FaceBook Profile V. FaceBook Page: There’s a Difference!
Confusion abounds! There is a difference between a FaceBook Profile and a FaceBook Fan Page. My most-oft question this month concerned creating a FaceBook Fan Page for a business. First, let’s explain the difference between FaceBook Profile and Fan Page:
FaceBook Profile: This is strictly for humans. Hey, that’s you! You’re putting your “Face” on facebook! It’s your picture! It’s your name! It’s your profile! Posting this info makes it easy for you to connect with your friends! You’re posting your status updates, videos, pictures, sending messages, writing on walls, and socializing within the FB environment. For example, here’s my FaceBook Profile Page.
FaceBook Fan Page: Now that you have a FaceBook profile, use it to create a Fan Page for your business. This is where you can post business information: events, videos, photos, specials, promos — and encourage your fans to post testimonials and help spread your business stories. (Since I’m also my own business, I started a FaceBook Fan Page. I also create & administer Fan Pages for other folks & businesses, too.)
Got it? One FaceBook account can create several Fan Pages and assign administrators for different businesses. No need to create separate accounts for each business you rep! But now you want to know — what’s the business advantage of a FaceBook Fan Page?
Energizing and Supporting. A FaceBook Fan Page can help a business find its best customers. The business can then energize its best customers to engage in word-of-mouth marketing. Further, a Fan Page can also be a place where customers can support each other.
Here’s a favorite example of how a FaceBook Fan Page lets the customers of a small business:
a) energize the business with powerful word of mouth marketing and
b) support each other with after-visit care.
The Dolphin Journeys Energizing + Supporting Example. About 14 weeks ago, I helped create a Fan Page for my client, Hawaii-based Dolphin Journeys. Here’s how the customer self-support function of a FaceBook Fan Page works: when you go on a dolphin or whale tour in Hawaii, you often don’t get a great shot from the boat — maybe you’re too excited or having too much fun! But chances are, someone else on the boat captured a terrific video or photo. When you become a fan of Dolphin Journeys, you can upload your terrific shots — and share them with other folks on the boat.
When customers share photos or videos on a Fan Page — they can also spread stories to THEIR friends and families when they return from vacation. And people who didn’t get the shot? They become fans, too — and share the videos, photos, and stories with their friends. And of course, there’s a Wall on the Fan Page where people can write about their experiences — authentic stories that can help spread the word that Dolphin Journeys is a terrific vacation experience.
But wait, there’s more! A FaceBook Fan Page also lets you track metrics, so that you’ll know the number of visitors to your Fan Page and their demographic data. You can also incorporate reviews, events, notifications and more into your FaceBook Fan Pages. Worried about administration? Don’t be. You can assign several administrators, so that when you go on vacation, someone else can be in charge of the Page.
For many businesses, a FaceBook Fan Page may make a great deal of sense. It depends quite a bit on a) how ready your audience is to participate and b) your business objectives.
How has a FaceBook Fan Page helped YOUR business?
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Comments
I have a profile and I am an administrator on our page. What I have trouble with is adding applications to our page (Twitter, for example)and Facebook using my profile information on my page application. Is there a solution to this?
Laura, thanks for this info. I’m inferring from this and other reading that regular Facebook profile pages are NOT indexed by search engines and do NOT have measurement capabilities – is that correct?
Re: my comment above… meaning, it seems that privacy settings for profile pages would by definition exclude them from being indexed by SE’s, correct? Thanks!
Careful there!
Check your privacy settings on FaceBook, certainly — but don’t expect that Google (or someone else) won’t come along and index or repeat your post, anyway.
Heard 2 riveting stories this week about people who “Googled” their names — and FaceBook came up in the top 10. One person was surprised to find something he didn’t want public was indeed, front and center on Google. And yes, he insists that his FaceBook settings are private.
My advice, as usual, is to determine your personal brand characteristics. Don’t post anything — personal or professional — that doesn’t mesh with your brand!
This also goes for joining groups or events. (One friend encouraged me to join a fun group — but they picked a highly inflammatory name for the group that didn’t reflect the content. I didn’t join the group — because I didn’t want my personal brand associated with a salacious title.)
[...] Go check out the Facebook tutorial. Please Note: This is for adding a form to a company Facebook page, not your individual/personal profile. (What’s the difference?) [...]
I am joining Facebook to meet new friends, and to promote my on line business. I was told how Facebook can and will introduce me to a great new bunch of people while promoting my business at the same time.. I look forward to everything Facebook has to offer.
If anyone has some success or asdvice to help me out, I am all ears.
Thank you — this is the simple explanation I’ve been missing. I did not “get” a fans page till now.
And Laura, I’m with you. My facebook profile ranks high. I’ve been invited to groups that have a political bias or a wierd name, and I’ve chosen to take a “pass” since I don’t know what conclusions people might draw, which might affect their willingness to do business with…
Its great to see the way this social networking sites work….one has got a lot of willing Professors and Teachers here and there who do the lecturing job with fun and offer great assistance in the process. I am glad to read you all….im just the student here and I say ‘thank you’ to you all for great insights.
I am trying to create a fan page that is not connected to my personal profile in any way. I want them to be totally & completely separate. I don’t want my friends to get any updates or anything from my fan page. I have some of my business competitors as friends, and want to create fans on my page(new/potential customers/clients) without fear of them touching. How can I ensure that there is no crossover? Thanks!
Stacy:
Thanks for commenting. I manage several fan pages on FB for different organizations and companies. When I update Fan Page content, it doesn’t show up in my status updates.
As for your fear of “no touching” — relax! If they are interested, your competitors will be able to find you, no problem. And yeah, they might even fan you! It’s a blended world.
Hi,
Thank you for informing people about this option. this is something I really need. You mentioned that you can create one. I would like more information on this. How can I contact you?
This is great content – very helpful. I never even knew I could add a fan page (let alone several) to my one facebook page. Very helpful indeed. Thanks!
This is great. Exactly what I was looking for. Couldn’t decide whether to create a profile or page for my web design business. Sounds like there are added benefits with the Page. Thanks!!!
Can you separate you fan page privacy settings vs. your personal page. For instance. I have a fan page but somewhere I remember opening that page to everyone(which you would want as a business). But I am running a special that I would like to have available only to loyal fans without everyone else viewing it. But I can seem to get back to that setting and more time then not when I have changed something on one page it affects the other. Any suggestions? Thanks
Please advise, I too want personal page and fan page seperate which I have created but I am not receiving notifications when someone post something to the fan page…Im sure its a settings thing..but need some help…Extremely helpful thank you
have any readers here noticed an increase in sales or facebook public interests in your business since creating a fan page ? just curious.
Wow, I had been looking for this article as way too many people jump on facebook and they are doingitwrong.com in regards to how they are attempting to promote their business.
What makes me cringe is when some of the people doing this are “agencies” who may be claiming to Get social media, though many are older (traditional) agencies, or small businesses who finally figured they should get on the social media train. Anyway great article, I’m going to share it with others.
Adam in Phoenix
http://twitter.com/acmephoto