Twitter-vs-Facebook, Photo: articlemarketingco.com

Don’t get thrown in Facebook (or Twitter) jail. Photo: articlemarketingco.com

In my post, Promo Results: Using Free Promo Services I included a number of Facebook groups where you can promote your free days/sale for free. Today, I discovered on KBoards a caveat that you should be aware of.

According to author J.E. Taylor, posting the exact same content on multiple FB pages at once can get you banned. As she says, “once you are banned, you are out of the water for 14 days minimum. It’s a 14 day black out from any group activity, and what is worse, when they ban the user from posting to groups, they delete ALL their posts from the beginning of time, not just the ones that may have triggered their algorithms. This includes deleting entries in groups that that author created, even closed or secret groups.”

Taylor clarified that she was a member of about 75 groups, and posted the Amazon link to her book along with the Tag line, release date and the pre-order price of $0.99.

Author O.N. Stefan had the same problem. As she says,

“This happened to me a few days ago. I was in the middle of posting a giveaway promotion to the groups that allow this, when suddenly I could’t post anymore and I got a message saying that my posts are not allowed. I queried Facebook and they said that I was unable to post for 14 days and I could send a complaint – which I did, but that didn’t help. I can only LIKE posts and message people. I can post to my timeline but that’s it.”

It looks like Facebook is really keen on selling us those ads! So if you use this option in your marketing strategy, you might want to think twice or, at the very least, spread out your posting throughout the day to gain exposure without risking being banned.

Author Sue Coletta had this to add:

“I’ve found if you tweak each promo’s wording, you can get around this rule. It’s when you copy and paste the same ad over and over that you risk being banned. I’ve also spoken with FB about this and they assured me that if each promo is different, I’d be fine.”

For further information, check out the entire post on KBoards.