Are you using a Facebook Profile for your Business?

Over the past month or so we’ve come across a fair few companies who have their business set up as a profile on Facebook instead of having a Business Page. You do have to have a Facebook Profile to be able to have a fully-functioning Facebook Page however the question today is;

“Does it matter if you set up a Profile instead of a Page? After all, Facebook is making it difficult to reach my audience!”

Janet has helped a couple of people recently with Facebook glitches and she thought it would be worth exploring the pros and cons of having a Facebook Profile vs a Page in a blog – so here we go…

Facebook Profile
It’s better to set up a Facebook Profile to able to create a fully functional Facebook Page. If you happen to set up a Page without a Profile, you will be extremely limited as to what you can do with it. The Profile can then become an Administrator or Editor of a Page and those Profiles have control and access to the back end of it.

1) Profiles are designed for people and are limited to 5000 friends. Profiles have “friends” and Pages have “Likes/Likers/Followers”. As you can see below, Pages can not connect or directly engage with a Profile and their view is very limited.

2) Profiles do have a better reach when posting, however there are a lot of things missing from a Profile which are on a Page, designed for a business (see below). If you have a business Profile rather than a Page you will be missing out on a lot of opportunities which a Page gives you and you followers!

See below for what you can get on a Facebook Page:

 

 

3) Other Businesses / Pages won’t be able to “like” and follow you, tag or engage with a profile when operating as a Page – so people who actually find and WANT to connect with/follow you, can’t because it’s not allowed. Are you missing opportunities to connect, engage and support other businesses?

4) If Facebook figure out or think you are a business using a Profile, they will shut it down (with or without notice) and you will not have access or control over it!

Facebook Page
A Facebook Page is designed for businesses. The layout of the Page and it’s dashboard provide various tools and promotional opportunities which can also link to other social media platforms! Not only that but Facebook are developing them all the time with new features and tools.

1. When searching, a Page is visible to everyone and people can choose to follow its activity with just one click (“Like”).
2. Yes, Facebook is making is very, VERY difficult to reach your preferred audience unless the business pays for it, however you can advertise through a Page (which isn’t as scary as it sounds and doesn’t have to be expensive to get results!)

Below we’ve included screenshots of the Social Progress Facebook Page to demonstrate what a Facebook Businesses Page looks like to the public:

Top Tips for Businesses on Facebook

Always have more than one Administrator to a Page. If Facebook deletes a Profile then you have a back-up one to go to. We recently had a client who’s Profile was shut down by Facebook and they couldn’t access their Business Page! Guess what – they didn’t have another profile linked to it! Janet has worked hard to resolve it however, as the saying goes; “prevention is always better than the cure!”

Administrators should be people you can trust. They will have the same editing rights as you and could potentially (aka if they were really mean) take you off the Admin Roles and have free reign with the Page! Or they could delete it completely. This is all within the back-end so your followers wouldn’t know the difference between you posting or the person who’s just taken over.

Promote – don’t sell! Think about it. Would you want your Facebook Feed to be full of “Buy Me, Buy Me, Buy Me!!!”? Be sociable and use the 20/80 rule. Only 20% of what you post should be promoting your services. 80% should be talking about the industry/sharing useful content/updates/engagement & about your team.

As Esther says; “show people you’re not a robot!”

So, we hope you found this post useful and enlightening. If any of it has sparked your interest and you’d like to know more about the Facebook for Business do get in touch with us! There are various ways we can help including workshops, social media health-checks and content management. Give us a call on 01484 506336 or drop us an email at info@socialprogress.co.uk

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Here at Social Progress our heart is to see businesses grow. We love to help people develop personally and professionally through building their skills and supporting them through their business.

We have various “Social Media for Business” Workshops coming up covering Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Social Media Strategy, Content Marketing and Effective Blogging:

1. Social Media Strategy & Branding Workshop

Tue 3^rd Nov, Wed 20^th Jan, Tue 16^th Feb, Tue 22^nd Mar or Wed 20^th Apr

2. Social Media Content Marketing & Blogging Workshop

Thu 19^th Nov, Tue 26^th Jan, Wed 24^th Feb, Wed 30^th Mar or Thu 28^th Apr

3. Facebook & Twitter for Business Workshop

Thu 26^th Nov, Wed 3^rd Feb, Thu 3^rd Mar or Tue 5^th Apr

4. LinkedIn & Google Plus for Business Workshop

Thu 29^th Oct, Tue 1^st Dec, Tue 9^th Feb, Tue 8^th Mar or Wed 13^th Apr

To register your interest for the Facebook & Twitter Workshop do drop us an email to info@socialprogress.co.uk OR alternatively ask us about 1:1 social media training and support.

For more info about all of the “Social Media for Business” Workshops click here.

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Are you on social media? Do get connected and say hello to us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Instagram. We’d love to hear from you! #SoProHigh5!