Michele Bedwell
Hiring experienced well trained social specialists is increasingly vital due to the ever-growing responsibility placed on the social media administrator (admin). Admins are tasked with managing posts and interaction that occurs on personal pages as well as pages they manage for businesses, groups and organizations. It is essential that admins have a firm understanding of applicable policies and guidelines within the platform used, to ensure compliance is maintained for all posted content across all pages and profiles under their control.
In recent months, Facebook has shut down hundreds of pages found to be violating its “policies”. These pages were commonly deemed to be engaging in hate speech and violent rhetoric, promoting fake news and conspiracy theories, or spreading disinformation. To combat the spread of misinformation and illegal activities on its platform, Facebook removed the accounts and pages associated with these activities. Furthermore, many accounts had large numbers of followers which may have been further propagating the spread of false information. The number of pages shut down is unknown, but it is believed to be in the hundreds. In addition to this, Facebook took swift action against other companies and individuals who violated their policies.
Since 2016, Facebook has shut down hundreds of pages and profiles for engaging in illegitimate activities. In 2020 alone, the company acted against networks of coordinated inauthentic, Myanmar behavior linked to Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and China. In addition, it removed various networks of pages and groups that were being used to spread spam and misinformation. Most of these Pages originated in India and had a political agenda. Others were found to be selling counterfeit goods or products in violation of intellectual property laws. According to Facebook’s enforcement stats report, it removed 2.1 billion fake accounts between January 2019 and March 2020. It also disabled 1.3 million copies of posts containing false information related to the COVID-19 pandemic during that period.
With the massive number of active users on social media, there is a high level of responsibility placed upon those who manage and maintain these pages. Hiring friends or family members to manage a page can be risky as they may not have the experience or expertise required to do so correctly and other pages they admin may not meet the platform’s standards. Not only could this lead to a page being temporarily lost or removed, but it also has the potential to cause long-term damage to an organization’s reputation.
If multiple admins manage a Facebook page, it is important to consider associated risks. Having too many admins can lead to confusion and a higher percentage of loss due to potential Facebook violations. If your page was the subject of Facebook sanctions and you believe it did not violate the terms of service, it may be that an admin of your page has violated terms and conditions on another page they manage. One you may not know about. To reduce these risks, it is a good idea to limit the number of admins on your page and make any additional users an editor instead. When hiring an outside company, you should pre-qualify who else they manage and if it is high risk, because YES, it will affect you.
No matter what you are told, editors can post and manage, just like an admin, but without the same level of access and control. Furthermore, many tasks related to managing content on your page do not require an admin. Therefore, it is always important to weigh all options before assigning an admin.
Social media experts understand the complexity of navigating dynamic platform changes and creating engaging content tailored for each medium. They are also familiar with analytics and metrics that help gauge success and make better informed decisions about how best to promote content, engage followers, increase reach, and more. It’s critical for any business looking for success through social media platforms to ensure their team is comprised of individuals who are knowledgeable about the industry and how to properly use all available tools.
Failing to hire experienced professional admins can result in posts that don’t accurately reflect the brand’s values. Misspellings and grammatical errors, inappropriate images or language, incorrect usage of hashtags hurt page performance and your company’s name. Lack of engagement due to your admin’s lack of understanding of key algorithms can lead to outright removal from some platforms. All these situations can have serious repercussions on an organization’s ability to promote itself online.
Additionally, it is important that admins maintain a heightened level of awareness around the words used when posting. Social media algorithms have become increasingly sophisticated and pick up words that may be deemed inappropriate by certain platforms. As such, caution must be taken to ensure posts are not only in compliance with regulations set forth by the platform and accepted standards of communication.
Ultimately, having a knowledgeable professional overseeing day-to-day operations on social media greatly reduces potential risk and improves overall. By having an experienced specialist who understands the complexities of social media management, businesses can ensure that messaging remains consistent and appropriate while promoting maximum reach and brand recognition among users.
There are a few key things you can do to make sure your Facebook business page doesn’t get shut down:
- Make sure you are regularly posting quality content that is relevant to your audience. This includes both text posts and visual content (photos, videos, infographics, etc.).
- Engage with your audience regularly. Respond to comments and questions in a timely manner and run regular contests or promotions to keep people interested.
- Keep an eye on your page’s Insights to see what kinds of content are performing well and which ones aren’t. This will help you fine-tune your strategy over time.
- Make use of Facebook’s paid advertising options to reach a wider audience and promote your page to people who may not otherwise see it.
By following these steps, you can create a strong social media presence on Facebook that will be less likely to get shut down.
For more information you can read terms and conditions on www.Facebook.com. There are hundreds if not thousands of courses on Facebook that should be taken by anyone with social media access.
Questions? Please reach out to me directly by emailing: MJ@Hi-TekMedia.com