Why you shouldn’t use a Facebook profile as your business page

Build a solid Facebook business page and engage with your audience right where they are.

It might seem like a good idea to use your personal Facebook profile as a business page. After all, you can reach out and add friends rather than having to wait for them to come to you, right?

But unfortunately, not only is using a personal page to promote a business a violation of Facebook’s Term of Service, it also puts your business at a disadvantage.

Here’s why.

What is a Facebook profile?

Before we look at why you need to use a business page for your business Facebook. Let’s first separate the difference between a profile and a page.

A Facebook Profile by its most basic definition is a personal account on Facebook. When you first signed up for Facebook to connect with friends and family you would have set up a Profile.

This is the place where you communicate on a personal level using your own name. You can share photos, videos, and other general updates about your life, interests and hobbies.

Everyone who joins Facebook gets a Profile. You can only ever have one under your name.

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What is a Facebook page?

A Facebook Page, by comparison is a business page that represents a company or organization. Here you can promote offers and contests to your followers. All followers arrived by choice to your page and have willingly ‘engaged’ page by “liking” it.

Why you can’t use your personal profile as a business page:

The main reason: It’s against Facebook’s terms of service.
As we mentioned in the introduction, it is against the Facebook Terms to use your personal account to represent anything other than yourself (such as: your business).
If you are caught, you could permanently lose access to your account.
Have you already been doing this? Why not convert your personal account to a Page?
There are many benefits to using a Facebook Page for your business.

Here are just a few:

‎1. Facebook Insights gives you access to lots of customer data

As a business on a personal Facebook profile, you have no access to Facebook Insights. This means you are unable to export and analyse the mountain of information that can help you to understand your target customer, what they like, don’t like, where they are from and when they are online.

If you are a serious business, you need real data to drive your marketing strategy. Insights is where it’s at.

2. Facebook Tabs and Contests reel in new customers

With Facebook tabs, you can use different applications to explain more about who you are as a business. Highlight your services with a HD video introduction, feature your products. You can even post a newsletter opt-in form to capture your leads even when they haven’t made it to your website.

You can outline the history of your company and share your story to engage with your followers. There is no space to do this on a personal profile other than sharing posts over and over.

Feature the best your business has to offer front and centre on your business page so that your leads can’t miss it.

3. Facebook Offers share your best deals with the right audience

Do you want to generate viral buzz about your business? You’ll need to run Facebook Offers. This is the best way to promote a deal or an offer you have to your Facebook audience without violating the personal profile terms of service.

4. Facebook ads target new leads to increase engagement with your brand

Do you need to build a mailing list? Run an opt-in ad campaign to capture more emails on your website. Want to increase site traffic to convert more leads and increase your profits? Run an engagement ad to entice new visitors to your site.

Facebook Ads give you the opportunity to target your ideal audience and position ads where only they will see them. But, only if you run a business page. Just another reason to convert that personal profile today.

Our Facebook profiles are the perfect place to discuss hobbies, politics and share personal glimpses of our lives, but, don’t mix business with pleasure. Build a solid Facebook business page and engage with your audience right where they are in a professional space where you can manage the conversation.

Do you need help with your Facebook Business Page?

We can help!