You need to warm up Facebook profiles before you use them for lead gen.
Facebook doesn’t like it if you immediately start heavily using the platform right off the bat.
That’s unnatural and can come off as abuse.
In this guide, we’ll show you the proper way of warming up a Facebook profile so that you can fully utilize it for your lead generation activities.
Why Do You Need to Warm Up Facebook Profiles?
Facebook knows that spammy behavior on its site will destroy the user experience on its platform and hurt its bottom line.
That’s why they use an advanced algorithm to make sure that people won’t abuse the site by being obnoxious, posting repetitively, or abusing user privileges.
But that’s not their only problem.
They also have to deal with Facebook bots that can be installed by some users to automate supposed organic tasks such as adding a lot of mutual friends or messaging in bulk.
You see, the goal of their algorithm is to make sure that people using Facebook act as naturally as possible.
Your grandma might post about her cats 3 times a day, but she won’t message 50 people a day for lead generation, that won’t make sense to the algorithm and if she did do that, she’d probably be banned or labeled as a bot.
This is especially true for accounts that are new or didn’t have a lot of activity in the past.
When you post too many things at once, add too many friends, or message too many people because Facebook will label this as spammy.
And, you know what happens next?
Facebook jail.
They can impose suspensions, get you banned, and throw a wrench into your lead generation efforts.
Find out how you can warm up your LinkedIn profile to avoid going to LinkedIn jail!
This is why it’s critical to warm up your Facebook profile before you start using it for lead generation.
Step 1: Engagement
First of all, you need to be actively engaging for at least 30-45 minutes a day.
If you scroll on your timeline from time to time this shouldn’t be a problem.
However, it needs to be real engagement, so this means reacting to your “friends'” post every now and then.
Also, don’t just hit the like button, Facebook knows that’s too easy and that’s natural, use the “heart” or “care” emojis if you have to.
Show Facebook that you’re actually spending time on their platform so that they’ll allow you to do more with it.
Also, the other reason this is effective is that it shows Facebook that you’re using a majority of its features.
Step 2: Posts
Next, you want to post at least one or two things every day.
If you’re having trouble coming up with something original on a daily basis. Try reposting what you’ve already put out on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram.
Another tip is to share other people’s posts, you want to pick something that is truly shareworthy that your current friends will also interact with.
As an added bonus, try keeping the topics that you’re posting about related to the industry or niche that you’re in. This helps get the algorithm to recognize who you are, and might improve searchability in the future.
Step 3: Messages
Next, you want to send messages using the Messenger platform often.
Whatever you do, do not copy and paste your messages, that’s a sure-fire way of getting banned.
You can message existing friends as much as you want, but for cold messages, keep it to three people per hour so that you won’t get into trouble.
Once your Facebook account is all warmed up you can begin to gradually increase the number of people – who aren’t your friends – that you can message on a daily basis.
How Often Can I Add New Friends?
The next important consideration is how many people you add on a regular basis.
And, it doesn’t stop there.
You should also be mindful of where you’re adding these people from.
On your first two weeks of warming up, aim to add 30-50 people a day and don’t exceed 10 friend requests in a 2-hour period.
Make sure the people you’re adding are limited to people that have some form of third-degree connection to you. For example, common members in the groups you’ve joined, people that have interacted with your posts.
After two weeks you can start ramping your numbers up to around 80-100 a day, and you can also double the number of friend requests in a 2-hour period.
After the first month you can keep the numbers up but now you can send up to 3 cold DMs every 10 minutes – again, make sure you do not copy and paste.
How to Get out of FB Jail/Remove Restrictions
If you do manage to go to Facebook jail after following our rules you can still get out, but you need to be very careful.
First of all, you need to stop sending out DMs and adding friends for at least 24-48 hours. Try to stay active through normal engagements and comments with other people’s posts.
After that you need to start the warm-up process again, but this time to do it at a more relaxed rate.
Be proactive because Facebook can ban you at any time if you take things too far.
How to Prevent Yourself From Getting Restrictions
It’s simple really.
Do not send more than 20 friend requests per hour or go above 3 cold DMs every ten minutes and you’ll be good to go.
You also want to make sure that your messages have variation.
This doesn’t just stop you from getting banned, but it also helps make sure that your messages resonate with the people you’re sending them to.
Remember, personalization is key to making sure that you get a lead hooked onto whatever you have to offer.
Takeaways
Warming social media accounts is a must.
Algorithms are getting smarter and they can easily identify someone who’s acting like a bot and trying to abuse the platform.
Here’s the thing.
They won’t ban you from being active.
In fact, they want you to be so that they have users who do something for their bottom line.
However, you also need to be naturally engaging.
This doesn’t just help with keeping with the algorithm, but it also shows prospects that you aren’t annoying to deal with, and that you’re keeping it organic with your efforts.
