subject: Facebook Etiquette Tips [print this page] You can and must protect your brands reputation on Facebook, as well as maintain the utmost respect for the Facebook community. The downside is steep; you can lose your Page, your profile, or both. Once you are banned from Facebook, its hard to get back in and by that time the audience that you worked so hard to build is gone. Therefore, its a good idea to listen to the tips and warnings we outline in this article.
1. Dont Be Afraid to Ignore a Fan
Many people feel compelled to respond to every message in their e-mail Inbox. Similarly in Facebook people feel the need to respond to every comment or posting. Sometimes fans can overuse the various communication features in Facebook. New fans can sometimes binge on the information you present. Some good guidelines are: always welcome new fans, respond to comments and posts on your Wall in 24 hours but try to know when to respond and when
to let the conversation rest. If a fan is irate, thats another thing; ignoring them can often work against you.
2. Deal with Your Irate Fans
Irate fans pose one of the biggest challenges this new medium has to offer. You have several ways to deal with an irate fan:
Honestly consider their point and try to find something (anything) to agree with. Finding and establishing common ground is a great way to get the conversation back on track.
Correct factual inaccuracies in a very tactful and pleasant way. The fan may not have all the data, which could be causing him to be irate.
If you dont know the solution to a particular situation, dont bluff your way out of it be sure to state that, commit to finding out more, and give them a date that youll get back to them.
Dont forget you can always take your conversation offline.
3.Maintain Your Privacy.
For some business owners, privacy is a very important point. If you are a local business owner say, the owner of a local jewelry store you might not want to have your home address listed in the information section of your profile. Also, be sure the settings on your profile are set to Private (which is the default) rather than Public, which makes your personal information
including your home address available to Internet search engines. Finally, be careful what groups you join. If someone you know in business is viewing your profile and sees controversial political, sexual, or religious activist groups on your profile, you may never find out why they stopped coming to your store.
