Facebook business pages

I get a lot of questions about how and why to use Facebook businesses pages. The first thing you should know is that a Page is distinct from your normal Facebook Profile.

Tailored for business

Pages are designed specifically for businesses, bands, public figures, charities, etc. Anything that’s not an everyday person, basically! As such, they’re tailored to this, rather than a person. There are a whole host of things, like date of birth, gender, etc., that aren’t needed for a business. The profile information you provide is specifically designed for businesses too.

With a page you get your own business URL, you can add business applications, promote your page with ads, create events, get visitor statistics (post views, etc.) and so on. You can’t do any of those with a Group. With a normal profile you can do some of it, but as mentioned, there’s a lot of extra detail on a normal profile that gets in the way.

Liking V’s Friend Requests

One of the biggest differences is the way in which people follow you- with a Page they ‘like’ it and that’s that. With a profile they request your friendship. You then have to approve that friendship, which adds to the administration of the page if you have lots of fans!

Here’s the biggie- if you want a ‘Like’ button on your website it can only be for a Page, not a Profile. They don’t have the same service for profiles.

Always public

Fan pages are always public, so even people with no Facebook profiles can see them and keep an eye on your news. Even subscribe to the RSS feed to be kept up to date without having to visiting the page.

Pages also help with your website’s search engine rankings as they’re public.

Unlimited fans!

You can have unlimited fans on a page, where profiles have a limit. It’s a big limit. About 5k I think, but still a limit!

Easy to access

You can use your page straight from your account: head to Facebook in your browser and click the little downwards pointing arrow and ‘Use Facebook as Page’. If you had a profile you’d have to log out then log in again. Then, once finished, log out and log in again as you, rather that just clicking ‘Use Facebook as your name’

Terms of service

Facebook’s terms of services say profiles are for individuals so it’s be a nightmare if all your hard work getting a following was all destroyed if FB took down your page…

It’s a piece of cake to set up

Have a look here to set up your Facebook business page.