5 Reasons Why You Should Not Use a Facebook Personal Profile for Business
On November 6, 2007 Facebook announced the launch of 100,000 pages for business called Facebook Pages. Later the pages would be called “Fan Pages”, and eventually “Like Pages”. However, even though this great social media breakthrough for business exists, some people still use their personal profiles as their business page.
In this article I have chosen the top 5 great arguments AGAINST using a personal Facebook profile for your business. Hopefully, this article will help convince businesses to migrate to a Like Page and deter other new business from using a personal profile for their business.
No Analytics
In order to succeed in Social Media Marketing, a business needs insights into the demographics of their Facebook fans. Where do they come from? Are they male or female? How old are they? These are all important factors when determining your next marketing venture. All of these options are accessible to Like Pages through Facebook’s Insights. With personal profiles you don’t get a single analytic. Nothing. Nada.
No Sharing
The goal of any social media campaign is to post some good content that goes viral. Just like a traditional virus, your post spreads from person to person, until your business’ name is on everybody’s lips. The fundamental element required to cause a post go viral on Facebook is the share option. Underneath a post on a Like Page is a share link, which does not exist on personal profiles. If you are using a personal profile for your business, your company will have to rely on “likes” alone for the single post. Why would you want to cut the chance for your business to be seen?
No SEO
Have you ever noticed that these days when you use Google to search for information, that sometimes there will be Facebook Pages included in the search? Search engine optimization is vital for businesses to have their websites found by search engines, and their Facebook Page is no exception. Why miss out on the exposure and traffic your business can receive by using a personal profile. In a privacy concerned world, personal profiles do not have any search engine visibility because that would throw any chance of maintaining a shred of privacy at all.
No Landing Page
When you have a new Facebook user arrive at your business’ page, you have seconds to convince them to explore, take action, or get involved in the conversation. With Facebook Pages you can create a captivating landing page, where you can have a call to action that will grab the user and take the possible lead to the next level. With a personal profile, they will be dumped on your wall where all you can do is hope for the best.
Terms of Service Violation
If you are still not convinced to migrate your business to a Facebook Page, despite all of the advantages available, then maybe this argument will help. Using a Facebook personal profile for commercial purposes is a direct violation of the Facebook Terms of Service.
Point 4 in section 4 titled Registration & Account Security it clearly states:
“You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain…”
How can the rules be any clearer than that? If for no other reason, a term of service violation is a pretty strong argument for migrating your business to a Facebook Page. It is better to migrate to now, rather than get an email from Facebook stating that your account (with all your Facebook contacts) has been suspended, and even if you beg, you may receive a three week extension to create a page, and get your friends to become fans before the account is shut down for good.
The simple fact remains that businesses should respect Facebook’s rules if they are going to use Facebook (the “My House, My Rules” policy) and understand that Facebook is serious about their terms of service, and that the question of getting caught is not “if” but “when”.
