Recently I ran into a case where a potential client had created a Personal Facebook Profile for their business, instead of a Facebook (Fan) Page.

Personal Profiles are intended for real people. Facebook Pages are intended for businesses, organisations, public figures, etc.

You build up a Facebook Page by getting people to ‘Like’ your page, instead of adding you as a friend.

If you are thinking about giving your business a presence on Facebook, I recommend you start a Facebook Page.

6 reasons to not use a Personal Facebook Profile for your business

1. Facebook Terms & Conditions

Creating a Personal Profile for your business is not how Facebook is intended. If Facebook finds out you are running a Personal profile for business purposes, they may pull the plug on your entire profile.

2. Limited to 5.000 friends

On your Personal Facebook Profile you can only have a maximum of 5.000 friends. The number of ‘Likes’ on your Facebook Page is unlimited. Call me silly, but I would rather not be limited in the number of fans for my business on Facebook!

3. Search Engines

In contrast to your Personal Profile, your Facebook Page gets indexed by search engines. This means that your Facebook Page can be a part of your search engine strategy. Another way to get found by your customers!

4. Promotion & Competitions

Facebook does not allow you to use your Personal Facebook Profile to promote your business or run competitions. If you do so, Facebook can shut down your account.

5. Insights & Analytics

Your Facebook Page comes with all kinds of analytical data about the people who ‘Like’ your page such as city, gender, age, etc. Also, you get insights into how these people interacted with your content and which content was most viewed. This way you can see what people really liked and do more of it!

6. Advertise your Page

And last but not least you can advertise your Facebook Page to people who otherwise might have not heard of you.

Moving your Facebook friends to your Fans Page

Unfortunately, Facebook currently does not offer a way to transfer your Facebook friends to your Facebook Page automatically. Bummer! I know. So you are gonna have to do this manually.

On this topic I’ve seen various tips and tricks floating around in comments & forums. I’ll start gathering them and post them on my blog on Friday!

If you have any tips or comments, they are most welcome!