First off, an important clarification.
Facebook Business Pages are used for businesses and organizations. Pages have numerous advantages over Profiles for business use. Pages cannot be set to private (because really, what would be the point?), but Administrators can monitor and control posts to the Wall.
Facebook Profiles are used by individuals, and a user can change the privacy settings so that no other user (other than approved Friends) can see the Profile.
You “Like” Business Pages; you “Friend” people through their Profiles. You see updates from Pages and from Profiles in your News Feed when you login to Facebook (depending on when they last posted).
Every business and organization should have a Facebook Page, and NOT a Profile. It is a pet peeve of mine when a business sets up a personal Profile instead of a Page. I make a point not to “Friend” these fake “Pages”.
8 reasons why promoting your business through a Profile is a cardinal Facebook sin:
- Many people are selective, with good reason, about who they “Friend”. I may not want a professional organization or business to see what I’m doing on a Saturday night, because it’s none of their beeswax. But I may not care if my Facebook friends see it, in fact I may want them to see it! They are, after all, my friends. There is a big distinction here.
- Lots of fun promotional applications (special contests, Fan of the Month) are created for Business Pages and can’t be used on Profiles.
- It is strictly against Facebook terms to use a Profile for organizations, businesses and brands (and you don’t want to piss off Zuckerberg!)
- Profiles are limited to 5,000 friends (how many can you really have, after all) while Business Pages can have unlimited Fans. And isn’t the goal of getting on Facebook to market your business to the most people?
- Need to be found on Google? Business Pages are found and indexed by search engines while Profiles are not.
- Business Pages can (and should) have customized Welcome (also called Landing) tabs and storefronts right on the Page! Profiles don’t have these widgets.
- Business Pages have an Insights section – detailed statistics of visitors to the Page. Profiles don’t have this tracking mechanism.
- You can get a Facebook “Like” Box to insert on your website and blog with a Business Page, but not a Profile.
Please, if this describes your business/organization, take a moment and convert your Facebook Profile over to a Business Page!
For the good of all.
Does your business have a Facebook Page? What advice do you have for others? Please leave your feedback in the Comments section, or email me at julia@jcsocialmarketing.com – Thanks for reading!