Attention Small Businesses - Use a Facebook Fan Page for your Business, Not a Personal Profile

So many small businesses can benefit from Facebook.

There are now over 500 million active users on Facebook and 50% log into Facebook everyday.1

For consumer-based small businesses, Facebook is a fantastic platform for engaging your customers and creating personal connections with your fans. However, it is important to take the proper steps to set up your business appropriately on Facebook. Many businesses set up a personal profile for their business, instead of creating a "business fan page"

There are several reasons why you should not use a personal profile for your business:

1. Pages are public and may help your business in internet searches
2. Anyone can "like" your page, whereas, personal profiles require mutual acceptance
3. It is against Facebook's terms of service. In article 4.4 Facebook states: "You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain"
4. Pages allow multiple administrators
5. Personal profiles have a maximum number of 5000 friends. Pages have no such limits.
   
6. If you use a personal profile as your business page, you have access to a great deal more personal information about your "friends". Some people may have an aversion to becoming a "friend" of a business, knowing their personal information is readily accessible to the business.
   

If you have already set up your business as a personal profile, your best bet is to create a fan page and then suggest your new fan page to your current friends. You can create a fan page from the login screen at Facebook.com. Below the login section, go to the link to "Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business".

There is no easy way to transfer over the fan base. Your fans will have to "like" your new fan page and over time, you can get rid of the old profile, or convert it to your personal page.

For Small Business owners in Wharton County, I am teaching a class April 12, 2011 in Wharton on Facebook for Small Business, where you can learn the basics of setting up and maintaining a professional business Facebook page. For more information, click here to see the event on my Facebook page.

1. Source: March 2011 Facebook.com statistics