There is no question about it, with social media marketing continuing to grow, your business needs to be represented on Facebook. But do you have the correct Facebook presence for your business? People assume a profile and a page are pretty much the same thing. They do look similar, but there are a few very critical differences.

How can you tell the difference? If your fans connect with your business by sending a friend request, then you are operating your business as a profile! Read on to discover why you should convert your profile to a page…

Shut down

First and foremost, operating a business as with a personal profile puts you at risk of the being shut down by Facebook. Facebook has indicated it will close down profiles that are not operating with business pages. Do you want to risk loosing the connection to your fans and potential customer base?

Easier to connect

Connecting with a Facebook profile is a two-step process. First the request to be friends, then the acceptance. Depending on how often you access your business profile, will reflect on when the notification is received and accepted. To ‘Like’ a page is a single action, no need for any approval. Operating your business presence as a page makes it easier for people to connect with your business.

Facebook Check in

A great feature for businesses that operate from a physical shop front is the option to link the page with their address. This allows for fans to ‘check in’ to the business, sometimes even sharing photos of their purchase or time there. The viral nature of Facebook means that your business has the opportunity to reach an even greater number of Facebook users.

Facebook advertising campaign

Ad campaigns are only available to business pages, and they can be a great way to increase your reach for a cost that you deem appropriate. Selecting your correct target market for the ad campaign can make your marketing dollars stretch further. If you are serious about growing your business, you should at least consider Facebook ad campaigns.

Facebook Insights

Do you know how many people are seeing your posts? With Facebook insights you can track the success of your page. View when your fans are online, which posts they engage with and the demographics of your fans. All this valuable information helps you tailor your marketing plans to achieve greater success.

Customized apps

Customized apps are a great way to bring more information and interaction to your Facebook page, especially if you don’t have a website. If you do have a website, you can link to specific pages on your website – sending more traffic back to your website. Think about adding customized apps for your products or services, newsletter sign up, online store or even blog posts. All of which give your customers and potential customers more information about your business.

Facebook Business Page admin delegation

With a Facebook business page, you have the option to share the admin responsibilities with others you trust. Roles can vary depending on the level of experience or responsibility. Ie Manager, Content Creator, Moderator, Advertiser and Insights Analyst. It’s a great way to delegate the ongoing marketing of your page with other member of your team or even your virtual assistant.

Relevant Business Information

You can add all relevant business information making it easier for Clients and potential clients to connect with you. Have you seen the birthday reminders for XYZ business? If you operate your business as a profile, you would have been required to select a gender and birth date for your business - not relevant information. I’m sure your clients would rather know relevant information such as website, products and services than fictional details.

There are still more features we haven’t mentioned such as being able to schedule posts, making use of offers, contents, celebrating milestones, tagging with other pages…. I think you get the idea.

And finally, if you need some help converting from a profile to a business page, Executive Virtual Associate be happy to help.