3 of the Most Common Issues That Facebook Page Admins Face + How to Solve Them
Charli Day Common Facebook Page Issues:
1. Your Facebook ad account is blocked
This is literally the worst message a page admin can see when they log into their account. The worst. Not because you have done something terrible, but because you have just entered the murky world of Facebook customer service. Facebook is renowned for its clever innovations and advertising strategies but definitely not for its robotic and often non-existent customer service.
The challenge
Let’s assume that you weren’t trying to sell guns or drugs on your Facebook page. Let’s also assume that your ad account hasn’t been hacked and you are not using a stolen credit card to place your ads.
First of all, you need to understand that your account may have been blocked for a number of innocent reasons. These may include accessing your ad account via a proxy or using an image which Facebook deems to be unacceptable. Note, this could just be an innocent photo but still one that Facebook’s computerized approvals process deemed to be inappropriate.
A suspension is bad news for page admins because all of the following will immediately occur:
- You will learn that Facebook does not have a telephone number.
- All your running ads will be paused, yes, even the ones that were doing great!
- You won’t be able to access your reporting panel.
- You will be unable to add a new payment method or place new ads.
- You will realize that the thousands you spent in advertising doesn’t mean you get preferential treatment.
The solution
As I mentioned before, Facebook’s customer service is not the best. Basically, appealing an ad account suspension involves filling out a form and then waiting and waiting and waiting.
So here are three ways you can get your ad account up and running again:
- Connect another profile
- If you really do need your ad account running quickly then you could try using another profile connected to the page with a different payment method. You won’t be able to resume your paused ads but you can create new ones. However, a word of caution, don’t rush into this as it may flag further suspicious activity on your account.
- Appeal, but only once
- Resending the appeal form over and over just moves it to the bottom of the queue. So, send it once and then be patient.
- Comment on the official page
- As page admins, we know that the fastest way to get the attention of a brand, however big, is to comment publicly on their page. Visit Facebook Business and leave a polite but firm complaint on one of their posts.
The best way to deal with Facebook’s customer service is not to need them in the first place. Therefore, it is a good idea to read their advertising Dos and Don’ts right here beforehand. If you have been suspended then stay calm and follow the tips above. Most accounts are unsuspended … eventually!
2. Your organic reach declines
If you’ve been a Facebook page admin for a while, you will have noticed a big drop in the number of fans interacting on your organic posts. Check out this snapshot of organic reach from my site, Charli Says, between January 2016 and now:
Actually, this decline was picked up by numerous marketers back in 2014, prompting a response from Facebook’s VP of Advertising Technology, Brian Boland who commented:
So, what was the outcome? Boland concluded that there’s simply too much content being published on Facebook, making News Feed visibility, increasingly competitive. In addition, Facebook is trying to show users the content that is most relevant to them.
Fast forward to 2016 and Facebook adjusted its News Feed algorithm again – to further prioritize content from friends and family over Pages. In the blog post announcing the algorithm change, Facebook Engineering Director Lars Backstrom warned that Pages could anticipate a dip in organic reach. Research from Social@Ogilvy, now suggests that for Pages with more than 500,000 likes, organic reach is indeed as low as 2%.
The challenge
The drop in organic reach has really hit Facebook page admins hard, especially the ones who are not able to fork out mega bucks for high reach advertising. Some of the challenges associates with a low organic reach are as follows:
- Fewer interactions
- It’s really tough coming up with engaging ideas for your Facebook page when you’re not getting a response to any of them. Fewer interactions also means that your page loses algorithmic power and Facebook will show it to less of your fans.
- Fewer new fans
- Facebook’s algorithm is set up to show posts you’ve liked to your friends. If you stop liking a page’s posts then your friends will stop seeing them too.
- Lower web traffic
- If you are posting website links to your Facebook page in the hope of driving traffic then the dip in organic reach will certainly have hit you hard. It has probably hit your pocket too as less web traffic equals fewer sales.
The solution
Knowing the reasons behind the drop in organic reach is good, but what can Facebook page admins actually do to overcome this one of the common Facebook Page issues? Here are my favorite methods for organically raising your Facebook reach:
- Post less
- Less is more when it comes to increasing your organic reach. Remember that spamming your fans with too many posts may cause them to unfollow or mute your updates. Instead of posting mass updates, take your time and think about accompanying images, videos and high-quality content.
- Ask fans to change their settings
- By asking fans to make a simple adjustment and tick “see first”, your posts will be prioritized in their feeds, thus making user interaction more likely. Remember that your fans may not dislike your page, they just aren’t seeing your posts.
- Run a contest
- Running a simple contest on your Facebook page can give your organic reach a massive boost. Give away a product, offer a discount or start a competition. This will encourage more comments and shares and will push your page up the rankings.
- Make a video
- Research says that 92% of mobile video viewers share content with others. Additionally, native Facebook videos get a 186% higher engagement rate and are shared 1000% more than videos linked from other hosting sites. That’s huge and a statistic you simply cannot ignore!
Many Facebook page admins worry that they don’t have fancy video equipment and therefore avoid video entirely. That’s a big mistake. Use videos with captions and engaging visuals. Even if you make the video yourself, you will still see a boost in organic engagement.
- Get personal
- Internet users are getting tired of the corporate blah blah that they get from many pages. One great way to overcome this is to make a Facebook Live video featuring you or a member of your team. You can view my Facebook Q&A video here. The organic response, as you can see, was excellent for a page which, at the time, had just 2000 fans.
- Spend money, but wisely
- If you are happy to spend a few dollars to boost your posts then you will, of course, see a boost in engagement. That said, Facebook’s targeting capabilities are much better than they used to be, so you can now tap into specific demographics such as interests, web behavior, geography and much more. If you’re going to spend money then get the best bang for your buck.
It’s time to get creative if you really want to combat dwindling organic reach on your Facebook page. Spend more time creating amazing content, video and image assets and less time posting meaningless daily updates.
3. You’re getting some negative reviews on your fan page
It’s a known fact that 88% of online shoppers will read a review before making a purchase decision. That’s a significant number. Add to this that 62% of consumers will check a brand’s Facebook page prior to purchase, and you can immediately understand that reviews matter. So, what about the reviews on your Facebook page, how are they looking?
The challenge
If you have a physical business address or an online shop then, chances are, you will have the reviews feature enabled on your page. Depending on the nature of your business, you may get negative reviews based on any of the following:
- A bad customer service experience.
- A faulty or damaged product.
- A PR scandal and user revolt.
- Spam from a troll or competitor.
If you get lots of reviews and most of them are positive then your average will be higher and the occasional negative will not affect your scores. You can see this below for one of my favorite Med based hotels, The Princess Beach.
On the other hand, if your negatives are outweighing your positives as shown below at the New World in New York then you definitely have a problem.
The solution
There are many ways that you should, and definitely shouldn’t tackle your negative review problem. Here are my best troubleshooting tips:
- Always answer politely
- It can be infuriating to receive a negative review, especially if you feel that it was undeserved. However, you must always answer politely and respectfully otherwise you will be opening up a world of trouble, remember Amy’s Baking Company? Well, they are not in business anymore so that didn’t end well.
- Report unfair reviews
- Facebook, understandably, doesn’t allow page admins to delete reviews from their page. If, however, you feel that a review was pure spam (yes, that can happen) then you should report it. To report a review that doesn’t adhere to Facebook’s Community Standards, go to the review and click on the menu arrow in the top right corner. Be aware though, that you shouldn’t be reporting reviews just because they are complaints.
- Think about what you did
- If you are getting a ton of bad reviews because you have committed a PR faux pas then perhaps you should think about what you have done. Should you be constructing a public apology to your Facebook fans before you accumulate any more negatives? It’s important that you allow Facebook users to vent their frustrations and then follow up with a meaningful apology and plan to rectify whatever it was that you did.
- Disable your reviews
- Untruthful or spammy reviews can damage your business so if you have answered politely and they still keep coming then you might want to consider disabling ratings and reviews entirely. You should be aware, though, that if you are doing this to hide from a public outcry, you will just drive the problem elsewhere!
- Encourage good reviews
- I’m a big fan of encouraging happy clients to leave reviews, and this is a great way to raise your overall star rating. You could add a link to your review page in an email to your client database or simply post on your page and ask if your loyal fans would oblige.
So, there you go, three common Facebook Page issues and how to solve them. Did you find the answer you were looking for? Comment below and let us know.
