The Difference Between a Facebook Business Page and a Facebook Personal Profile
NEW! Great News! Now Facebook has implemented a way for you to convert your personal Facebook Account to a Facebook Page.
Most importantly, small biz owners, don’t be embarrassed for a second if all of this social networking business is confusing to you… (it is for everyone and the rules can change by the hour) It’s OK if you don’t yet fully understand. You’ve got a business to run and if the WEB isn’t your primary business then you just need to look around a little to find your answers. By the way, beware of those who call themselves “Social Media Experts.” (there are many out there doing this) Those who really ARE would NEVER say it. (folks like @tamar, @chrisbrogan and @viperchill) – These folks really do know what time of day it is within this medium, and are worth “following.”
Anyway, I thought I’d write a quickie post about Facebook “Pages” vs. “Accounts” (or “Profiles”) — how to avoid doing it “wrong” and why.
I continue to see businesses falsely signing up for personal Facebook accounts with their business names and ultimately shooting themselves in the foot.
(bear with me)
IMPORTANT NOTE: to create a Facebook Business Page correctly, DO NOT CREATE A NEW FB ACCOUNT! You *must* be logged into your 1 personal Facebook Account (profile) as you create the business page. Don’t worry, your personal info won’t appear on this new page unless you want it to.
First of all
It’s against Facebook’s Terms of Use (you can’t sign up for a personal account under a false name… including your business name.) People are social and businesses are not. And if Facebook allows it, they’re done. They don’t want to become a big billboard (and they really don’t need anymore headaches right now) ;^ )
Secondly
A Facebook “page” is different from your Facebook “account,” in that a page doesn’t require a user to become a “friend” to view the content. You don’t even have to “Like” (formerly “Fan”) it to view it. That’s important. Why? If you want someone to read what you’ve written for your business, why force them to befriend you first? They won’t take the time. AND you shouldn’t ask someone to be a friend if they aren’t. Think about that… people often get personal up there on FB (as they should… it’s a social medium) and they feel put on the spot if you ask them (as your business) to be your friend, when you’re not even giving them your name, it doesn’t come off very well. Befriend “friends.” Ask others to “Like” your page via “Suggest to friends” (right nav on your FB page)
Thirdly
Facebook pages are made specifically made for business content (hopefully you’re business is offering free and helpful content and not just advertising) AND pages are visible to Google. (probably the most important aspect here) Personal accounts are locked out. Try it: Here’s our Facebook page (notice how you can see the content?) Now go to my personal account (Locked out, aren’t ya?) So if you sign up under your company name, (first name/lastname) all potential visitors will also be locked out. Not very helpful. By the way, you CAN sign up for a business account… but it’s almost useless since Facebook locks out so many features.
So in short, if you have a business, create a page and invite people to “Like” it. Otherwise, keep the social in social networking.
NEW! Great News! Now Facebook has implemented a way for you to convert your personal Facebook Account to a Facebook Page.
Cheers!
Oh yeah, here is a great article on tricking out your Facebook Page
How come so many businesses are allowed to get away with using personal accounts? It isn’t like there is an easy way to contact Facebook either to discuss this issue, lol. It is really frustrating to those of us that are following the rules and have a “page” which comes with a lot of restrictions, etc….like the fact that you can’t message your “like” list and if you have a personal account you can message all of your “friends” which are actually interested customers for these businesses.
hi carlee,
thanks for writing.
i hear ya… the hard part is, many businesses that are guilty of this don’t even know they are doing anything wrong. (and are ultimately hurting themselves) and facebook growing at the pace they are (in the next couple of years supposed to hit a billion users!) really doesn’t have the time (nor the desire right now) to deal with this. i’m sure they are putting much of their energy into their marketplace so investors can start making some profit. =)
so while i feel your frustration, in the long run these companies run the risk of being shut down/losing friends and not ever being able to be indexed by google… ouch.
cheers!
ps- love your site!
It’s understandable to attach the account to your own small business, but what about a big company? Isn’t the page a company asset? Should it really be attached to an employee when a biz account can be deleted in two clicks? Second, why would an employee want the personal liability of being attached to a business account for a large company (ex – a mental health practice where someone posts a suicide threat and you don’t monitor it in time). Third, what if you leave, for whatever reason. Sure, you can give admin rights after you leave for the biz page only, but you can never close your account, right? When you die, your family can give memorial rights (friend posting only), but what happens to the biz account? And what happens to the attached business account if your family decides they want to delete the accounts? What happens to this biz account. This seems like quite a pickle, with no winning solution.
thanks for your question, meryl…
there may be a little confusion about personal/business “accounts” and fan, community or company “pages.”
first, facebook does allow businesses to have a business “account.” click here for details. as you can see a business account is very limited in regards to search, friends/fans. (mainly because facebook wants to keep their site social) also remember *you may NOT have 2 separate accounts. (biz and personal) and if you sign up for a personal account you must input your real information per their terms of service. (section 4) if you violate any of these terms, you stand a very good chance of having both accounts deleted.
as far as having a personal account with a business “page,”… in short, no, an ’employee’ should NOT create a facebook page. not only for the reasons you mentioned, but the company will then lose ownership. the business ‘owner’ or board member should create it and then give an approved employee admin access.
quite honestly, a facebook page shouldn’t hold THAT much importance in the overall marketing techniques a company implements. while it is popular now, who knows where facebook is going. a facebook biz page should be just one tool in the entire tool kit.
in my opinion, you should have your company’s website (blog/cms) connected to the facebook page, so it automatically updates the fb page with content. (look at the right side of this page and see our facebook widget)
ultimately you should try to use the facebook page to drive people back into your site and have folks connect (subscribe) directly with your company site. (like you are doing now with our site) that way if facebook ever changes/goes away, you’ll have your followers/fans/customers right where you want them.
make sense? hope that helps.
cheers,
//dave
[…] written about this before… if you don’t want to have your entire Facebook presence deleted, you should probably […]
[…] 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 […]
Hi Dave,
I built a facebook business account and have never had a personal one. What do I do ?
Thanks,
Frank
Hi Frank,
Great question… IMO, you should just create a personal account, then create a biz “page” (logged in under your personal account) and then ask (nicely) for your existing connections from your biz account to “Like” your new page. Then just delete the biz account. (and don’t keep checking to see if it has been deleted or it will re-invoke)
Doing this will then give you far more functionality and the ability to connect with customers.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
//D
Hello Dave,
I am new on Facebook. If I open a personal account, then, create multiple pages for different niches, can I ask people from personal account to like the niche when my personal account doesn’t relate to any niche at all?
Thanks in advance.
Hi MM…
In short, yes, absolutely. But just understand that no matter what the niche, people are mainly attracted to *great content* It’s kinda hard to get people to “Like” just anything. =) (which reminds me… since I answered your question, would you mind Liking mine? https://facebook.com/daveworks)
=)
Hope that helps,
//D