It is no surprise that most people don’t actually READ these rules, terms and conditions which results in many unknowingly breaking Facebook rules in some way, shape or form. We help many of our clients look after their Facebook business pages and doing it right not only reflects on their company but safeguards against losing one of their more vital social connections.

We totally understand. A wall of writing = snooze-fest. At Shell Graphix we are big on VISUALS and thought you might prefer reading some of the ‘rules’ our way.

[This is the Facebook official (and word-driven) way.]

Here is a condensed list of Facebook Rule Breakers:

Your cover image cannot include a visual/graphic prompt to ‘like’ or ‘share’.

Contact and company information must be in your ‘About’ section – it cannot be on your page cover image. This applies to phone, fax, location, email, website etc.

Cover images must not include any hint of advertising (price, prompt to visit a website, discounts, special offers etc.).

Your cover image cannot include a call to action such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”.

You can now set an official Facebook.com URL extension for your page which means it must reflect your registered page name or risk suspension or deletion. (Note: Once you set your page URL you cannot undo or alter.)

Your page name must exactly match the company you are representing. Your name must not consist solely of generic terms (for example cloud, fashion, pizza).

It must use proper, grammatically correct capitalisation, and may not consist entirely of capital letters unless your business name is an acronym.

(eg: Cloud Computers must be facebook.com/CloudComputers it cannot be /CLOUD or /Cloud.)

Facebook Competitions and Promotions

All promotions and competitions MUST use an application and not just fall onto the page wall/timeline.

If you collect information from your Likers you must include a disclaimer to state that Facebook is not collecting the information, that you/your company is, and ask for user consent to use any content supplied. You must declare that all competitions are not associated, sponsored or endorsed by Facebook.

Likers cannot be asked to ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ in order to participate in a competition. While becoming a liker may be required to participate in an app-driven competition it should also require personal consent and interaction via its own specific app page.

You cannot prompt others to post images or photos to your wall (or share them from this platform) in order to gain interaction and spread the word.

You cannot notify winners through Facebook – feeds, messages, chat or posts on profiles and/or pages. Many Facebook competition apps come with functionality that allows you to email winners directly.

You cannot ask a question to entice Likers to enter a competition.

[It is also important to ensure all competitions adhered to local promotion and competition laws. While Facebook may not monitor this aspect other local governing bodies may resulting in fines and penalties.]

You must not use Facebook’s offer creator to create a gift card, certificate, store or value card.

Wrap it up…

While many simply shrug it off thinking the Facebook rules don’t apply to them the truth is it does – and the risk is as great as losing everything you have worked hard to build up. Facebook tends to take an ‘act first, ask questions later’ approach resulting in countless page suspensions and bans. A plea of ignorance will not save you. In fact, finding someone to ‘help’ is a task in itself.

Think how much time it took you to gather your current amount of likers and how you would feel if it was deleted. Is breaking the rules worth the risk?

Don’t think it will happen to you? Recently two of the more publicised account removals were small businesses located in New Zealand with one losing 9,000 likers (Velvet Burger, NZ) and the other a whopping 20,000 likers (Hell Pizza, NZ). Ouch.

Individual members are also open to breaching rules by using fake names, adding too many friends in a short timeframe, posting copyrighted or restricted content/images/files/videos or posting offensive content. But, that’s an article for another day!

AA Radio came to us requesting a dynamic website which had a fresh, clean and easy to navigate design with content aimed at the entire radio communication industry (not limited to their company alone).

Eight weeks later their brand new website has launched to the public and is a wealth of information. Utilising integrated links between their News and Events (embedded WordPress platform) and social media including Facebook, Twitter and Linked In the ability to connect with their audience is seamless. This also creates a sound platform for their regular e-newsletters covering all aspects of online communication.

It is one thing to develop a modern and functional website, it is another to ensure their voice is heard across the industry.

Upon handover AA Radio have complete control of their website using self-edit tools. Whilst we do not develop CMS driven websites due to the creative limitations, we do insist clients maintain full control for on-going maintenance.

Logan Women’s Health & Wellbeing Centre joined forces with Griffith University and were supported by Logan City Council as they created the Living Well Cookbook. This is a cookbook with a difference not only in look, design style and format but also in content. Living Well is a rare collection of home made recipes passed down through the generations from a wide variety of cultures and results in healthy, economical and delicious recipes. All dishes use local and readily available ingredients, are affordable to make and have been divided into starters, snacks, mains, desserts and other interesting recipes (for special occasions or varied uses).

The format of this 80 page cookbook is also clever and practical with A5 landscape pages which are spiral bound along the top and have a tent style base allowing it to sit upright on the bench top. Pages run front to back and then can be reverse to run the opposite way making it a breeze to browse. The self standing design is a great way to ensure you don’t need to touch pages when following a recipe within. It also folds flat again for easy storage.

The retail price is $19.95 and the Living Well Cookbook can be purchased directly from Logan Women’s Health and Wellbeing – contact them on 07 3808 9233 or visit the website here. It makes for a wonderful gift or a great way to treat yourself and your friends and family (once you cook up a storm that is)!

Both November and December 2011 seemed to pass in the blink of an eye as we were happily buried by a large number of projects one of which being the 2012 Marcom Projects DVD catalogues. This range of print catalogues showcases over 5,000 DVD products across 13 catalogues with between 16 and 68 pages in each. This is our 11th year working with Marcom Projects, one of Australia’s leading educational resource suppliers, as we assist to promote their award winning, educational DVD products from suppliers such as ABC, Schlessinger, Learning Seed, VEC, Access Media, Worldwide Entertainment and many more.

You can view the interactive on-screen catalogues here.

We recently had the pleasure of working with the wonderful team at Save The Bilby Fund as they redeveloped their entire website. The new development includes the launch of a brand new online shop where the extensive product range is readily available for online purchase. This website is a wealth of information for both students and researches with “Friends” (members) gaining exclusive access to more indepth materials.

Please take a moment to visit their website and lend your support either by making a much valued donation or purchasing products.

We tend to get a little carried away with designing and developing for both print and web and find little time to show-off what we have created for our wonderful clients. Over the next few months all of these projects which are currently under construction will go live. We thought we might give a sneak peak to what’s coming.

This one actually snuck up live last week!

Many of these web design projects include embedded online shops, members only exclusive access areas and social media features. Our clients are spread all over Australia as we work with companies based in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney.

As Business Fitness celebrate their 10th birthday in 2011 they decided it was time to freshen up their brand and corporate identity. Our first project was to create the new series of logos for Business Fitness and the products that fall below their umbrella including Good, Bad, Ugly, How Now, How Now Lite and Templates Now. This then flowed on into the stationery branding for letterheads, powerpoint templates, business cards and envelopes and then to marketing pieces.

The annual edition of their Australian Accounting Benchmark Report was also due for production and had it’s over visual makeover to embrace the new branding and create a stronger connection to Business Fitness. This 220 page publication is full of valuable information for anyone in the Australian Accounting Industry. The 2011 edition is now available for purchase here and you can learn more about Business Fitness here.

Corporate Keys has been providing premium corporate accommodation solutions for decades in Melbourne Australia. 2011 has seen the expansion to New Zealand where they have started offering 28+ night stay solutions in Wellington and look to grow further in the coming year.

This project included many marketing pieces one of which was the Corporate Keys International profile booklet. This 12 page brochure is a showcase piece to introduce Corporate Keys, highlight the benefits and inclusions to their accommodation solutions and a snapshot of their newest properties. This brochure was printed on a 150gsm internal uncoated stock with a 300gsm cover and matt cello finish.

Learn more about Corporate Keys Australia and Corporate Keys International.

Shell Graphix has been working with Central and Southern Queensland Training Consortium for some time now and we thought it was about time we shone a spotlight on them and what they do.

As one of the leading general practice training services in Queensland they provide vocational training for qualified doctors. You can learn more about them by visiting their website - http://www.csqtc.qld.edu.au/

One of our latest projects includes the new branding and colour system for the four main districts with the aim of highlighting everything each area has to offer and in turn attracting qualified doctors to take their expertise to their selected region.

A1 Poster

Companies such as Domain Name Group, a Melbourne VIC based company, openly post out specific invoices with a variation of the domain names you already own complete with your contact details.

It is easy to see how well this tactic works on the unsuspecting as most people have no idea when their domain names are due for renewal or even which domain names they own, let alone which provider they are with.

The only clue that this is not an invoice for a product you do already own/want/need is the fine print saying “This is an invitation to register.” Certainly easy to miss.

The icing on the cake is that the price on the ‘invitation’ invoice is a whopping $245.00 for an Australian domain name. Pricing is usually set at around $49.95 (for 2 years). An extra $195 for absolutely nothing.

Please be cautious whenever you receive a domain name or hosting renewal invoice. If you are unsure you should contact your website developer or refer to the last invoice you paid for these services. If it is not a match there is a good chance it is another company trying to capture new clientele.

Similar email scams that easily confuse are from international companies asking if you want their country extension domain names as they have an interested party wanting to purchase. While you can buy up every domain name known to man it is usually highly unneccessary unless you are going global. Even then it is unlikely you would require every extension.

A price guide for an Australian domain name you should pay no more than $49.95 and for a .com $39.95 for 2 years (24 months).