Yes! There is a difference between a Facebook profile and a Facebook Fan Page.
Facebook profiles are for people.
Fan Pages are for businesses.
I cringe every time I see someone set up a profile in their business name. Here’s why:
People vs. business
Profiles are intended for people, not businesses. It’s actually against the Facebook terms to use a profile for a business. If the Facebook gods find your profile set up like this, it’s possible they may delete the entire profile. So much for all your hard work getting friends!
SEO
Your Facebook Fan Page can be a part of your Search Engine Optimization strategy. Why is that, you ask? It’s because Fan pages are indexed by search engines. Profiles are not.
If you’re like most business owners, you want as many people as possible to find you online. If you set up a profile in your business name, you’re not maximizing your exposure. Sure, your Facebook friends will be able to see your page, but new people won’t find you all that easily.
Fans vs. Friends
Fan Pages can have an unlimited number of fans. Profiles can only have 5,000 friends. If you’re trying to build your business, why limit yourself? It only makes sense to choose the option that allows you to have more people get on your bandwagon.
One profile – many Fan Pages
You can have multiple fan pages, but only one personal profile. This is important for people who want to promote different businesses or groups. I have my personal profile and fan pages for PetsitUSA, The Pet Food List, and Austin Pet First Aid, which are businesses I own. I also have one for Wishbones for Pets – a pet sitter charity I operate with the founder Janet Depathy, of Under My Wings.
Keep in mind that you can still connect with people on a business level through your personal profile. I use my profile to keep in touch with family and friends, but I also connect with quite a few people due to business reasons. Since people like to know the person behind the business, this is a good way to interact with them. It’s also one way for me to create my personal brand. Note: Before using your profile in this way, get clear on the type of content you want to post on your profile. (More on that in an upcoming blog post.)
Set up a Facebook Fan Page or go to Facebook.com to set up your Profile.
Update (March 31, 2011): Facebook recently made it possible to convert a personal profile to a business page. See this post for more info: How to Convert a Facebook Profile to a Business Page.
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Hi Therese,
How do you determine (or does FB determine for you) which 5 photos will shop up along the top of your Profile Page?
Thanks so much!!!
Lisa
You have to tag them appropriately. If you want to set up a consulting call, let me know. I’d be happy to help with this & other FB questions.
So happy to have come across this thread and thanks for being so generous with your expertise. I recently changed my business name from San Mateo Rolfing to simply my name, Kathy McConnell. I set up a page for my business under my name and later discovered that facebook had automatically set up a page called San Mateo Rolfing. Now I want to blend the two so that I don’t have to do double work. Is there any way to combine two business pages?
Are you talking about the one with the suit box image in the upper left corner of the page? If so, you can’t do anything with those. They automatically generate content based on the page’s topic.
so if i’m setting up a business, say a new homebuilder’s business, would i set up the actual homebuilding company’s page under ‘company, organization or institution’ and then set up multiple communities (different communities at various locations which are entities themselves) under ‘local business or place’ for each separate community? do you think it unwise to do the latter if a community eventually sells out and you either quite using that page or close it?
I’d set up a page for each location if you have enough manpower to manage each page. That way you’re setting up a place where people can interact about that exact location rather than the entire brand.
Therese,
Your blogs AWESOME! BTW: how would i know if i’m looking at a fan page vs. a personal page?
If it’s a page you’re going to see a like button at the top of the page (if you haven’t already clicked it). If you’ve already clicked the like button you’re going to see a Create a Page button in the upper right corner.
If you visit a profile you’ll see buttons at the top to Add Friend, Subscribe, or Message. If you’re already friends you’ll still see the same buttons but the friend button will just say Friends.
I have a facebook group page for my business, Emerging Art Scene, with 1300+ friends. A college group set up a fan page for Emerging Art Scene with about 130 friends. I need to delete one of the groups, and need to decide which, before I start inviting more.
Also, I have a larger following (3600) on my personal profile, and 900 friend requests, 700 subscribers. I have used the personal profile to brand myself in my field, however, I don’t want to convert it to a business page. I read that I would lose past photos and posts, and limit my feeds and ability to comment on others walls. People seem to like to see the person behind the business.
My business page wont let me like other fb pages why?
Are you using Facebook as your page? If not, login to your account, go to your page, and click the link that says “Use Facebook as (your page name)”
Hi, I’ve setup 4 pages (from my personal profile). How do I change the email notifications to an email address from that specific company, instead of them all coming to my personal email?
You can’t, but you can turn off the notifications and use http://www.hyperalerts.no/ to notify you at whatever email you choose. You’ll have to set up a separate account for each email you want to receive notifications. I like it much better than the FB notifications though because you can get the alerts within minutes, or a digest every hour, day, week or month.
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