There’s no doubt that it’s tempting when setting up a Facebook business page or group to take the easy way and use a personal profile. But don’t do it! Because if Facebook cracks down you will lose your page and all of the work that you put into building it. Plus, there are some good reasons for doing the work of converting Friends to Fans.The Facebook Rule on Page Creation reads:
Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook. You may only create Facebook Pages to represent real organizations of which you are an authorized representative.
Having seen an increasing amount of businesses using personal profiles as their company page as well as getting annoyed at people taking the easy way out, I wanted to find out why the practice has become so prevalent. I have been living under the above assumption that personal profiles are meant for real people and business fan pages are designed for companies that offer business-focused analytical tools that you aren’t on a personal profile.
Have I been living in another social media universe? One where profiles are for individuals and pages are for businesses? Do I have it all wrong? Profiles and pages have different features and different uses. The most obvious examples:
- Businesses are only allowed to open pages. A business that opens a profile page is in direct violation of Facebook terms. You would be falsifying the record to open it otherwise.
- Business pages allow other users to become fans by just clicking a button, but access to the individual profile pages is limited. You have to have a friend request approved to have access to the profile page.
- Business pages do not allow the ability to invite friends, so you cannot maintain a friends list - only maintain a fan lisT.
Good, so then my question is: What are the benefits using a personal profile for business? It’s got to be because it feels like you can collect followers easily. Instead of doing the work it takes to promote your business page to friends and converting them to fans, they can land right where you want them. But that’s where the advantage ends. Save yourself the massive headache later by creating a business page now.
Page Fans vs. Profile Friends
The big reason here is that there is a limit of 5,000 friends to a profile. You can have as many fans as you can get on your business page. When you reach 5,000 friends on your profile, you’ll have to stop there or set-up a second false personal profile.
Search Engine Optimization
You can optimize your business page for search engines because search engines index fan pages only. With the ever-increasing importance of SEO marketing, you want as many people as possible to be able to find you online under your business name.
Many Fan Pages vs. One Profile
You can have multiple fan pages, but only one personal profile. This is important for people who are entrepreneurs and want to promote their various businesses and/or groups.
Remember that you can still connect with people on a business level through your personal profile. Since people like to know the person behind the business, this is a good way to connect with them. It’s also a great way to create your personal brand – become an expert in your field, the blogger of record, the mavens’ maven, the champion networker, etc.
Analytics, Apps & Functionality
For fan page administrators, Facebook analytics allow you to pull reports on how well the page is doing. The analytics allows the administrator to see from where the traffic is coming, the total number of post views, and much more.
With a fan page the company can create custom tabs or apps for promotions and business information. You also have option to easily customize and implement a Facebook “Like” button for the business’ web site. And, with Facebook’s latest fan page update, administrators can now use a fan page just like a personal profile and have the ability to post on other walls.
The Facebook Police
Remember that the main reason to use fan pages for businesses is that it is Facebook law. If the FB cops ever crackdown on the use of personal profiles, you are in danger of losing it all. Not only will you lose all your friends, contacts and content, they may bar you from setting up a personal profile and legitimate business pages.
Facebook is currently one of the critical platforms in the evolution of business communication, marketing, product promotion, PR, and Customer Relationship Management. If you have a business, you need to be fully involved. And the Facebook Rulebook is pretty clear on what it takes to have a presence in its universe.
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