Do you have more than one Facebook account? Have you been falsely logging into different accounts for your business? Well, as I’ve mentioned before, you are risking having Facebook shut down *all* of your accounts. Luckily for you, Facebook has implemented a way for you to convert that account into a business page.
Why should you convert your (false) personal account(s) to Facebook Page(s)?
Personal accounts are meant for actual people, they really don’t meet any business requirements. (and Google can’t see personal profiles) Facebook “Pages” have far more features available for organizations, businesses, brands and public figures.
If you have a personal account for anything other than *you* (a real person), it is a violation of Facebook’s Terms. Quote from Facebook: If you don’t convert your noncompliant account to a Page, you risk permanently losing access to the account and all of its content.
Difference between a business account and a personal Facebook account?
I’ve written about the differences of Facebook Profiles and Business Pages, but Business *accounts* are created for those only wanting to use Facebook to manage Pages and ad campaigns. The problem with business accounts is that they have limited access to any decent information on Facebook and don’t have timelines and other important features.
What timeline content will be transferred when you convert?
• All friends and subscribers will be converted to “Likers.”
• Profile picture will become your Page’s main images.
• Your username will become your Page’s Facebook web address
• You’ll remain the admin of any Facebook Pages you managed
What content will NOT be transferred when you convert?
• Photo albums
• Profile information
• Your ability to remain the admin of any groups or apps you previously managed (add new admins before converting)
*Make sure to download any important content before converting.
Can you convert the newly converted Page back to a personal account?
You can submit a request for a reversal.Again, it’s against Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to maintain a personal account for anything other than for you, personally.
Sound like you might want to go for it?
Then click here to convert your personal Facebook profile to a business page.
**just make sure you read ALL of what’s involved *before* performing this task at Facebook.com, here:
https://www.facebook.com/help?page=213602951994043
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I cannot see the same options on my business page
that would be correct… b/c you page is a fb “page” and not a fb “profile” (two completely different things)
make sense?
still I can’t see the same options on my business page to appears on google serch
Great post, Dave. I reached my 5000 friend limit a couple of years ago and have a “brand page” as well, but want to make the conversion and keep everything on a personal page instead of a profile.
I have about 2000 friend requests in my queue (that I can’t accept due to the limit) – do you know what happens to those requests if I make the conversion?
Also, do you know how people’s experiences have been with the conversion itself? Painless? Painful? :)
Thanks!
Hi Lou,
Thanks for the kind words… and the questions.
About the additional 2k requests… after doing some research, FB does *not* make any mention of those (probably b/c most folks aren’t int eh unique position that you are) =) The do say this:
—
When you convert your personal account to a Facebook Page, we’ll transfer your current profile picture and add all your friends and subscribers as people who like your Page. We’ll also make your account’s username the username for your Page.
No other content will be carried over to your new Page, so be sure to save any important content before beginning the conversion.
To avoid losing important content, we recommend taking these steps before you convert your personal account:
Download your profile (timeline) information. You can download a file that contains all of your sent and received messages and all of the photos and videos you’ve uploaded to Facebook.
Appoint a new group admin to any groups you manage. The account you’re converting will lose these admin rights during the conversion process.
—
The pain: Actually, yes, quite a few folks said there was some pain involved in the conversion. But most were simply impatient in that search engines (both external *and* internal FB) didn’t reflect the change quick enough. But most came back after a few days and said all was well with the search indexes. (which is typical, since search engines are most definitely not real-time)
Not that you asked, but I would definitely convert so you can keep the following you have, remain in compliance with FB and then be able to *really* increase your numbers. (looks like you’re in the radio biz?) I would say to help keep the folks (I’m guessing your radio fans?) let them know for up to a few weeks exactly what you plan to do. Then they will be informed to “Like” your page after it launches.
hope that helps a bit and thanks again for writing in.
Cheers,
//D
Hi,
I did exectly as you showed but afetr clicking the link
a “create a page” page open but when i follow throgh it creat a new page and not converting my profile
also in many youtube video they show that in a process there is a worning that “you are now converting …”but it dose not show it
what went worng?
thanks
Hi Shmil,
Thanks for the note… just to confirm, when you clicked the link in the post, you indeed went here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?migrate If not, you should try again. (Yes, you should’ve seen a warning about converting)
It’s almost impossible to tell what happened (not being there to see) so you should really start over if possible. (perhaps facebook was making changes during the process? – it has been happening quite a bit lately)
Wish I could be more help here… please feel free to ping me again if you continue to have trouble after trying again.
Cheers,
//D
Dear Dave
you were right i did it this evening and it worked like magic
thanks for the support
ah great… so glad it helped.
cheers!
Dave,
A friend migrated her personal facebook page to a business page and in the process lost most of her “friends.” She had about 800 friends and we expected her to end up with 800 “likes” after the migration. Instead, she ended up with 73. Worse, the 700+ people who mysteriously vanished are reporting they don’t see a LIKE button on her new business page at all (like facebook has them in some sort of “in-between” state). Do you have any ideas what might be happening?
hey brandon…
haven’t hear this issue before (missing likers). BUT (as you’ve stated) i can say that there have been many complaints about weirdness occurring directly after the conversion and then mysteriously after a few days everything is fixed. some folks have been stating that they can’t be found in search ((which makes sense b/c indexing isn’t done in real-time))
so give it a couple of days and see if things don’t clear up. if not, hit me back and i’ll have a look.
what’s the url, btw?
cheers,
//d
Hi Dave
I had the same problem as Brandon when I converted the Profile to a Page. There were 5000 friends on the profile, but the page now only has 365 Likes… Not very happy to say the least..
hi paul…
hmm. sounds like a major flaw you (and brandon) have found within this conversion. how long has it been since the conversion? this should most definitely NOT have happened according to FB (https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=158425527557312&ref_query=convert) they state specifically: “When you convert your personal account to a Facebook Page, we’ll transfer your current profile picture and add all your friends and subscribers as people who like your Page. We’ll also make your account’s username the username for your Page.”
i’d still wait a few more days to see if anything changes… if not, the only option you’re left with is contacting FB (crossing fingers) directly:
https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=220217228006012 the also state: “If you can’t troubleshoot your issue with our instructions, we’ll provide you with a custom form to contact us for further support.” (be patient, though… they may have 8,999,999,999 users in front of you) =(
very sorry to hear this… if you wouldn’t mind keeping me posted, i’d greatly appreciate it.
cheers,
//d
I’ve got a friend at FB dev team. He’s looking into it. Nasty bug!
really appreciate that, brandon…
please keep us posted if your friend finds anything out.
cheers,
//d
Hi Dave,
I have also same problem like above. I had around 700 Facebook friends when i converted to a page only 40 friends were converted into likes. pl. give me a solution if you find anything, thanks in advance….
yikes… hoping this doesn’t become epidemic.
i’ll keep trying to research for answers. this most definitely should not be happening. (kinda defeats the purpose) =(
//d
Our page got fixed this morning. Just logged in and it had 4700 new likes!
We were in contact with facebook, but im not sure if this had any effect.
It took 3 weeks, but all the fans are back!
yeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssss!
yeah, that seems to be a common theme with this issue… WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
=)
glad it worked out and thanks for keeping all of us posted with your progress.
cheers,
//d
(can i bug you to LIKE our fb page, if you haven’t already) =)
i’d appreciate it,
//d
I have had exactly the same problem. I had over 600 friends, and when I converted to a page I had less than 300 “likes”. I have tried to contact FB numerous time (and numerous ways) but have had no response. I agree that “waiting” is the common theme, but this has now been over 2 weeks, and is just not good enough!
Any advice you may have would be much appreciated.
Cheers. David
Hi David,
Are you still having issues with this? I’m a bit stumped as to what causing this, but I have a few suspicions (like perhaps *some* of those friends may have been fraudulent or abandoned accounts)
Please let me know if you’re still dealing with this and if so send the url so i can take a peek. Also make sure to have your FB Page security settings set correctly.
Cheers,
//D
Sorry – here is the Page URL – https://www.facebook.com/dpfedele
oops… spoke too soon (didn’t see this reply) =) checking now
yeah, not exactly sure, but check those security settings (like age and country )
Thanks Dave. This problem STILL hasn’t been attended to, almost 4 weeks later …
I have sent a message to FB pretty much every day since, but have had no response or any contact at all. I have had a look at your FB Page security settings blog, and yep, my settings are all ok …
grrrrrr….
well i’m not sure what else to do or say as all of our research shows that FB often does “manual” approvals with these conversions and can have lengthy delays. (you are not alone — many others have dealt with the exact same issues – just messy, every step of the way) your content seems to be clean and your settings are correct, but also remember there are over 1 billion users they have to deal with. (most of them paying $0)
just keep on bugging them… that seems to be the key.
wish i could be more help here. please keep me posted if you have any contact with fb
//d
Ok everyone, here is the scoop, right from a developer I know at Facebook. There was a nasty bug which caused many friends to vanish when you converted from a personal Page toba “business” Page. The bug has supposedly been fixed so future conversions will retain friends as “likers”. For folks already suffering from the loss, it is unlikely you can get FBs attention to try and rescue the data manually.
So, lame that the nasty bug existed… But the good news is it is likely resolved for future conversions.
REALLY appreciate you posting this, Brandon… may you live to be a thousand years old!
Everyone, please go to Brandon’s FB Page and LIKE it. (post it here, pal)
=)
Dave,
How does this effect your ability to create a new personal profile from the same email?
Sean
hi sean,
you won’t be able to AND you shouldn’t need to. i’m assuming you already had a personal profile and created the 2nd b/c you didn’t want to share any personal info?
in the end, to do this correctly, you should have 1 personal account (and unlimited attendant “pages”)
cheers
Hi Dave
I wonder if maybe you can help… I’m pulling my hair out! I converted to FB page a few weeks ago and it’s almost useless to me now really! Until a day ago none of the pages that ‘I Like’ showed up on my page, but still doesn’t show all the pages that I ‘liked’ previously nor who I’ve ‘liked’ since. But what’s even more strange is that most of the pages I have visited I can’t find the ‘Like Us’ button anywhere. I am unable to do a search as there is no search bar on my page. I cannot share an update from any website to my FB page, it doesn’t show up! I have to do it manually. Is this how it is meant to be or am I not doing something correctly. I accidently deleted my Personal Profile a week or so ago but even then the Business Page still had these issues.
Hi Diana…
Sorry to hear about the issues… take some solace in the fact that there are MANY folks having issues with this. (FB is working on it)
I’ll take them in order: (and please bear with me if you already know some of this)
1) Since there are many ways to config your page could you please sent the exact url that you’d normally see the likes?
2) Once you’ve “Liked” a page the button will disappear
3) No search bar… hmmm. haven’t heard of this one. You can go to other pages and see the search bar? You’ve restarted your computer? Or are you viewing via mobile?
4) Your page doesn’t show up? facebook.com/WaverleyTate?
5) Um, so I’m a bit confused here. If you deleted your personal profile, then your “page” should’ve been nuked along with it. Hmmm.
If you can send more details, I’d be happy to dig into this deeper.
Cheers!
Hi dave,
I have been trying to report this issue that facebook is telling me to convert my account into a page but this is really my personal account. I have reported this issue couple of times already but still, i haven’t received any email yet telling me that i could use my account again. I can’t use my facebook. Please help! Thanks.
hi kate…
what’s the url? and are you indeed using your personal page for any business dealings?
just wondering.
cheers,
//d
Hey please help me recently i was using my persnol fb account but it suddenly show error ” log in fist… ”
something like that & when i log in it was saying “convert your persnol account to facebook page” there was only this option so i thought when i do it i will regain access to my persnol account but whenever i log in its showing that my persnol account had made a facebook page i send feedback to facebook about this issue but i haven’t get any email yet. So please help me out i really need my account i had lot of good friend in my account so please help
hey there…
you can try submitting an appeal to revert back to your personal account. Here’s FBs official word on this:
Can I convert my newly created Page back to a personal account?
If you’ve accidentally converted your personal account to a Facebook Page, you can submit a request for a reversal. Please keep in mind that it’s a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to maintain a personal account for anything other than an individual person. If you wish to submit an appeal, you can do so here.
Hi! My problem is of a different sort. I’ve migrated my personal profile to a page. The issue is that now it doesn’t let me administer the page. I login with my username and password but then it says I don’t have admin privileges, so I basically can’t do anything. I would like to administer that page from the only personal profile I’m now using,
Thanks for your help.
hmmm…. admin rights *should’ve* carried over. (did the new page carry over your username as the new page name in the url?)
and you carefully read the instructions from FB before doing this, yes? (https://www.facebook.com/help?page=213602951994043)
if you need to revert back you can try asking here:
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact_us.php?id=296078000410951
please keep me posted.
I converted and now cannot access. I set up my radio show as a personal account (dumb move a couple of years ago). I wanted to convert to a page. I started to create a page linked to my personal radio account but abandoned that idea when I found out that by converting it would merge my friends into likes. So I merged/converted. All is not well. When I log in it shows both pages and when I click on the one I want to use (the one with all the likes, photo, info, etc…) it tells me that the page cannot be found. I am lost. I have searched facebook help for hours. No luck.
hi deb,
is this prob still occurring? i’ve heard many folks are simply waiting this out and FB corrects issues like this over time (like sometimes weeks)
please keep me posted (and share your page url so i can take a peek)
cheers!
I just waited and it did get corrected.
cool!
glad to hear it.
cheers
Hi. My problem is this. I convert personal profile in a business page( NGO). The problem in this moment is that : My personal page convert in a group page and the Button “LIke” dissapear.
When I open the page, like administrator I see the Like button and I only see the profile photo but the other, my friends, see my page like Open group not business page .
Please , can you show me where I did wrong?
hi mirela…
can you send the url?
Hi Dave,my problem is solved. I think..
Now I have page and also I have a group. Both from one shot
I wanted yesterday only Business Page, when I convert from Profile, but if I receive bonus a grouppage I think it ok…
Maybe Facebook make gifts for the good users :)My profile split in two because seems the photos remain in group but not in page
Anyway thank you for your kind.I hope I don’t have another problems in a future.
Best day to you!
great… glad it’s solved! =)
//d
(hey, if you haven’t done so already, would you mind giving my FB page a like? — always appreciated) =) https://facebook.com/daveworks
Hi again,
I write again to you , sorry for late.
So my problem is solved. I think…
In this moment my personal page split in a Business Page and a group page… But I can tell you this: In my group remain all the photos ,included cover , video etc, but in Business Page only profile picture.
This is what I see in my profile now. For the rest if new problem appears I return with a question.
A very nice evening, from Romania
Mirela
anybody know what is going on with the password function? I am trying to convert a client’s profile to a page and it says the password is wrong – clearly a bug because I can log-in to the profile with the password…
hi chad,
make sure that you are indeed a full “admin” and not a lower manager.
cheers!
(hey, would you mind giving my FB page a like? — always appreciated) =) https://facebook.com/daveworks
Morning Dave, I’m trying to convert my personal account to a fan page, unfortunately I keep getting the following error message “Creating content with this name is not allowed. Try another name” Once I change the name I get the following message “Our automated system has detected that the name XXXXXXXXXX is not same or similar to your profile name CoCoa Chic Naturals. Please keep it same or similar and retry.” Please help!
hi rodina,
thanks for the question… you are not alone: https://developers.facebook.com/bugs/397103150327045/ =( um, have you had any luck with this yet? if so, was it temporary? or are you having continued trouble? if so, click that link and ping that developer in the article about it. he should be able to help. BUT provide him with anything/everything he needs and *be nice* – =) fb remains a free service and they work as hard as they can to help over a billion people.
cheers!
Hello Dave,
I have the same problem as the person from Sept. 8, 2012. No search bar. Coverted to a page for my non-profit organization. I wish when I did, it would have clearly stated, this would no longer be available. Now I can’t get to anything, especially the organization we are part of. Why not link your profile to the page? Help ;-)
hi anicca,
very sorry for the late reply (completely missed it) =(
are you still having the issue? if so, what *was* the name of the converted page? as with many of the problems associated with “conversions” there seems to be a waiting period before the page shows up within the index? as far as linking the profile, that’s exactly what’s supposed to happen in the end.
if you can send some details, i’ll take a look for you.
cheers,
//d
Hello! I am wanting to convert my profile page to a fan page since thats is what im using for my “artist” profile! But curious if when i convert i will be able to change to my artist name after i do! I currently use my real name and in my job description is shows my artist name in my regualr profile.. So when i convert will i get the one chance to change to the artist name? Or since i have over 200 friends i cannot change? But somewhere i read that you get one change in the beginning after your convert.. Am i reading it wrong? Or is that for just fan pages starting from scratch?
Some help would be much appreciated!
Thanks you!
Hi Che,
Thanks for your great question… sorry for the late reply. (I get quite a few questions and sometimes a few slip through)
In short, no… you can’t change the name after conversion. The name of your profile will become the page name. The only way to change the name is to create a new page. (per fb article: https://www.facebook.com/help/116067818477568)
Hope that helps,
//D