http://readwrite.com/2011/04/28/anyone_can_take_down_facebook_pages_with_a_fake_email_address
Jon Paul
OMG!! :O I have read the link u shared Jon! That doesn’t sound very comforting! …I have no words!! What to do..?!
Yep. We’ve got not just Facebook regulations, but local city, state, and national regulations to watch out for as well.
Great informative article. I see some things I need to change with my Facebook already. Thanks for this post!
Does anybody knows the steps to take in order to appeal a fan page disabled? Or anybody gives that service?