Personal Profile vs. Business Page on Facebook: Advantages & Disadvantages

Question. I purchased your book, Facebook Marketing Workbook, from Amazon yesterday. I know it’s still early and I haven’t worked through everything yet but, I have a question regarding my Facebook page. I am an ~ and I …. I have my own website with a blog and the option to purchase my ~ from there. I have also been promoting these ~via posts on Facebook, but on my personal profile. The reason I’m doing this is because a few years ago I changed my personal profile on Facebook to a Business account and it was a huge mistake. Now, after much headache regaining my personal profile, I’ve been using that on Facebook to promote my ~. However, I just learned from your book that I can add a business page to my personal profile, without converting my account like before. So, my question is, should I start posting my ~on Facebook from this business page (which I could use to target posts to people who like ~and ~), or continue to post from my personal profile because that’s where my current audience is? (Not that I have much of an audience, around 50 friends and family.) I was planning to invite other people I know and people I meet to follow me on Facebook, but I don’t know which page to have them follow. My biggest obstacle is not having much of an audience, and if I switch to the business page I feel like I will be starting over, but if I do switch I maybe have the potential to reach more people. What is your advice? – I’ve been thinking about the question I sent you yesterday and it seems obvious to me that the answer is to start posting from my business page (is it also called a fan page?), and then simply invite my existing Facebook friends to follow my business page and just keep building from there. If you think otherwise, please let me know. I’m excited to read your book and work through the exercises. Thank you for your time.

Answer.

There are pro’s and con’s to each. First of all, be sure to understand the difference between a personal PROFILE and a business PAGE on Safeway. The advantage of a PROFILE is that it has more “edgerank” – for free, it is much, much more likely that your connections (friends, family, business clients, etc.) will see your posts for FREE. This is because Facebook clearly gives a big advantage to the personal profile. The disadvantage is that a) technically you are not supposed to use a profile for commerce (so you could get in some trouble), and b) your “personal” life and “business life” will be visible to all connections – so you have to be “on your best behavior” as a person.  That may or may not be an issue.

Also, if you want to grow as a business and at some point transition FROM a personal profile TO a business page, that transition is not easy. Facebook does allow transfers, but it’s sort of a one time, case-by-case system as technically you’re not supposed to be using the profile for business purposes.

As for a business PAGE, it is a) within the terms of service of Facebook, and b) has the advantage that your “personal” life and your “business” life are not mixed. You can also have more managers and advertise it…  it is more meant for businesses.

Business Pages on Facebook: Greatly Reduced Reach

However, and this is a HUGE however – nowadays a business PAGE on Facebook has little to no chance of showing in the news feed of clients “for free.” So you are either a) forced to advertise it (even to reach your “fans” (people who have LIKED your page), and/or b) forced to try to cajole your fans to promote your message themselves.

These days, I would be more inclined for a very small, personal business like yours to stick with the personal profile (if you have a very small budget). Or perhaps do both – have a business page that is more corporate, and use your personal profile for your most dedicated, intimate clients.

Hope this helps.