Facebook Page vs Facebook Profile
Why do I need a Facebook Page if I have a Facebook Profile is a question I get asked a lot. It’s a good question too! So let’s start right at the beginning. Most people know that Facebook can be a really effective way to generate leads for your business if you use it the right way. This particular social media platform continues to consume more and more of our time and thanks to mobile devices it's always accessible. However, if you don’t have a Facebook Page, you may be missing out on not only traffic to your website, but dropping the ball with your customers and prospects. Facebook Pages gives you a chance to engage with your customers and ultimately promote your brand.
Before diving into the reasons why you need to have a Facebook Page for your business in addition to your Profile, I want to be clear about the two.
A Facebook Profile is for personal, non-commercial use only. It represents individuals and must be held under an individual name. A Facebook Page is for professional or official use, and allows an organization, business, celebrity or band to maintain a presence on Facebook. You may only create a Facebook Page to represent real organizations of which you are an authorized representative.
Now, that we’re crystal clear on that, here are the top reasons why you need to have a Facebook Page and not just a Facebook Profile.
1. Facebook could delete your Profile if it’s used to market your business
Using your Facebook Profile to market your business is actually a violation of Facebook’s rules and many people are unaware of this. What this means is that after spending a lot of time building up a large amount of friends Facebook can simply delete your Facebook Profile if you’re in breach. Facebook make it clear in their Terms and Conditions that your Facebook Profile is for personal and non-commercial use only.
2. You’re limited to the number of friends you can have
Facebook limits the number of friends you can have on your Facebook Profile to 5,000. So, why spend all that time building a base of prospects and customers on your Profile only to be limited? If you’re building a serious sustainable business then you’ll have more prospects than that over your business’ lifetime. With my last business, after 13 years we had a database of 12,000 prospects. Start as you mean to go on!
3. You need to know what your prospects and customers want
Facebook gives marketers and business owners a powerful tool called Facebook Business Pages – Successful B2B Case Studies: A study on maximising social traction that allows you to see (on a post level) how your customers and prospects react and engage with your content. Profiles don’t have this tool, only Pages do. Facebook users (on Profiles) don’t analyse how their friends react to their status updates but those of us in business care very much about this as we can post content that’s appropriate for our market and how to influence sales. You see, whether you have 255 or 22,500 likes, the only way to really profit from a business Page is to motivate your prospects, clients and customers to click, share and, eventually, act, by buying a product or signing up for an event. And, the only way to do this is by using a Facebook Page strategically!
4. You can add applications to support your business
I always tell my clients to think of a Facebook Page as another website. It’s simply a tool to help you generate revenue so why not use it? Applications or apps are a bit like the drop downs you find on your website menu bar. Without going into the technical details of what they are and how they work, the most important thing for you to know about is that they’re used to facilitate any number of content sharing or interaction functions between your Facebook Page, your website, and your prospects and customers. Apps can include games such as FarmVille, but also business apps such as the app to showcase your website, your ebook or any other promotion, your LinkedIn Profile, Pinterest, Twitter or YouTube channel. You can set up your auto responder to link to these too, which makes them very powerful tools.
5. You can grow your prospect list faster
The best way to do this is through advertising. On a Facebook Profile you can't really advertise, whereas on a Facebook Page you can. Advertising through Facebook is simple, effective (providing you set an effective strategy and objective) and it's still relatively cheap. Facebook ads build a list just like any other form of traditional marketing. On Facebook, you see other fans of a business or product too. You see when your friends like them. These things matter and make for more effective marketing. And, if you advertise on Facebook you'll get access to more options and data than any other online marketing channel. For example you can target your advertising demographically and pyschographically. This means that you can target an ad to editors that work at a particular company, or target an ad at hiring managers for another company. You can target people in your ZIP code that love a particular fashion store or brand or hobby. The options are endless. With this information and ability your business can gain access to marketing gold and relevance!
6. People want clear boundaries
A friend request is very different from asking someone to like your Facebook Page. If you’re sending friend requests as a Facebook Profile, you’re asking the ‘friend’ to allow you to see their photos, their friends list, their address, their phone number and perhaps their relationship status. Even if you customise your posts, by not allowing them to see this information it’s not great. When you ask someone to LIKE your Facebook Page, however, this is very different. You’re being completely clear from the start that you’re forming a business relationship and are there to engage on a business level. Friends can get tired of hearing about business related posts on your Profile too, whereas on a Page, that’s what they expect.
I know that when Facebook marketing is used strategically to build a database of genuine prospects and generate sales it's an incredibly powerful tool to support the business. But, what are your thoughts? Are you a believer in Facebook marketing as a business development strategy? Have you got a Facebook Profile and a Facebook Page? Please share your experiences and feedback in the comments below as I’d love to hear. Finally thank you, as always for reading and contributing here. If you found this useful, please share it with your friends and check out another blog I have on ways to build your authority for your brand using social media including a Facebook Page.
With love and gratitude – as always,
Thanks, Jane, that was helpful. I'm starting to to do fb ads to build my list, and wasn't clear about the need for a page as well. Now i am 🙂