A little Facebook information for your business page

There's been a lot of confusion, and even anger, with all the changes and repercussions to Facebooks new rules. I thought I would create easy access to everything I have learned in one spot. If I learn more, you can rest assured you'll be the first to know! 

Marching or Silent Tagging:

I, and a few other FB businesses, can confirm 100% that FB is blocking pages from doing marching or silent tagging.

If you're unsure what marching or silent tagging are then, well you probably shouldn't be worried :) but if you're now curious, basically these are tagging games where you like all of the pages that have tagged themselves in the comments, which you can quickly do by hovering over their name, clicking to go to their page and then clicking like.

When you get blocked by FB you get a pop up that tells you that you are being "spammy" (with all their money and rules you'd think they would have a better word!), forces you to agree that you understand FB terms & conditions and then BLOCKS YOU from posting on pages for 15 long, painful days. It blocks you from posting from your business page, as well as your personal profile! You can still post on your own pages, but it makes doing anything on Facebook uber difficult!

Therefore, liking a heap of pages in a row, as you do with silent tagging, is a flag to FB. It seems to boil down to the amount, the repetition and the timing of your posts.


Other things that cause you to be blocked:


I discovered the hard way that posting a similar comment on a number of pages repeatedly will also get you blocked. I was posting on business pages to let them know I was new to their page and that I do product review. I had copied one post and pasted it on a few pages, just tagging my business page in each one. That's when I got the SPAM death post from FB. So, obviously, repeatedly copy and pasting is a "spam" red flag to FB.  


I have heard, via FB conversations, of people having been blocked for tagging multiple pages in short succession, for embedding images, continuously, in a single comment thread or for doing a similar comment on a number of posts on their page wall. Sadly, I cannot find any specific information from FB about what will get you blocked but it seems to boil down to this:


If you are tagging/commenting/posting/sharing/embedding in quick succession, or in a repetitive fashion, then FB might decide you are spamming.  Remember: there is an algorithm that determines spammy posting. FB has an idea of what "normal behavior by real people" is, and anything outside of that gets flagged as spam. 

Of course posting, tagging etc. is completely acceptable on FB. Just remember, slow and steady wins the race! Be slow, and not impatient, about it to appear "real". Spread out your tags and posts, write original comments do not copy and paste and do not be repetitive (we should all be original anyways :)).

The FB statement of rights and responsibilities include these statements:

• You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook.

• You will not tag users or send email invitations to non-users without their consent.

Contests and Giveaways:

FB also appears to be cracking down on people who are running promotions and giveaways, which are against the rules, which does not surprise me as we've all known this for awhile. Remember, a promotion either involves a prize of money or gift.

If you hold a promotion on FB you must use a 3rd party application. You can hold a promotion off of FB (i.e. on your blog) and post about it on FB but be absolutely sure that whatever promotion you hold does not require anybody to take any action on FB, i.e., no tagging, liking, commenting, sharing, posting, messaging et cetera. It is not allowed and take the chance of getting your page shut down. 

Auctions:

I have not been able to confirm, nor find, any concrete information about FB shutting down or blocking pages due to auctions. FB does not have guidelines for people SELLING GOODS. You are allowed to sell stuff on your page, but you should be aware of the guidelines that are there, just to be sure, for example if you are advertising a sale.

As far as i can tell a true auction, which results in the highest bidder making a purchase, should be allowed. (If an auction is for charity be sure you follow the rules of your state/country as FB will not be happy if you break legal, local laws.

It is also possible that a page would be be shut down if an auction involves requiring people to like/tag/post etc. as that looks a bit like a promo which is against the rules. Also, if people are suddenly tagging/liking/commenting et cetera in that repeated unusual pattern, that was mentioned above, then it would possibly get you blocked for spamming.

So the bottom line about auctions is that we are hoping that FB is not shutting pages down for holding them, as they have not made it clear if it is an unacceptable practice. If I hear or find anything concrete about auctions I will update this post and share any information I find.

In the mean time, if you are having an auction, or any kind of sale for that matter, make sure you are truly selling your goods. Do not use words like winner and prize, and do not ask people to do things like tag, like, or comment. This could be construed as spammy or in violation of promotion rules.

In conclusion, a friendly reminder. Do not rely solely on FB as your business. You have no ownership of FB. Therefore you are merely a "squatter" on their land, at the mercy of their ever changing rules, and yes even their constant glitches. Use FB to interact with people, but set up your own site to run your business. Remember to be aware of how your actions as a page owner can be perceived by others and how it will reflect on you.

I hope this information helps everyone with a business page on FB. Have an amazing day! "Don't worry, be happy" :))