If Your Personal Facebook Page Has a Business Name, It’s Time To Change It

I understand. In the beginning, way back when, it was hard to manage a fan page or a business page or anything else from your personal Facebook account because it was clunky and weird. But, for as much as I complain about Facebook – they really do have some elegant tools for people to manage business pages now.

It’s time to move if you have not. 

What do I mean by this?

If you log-in on a personal level and your “name” on Facebook is the name of your business or blog, you are violating Facebook’s guidelines, and they could shut you down. Not to mention, people like me will not accept your friend request.

The best practice is to have a personal account, under your real name, and a business or fan page under the business, band, personality, nonprofit or blog name. Whatever your “thing” is rather than a specific person. And it will be attached to your personal account.

A personal account makes events. It friends people. It builds relationships on a more personal level. It is supposedly more private. I say “supposedly” because, let’s face it – whatever you put on the internet is fair game, particularly with how often Facebook changes their privacy controls and how confusing they are.

Why would you want a business page?

Statistics. Facebook has a very nice set of analytics to show you new likes, level of interactions and my personal favorite, “virality.” Virality gives you a snapshot of your most popular posts – and I use this info to build more content in that same vein.

Targeted Content. Give people who like your business what they want to see. You can still interact with them on a personal level, and you should. They just don’t need to know what your family reunion looked like, unless that works for your business. The point is, you separate business from your own stuff.

Advertising. You can promote your page and/or specific posts that are important from a business perspective. When you get over 5,000 likes you can also add targeting to your advertising. Further note: Personal accounts are capped at 5,000 friends, whereas business or fan pages are not – giving you the flexibility to have many, many more people in love with your business or fan page.

Multiple Admins. You can add several people help you build content on page, whereas if you are operating as a personal level, you all need to have the one password and then log in and out. Yuck. Since fan pages work best when the content is interesting and consistent, this is an important factor. Get a bunch of people to help you!

OK. I use my personal page for business, how do I do make the switch?

1. Start a Facebook Business Page
www.facebook.com/pages/create

2. Change your personal account to your real name.

3. Announce the new business page on your personal page.

4. Go to your business page admin section and pull down from “Build Audience” to “Invite Friends” and start inviting your Facebook friends over to your fan page.

5. Build content on the Business or Fan Page.

6. Repeat.

Extra Tip: Get A “Vanity” Facebook User Name

Depending on a few variables you may be immediately be able to get a “vanity URL” or username for your Facebook fan page, or your page may need to get 30 likes before you can pick a name.

Once you are eligible, go to the Facebook User Name page:
www.facebook.com/username/

Obviously pick a username closest to your business name, with the easiest spelling and no extra numbers or letters if possible. This will be the URL you can now put on your advertising or the name you say to people in person to help them find you on Facebook, so keep it simple!

Good luck, friends!

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You all have any other
Facebook Business Page
tips to share?

This article has 10 comments

  1. John

    Thank you!

  2. Aimee Giese

    Denise – I see your point and I am also a big believer in “you do what you want with your accounts.” I still think you should move things around as I describe, particularly because you are working with brands, but again – up to you! I did want to mention I know that some people use their blog name for security reasons and I get that too. Obviously everyone has a different situation and does what works for them.

  3. EatPlayLove

    So, I get you 100% and I agree with like 99.999% But here’s my story. I am not a huge pusher of my blog and there was a gap when I had online world friends friending me on FB to my personal account (this was prior to even really being out with my full name on Eat Play Love). After a run in with the police directly related to my personal FB account, I decided I had to separate the two. So while I am breaking all sorts of rules, it truly is my blogworld personal account, not my blogworld all things blog account.

    Can I be the exception to your rules?

  4. Aimee Giese

    Thank you! 🙂

  5. Guru Girl

    This was a really helpful breakdown of how to manage multiple social platforms. My 10 year old seems to be better at this than I am, so really appreciate the “how to”. Awesome photos from the concert, btw.
    Love checking your content!

  6. Melanie Sheridan

    I’m finally throwing up my hands and attempting to start my blog page. Can you do another post with resources for creating the header and the tabs?

  7. Elva

    Great advice!

    When so many of the social media sites began they were aimed at individuals, not businesses. But with so many people ready to see your ad, not being social is a waste of prime ad opportunities.

    I do want to do it right though, so thanks for the tips.

  8. Anonymous

    So will I remain friended by those who have accepted me as a friend on their personal page (really business page)after I switch my personal to business or vice versa? How about things like notes and recipes from my personal page to business page?

  9. Lisa researching social media for business

    This article has some really valid and pertinent information. Thanks for sharing it, and I will be coming back later to reference it again!

  10. Lynette

    I pay a visit everyday a few blogs and websites to read articles or reviews, however this blog provides quality based articles.

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