There is no doubt that Facebook is the power-tool that we need in today’s marketing toolbelt. With well over 2 BILLION users, you have almost half of the world at your fingertips.
What started as a college connection tool has evolved into a Quad-Faced, personal networking and professional business behemoth. Along with this evolution has come great confusion. How to separate personal from professional use? What is the difference between profiles, pages, and groups? Here is an overview of the four faces and how to use each.
The FACEBOOK PERSONAL PROFILE.
The mainstay of Facebook is the personal profile, and it can be used for both personal connections with family members and close friends or as a professional networking tool. The terms of agreement at Facebook state that you will have only one account. If used correctly, you do not need separate accounts for business and personal use. Using the “LIST” feature you can create a list for colleagues and lists for family members or friends and then set privacy settings for these lists that will help you keep your information and photos nicely separated. When you go to craft a post on Facebook, you can select who you want that information to be shared with–the PUBLIC, FRIENDS, FRIENDS of FRIENDS, or you can select one of your groups…family only, people who live in Littleton CO, etc.
The FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE.
The former FAN PAGE has matured into the Business Tool extraordinaire. PAGES can do just about anything a website can do including house videos, blogs, testimonials, and more. You can have as many PAGES as you’d like and they are created off of your personal PROFILE. When you log into your personal PROFILE you will find a section on the left column that reads, “EXPLORE” and then PAGES. From this link, you will choose “Create a PAGE”.
PAGES have no limit on the number of fans you may have (profiles cap at 5,000) and each post from a PAGE is fully indexed by Google and other search engines (profile posts depend upon your privacy settings). People who like your PAGE cannot see anything on your PROFILE (unless you are connected there) and your friends are not automatic fans of your PAGE. Facebook PAGES also offer wonderful analytic tools to help you track click-through rates, fan demographics and more.
[Read: 7 Reasons to use a BUSINESS Page over a PERSONAL PROFILE]
One word of caution when naming your page: You may want to put your business name or other benefit-revealing name on your page instead of your personal name. Your friends will know the value or type of information YOU will provide but if your goal is to grow your fan base beyond your friends, your page should give an idea of WHY I SHOULD allow your PAGE information to be added to my information stream. [See post: Unless You’re a Rock Start, Your Facebook Page Shouldn’t Have Your Name]
The FACEBOOK PLACES PAGE.
This is the somewhat old and random face on Facebook. This was to try and create a Yelp-like page for people to post reviews and photos of different locations. When a business came around to finally creating their “business page,” they would convert the PLACES page into a BUSINESS PAGE. The problem is, there are still PLACES pages being created by users who just can’t find the actual Facebook Page for the business, and then the businesses find several rogue places pages out there and have to merge them into the main page. It’s a pain and I hope these go away soon.
Facebook GROUPS.
GROUPS are meant to foster discussion around a particular topic area and were initially great tools to use after a class or conference to keep the conversations flowing. Facebook GROUPS are similar to LinkedIn Groups. They do not have the same functionality as PAGES but have the benefit of being made private (members must be approved to join) or even secret (not even showing up in group searches). This makes them a great tool that you are able to monitor as an individual or business. Currently (2017) a business cannot start or run a group. They must be managed by an individual profile. So I manage our DIYsocial group as Gina Schreck. SocialKNX (our business page) can promote the group, but SocialKNX cannot post or comment. I have a feeling this will change soon as more businesses are finding creative ways to use groups. To create your own GROUP, you simply log into your Facebook PROFILE and like creating a PAGE, you look for the GROUP link on the left column and select “Create a GROUP.” After naming your GROUP and filling out some basic information you will be taken to the second page that allows you to make the group public, private or secret.
So whether you choose to take advantage of one or all four of Facebook’s Faces, it all starts with YOUR face. Take off that mask, create that profile and let’s connect!
I would love to know which face on Facebook do you spend the most time with or find the most helpful to your business?
If you haven’t joined our DIYsocial group–pop on over, there’s lots of helpful info and it’s a place to get your questions answered.
If you are just setting up your business page, be sure to download our free GUIDEBOOK for STARTING ON FACEBOOK
@GinaSchreck Connect with me on Facebook – Gina Schreck or any other social channel…I’m everywhere you want to be! 🙂
So you, like so many business owners, are about to pull your hair out just thinking about all the duplicate Facebook and Twitter accounts you have. Perhaps you have two personal profiles on Facebook, 3 different business pages, and a handful of Twitter accounts that you secured early on as your brand was launching. How did this happen? Many businesses rushed to create a Facebook Page or set up a Twitter account before they really knew what to do with them and now they can’t remember the passwords or even all the usernames they had secured.
You can’t just leave these duplicate or old accounts floating out there like satellite junk floating in space. You may think they aren’t doing any harm, but when consumers search for your brand, it can be confusing if they find several variations. Unlike sitting on multiple domain names to prevent anyone else from grabbing them, an unused social media account with a similar name is seen to the public and will have your consumers wondering which one they are supposed to connect with. It can dilute your brand’s power on social media sites. So what’s a person to do?
Here is how (and why) to convert a PERSONAL PROFILE on Facebook to a BUSINESS PAGE, as well as how to merge two or more Facebook BUSINESS PAGES or PLACE PAGES that may have even been created by consumers who couldn’t find you. Then we will tackle duplicate Twitter accounts, which are much easier to deal with.
CONVERTING A PERSONAL PROFILE ON FACEBOOK TO A BUSINESS PAGE
This one is tricky. Facebook wants you to maintain a personal profile to network and connect with other people. They also want you to maintain a personal profile to MANAGE a business page, but there are times when you and your brand are one and the same. Your name is the name of your business. Professional speakers, actors, musicians, sports figures, or other celebrities, might have a personal profile that maxes out at 5,000 connections and so they either allow followers (people can follow updates you post to PUBLIC without actually “FRIENDING” you. To enable this, go to your GENERAL SETTINGS and look for FOLLOWERS.) or create a business page to allow an unlimited number of fans to join in. Many people in this situation end up creating duplicate content for both sites and then miss messages left for them on one or both.
A bigger reason to convert your PERSONAL PROFILE to a BUSINESS PAGE is if you are conducting or promoting a business regularly from a personal profile. It is against Facebook’s Terms of Agreement to use a personal profile to conduct business or to represent a business. Sure it’s done all the time, but beware, Facebook can (and has) shut down a profile if they discovered it is being used by a business.
Before merging or converting accounts you must first ask yourself if you want to use Facebook for personal use. Do you want to connect with your close friends and family members on a different level than you do with your fans and followers? If you answer, NO, then merging (or converting) the two makes sense. If you answer, YES, you do want to use your personal profile, you can put friends and family into lists and find ways to differentiate your personal from your business pages with different images or clear messages to fans to connect on your business page, telling them why they don’t want to miss the content that is shared there.
If you want to convert your PERSONAL PROFILE and all its friends, family, and fans into a BUSINESS PAGE (fan page) you take one of these two routes:
If you do NOT have a current BUSINESS PAGE, follow these steps:
First, go into your SETTINGS and download a copy of all of your data. You will most likely lose your photos and posts that have been placed on your profile when it converts. You will receive an email with this data.
All of your FRIENDS from your PERSONAL ACCOUNT will become FANS of your page. If someone has already liked your PAGE, they will only be counted once.
Be sure to appoint a new GROUP ADMIN to any groups you may manage, since once your PERSONAL PROFILE is gone, the group will be assigned to someone that Facebook selects (usually the most active member, which may not be who you want in control of your group).
Now to begin the migration, start HERE at Facebook’s Migration page.
You will not be able to UNDO these two, so be sure to think through your plan before you do this.
MERGING TWO FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGES
If you DO have a current BUSINESS PAGE that you want to merge with your PERSONAL PROFILE follow these steps:
First, go into your SETTINGS and download a copy of all of your data. You could lose your photos and posts that have been placed on your profile when it converts.
Be sure you are not the only admin on your BUSINESS PAGE. Add another person as a manager or admin before your personal profile (which was most likely the only admin on the page) goes away. This additional admin will be the person who can help you post content and manage your account if needed.
Go up and follow the steps listed above to first convert your PERSONAL PROFILE to a BUSINESS PAGE (giving you that additional page that you are going to then MERGE)
Now go to Facebooks MERGE page HERE to begin this process. Keep in mind Facebook will only allow two BUSINESS PAGES to MERGE if they have similar names and are essentially the same type of business. You will select the page you want to KEEP from the first drop-down menu and then you will select the page you want to MERGE it with from the second menu. If Facebook allows your pages to be put together, you will see the CONFIRM button.
You will not be able to UNMERGE these two pages, so be sure to think through your plan before you do this.
DELETING OR INACTIVATING UNUSED TWITTER ACCOUNTS
The hardest part about having multiple Twitter accounts is finding the login credentials for each one. This can be like untangling a ball of tiny chains found in the back of a jewelry box. Sometimes they slip right out and sometimes it is a long and tedious task.
Currently, Twitter has no way to MERGE duplicate or similar accounts into one. They cannot move followers or the people you are following from one account to another, so sadly, it is a matter of closing down unused accounts on Twitter and/or rebranding them.
You can easily change the username for your Twitter account and rebrand the images. As long as the name that you want is available, you can simply go into your settings and change the name.
If you cannot even log into your old accounts because you can’t remember the passwords, try clicking on the RESET PASSWORD and then try and remember the email that you used to set up the account. Twitter gives you a clue as to which email was used –> G***@S****************.com
MERGING YOUTUBE CHANNELS AND DOWNLOADING YOUR VIDEOS
This is another area that is a bigger task than you would think. At this time, YouTube cannot merge two accounts, moving videos from one account to another. You can re-upload your videos from one account to another if you still have the original video files, or you can download your videos from one account and then reupload them.
To download your own videos from YouTube (it is illegal to download someone else’s content without their permission), go to your channel and click on VIDEO MANAGER and select VIDEOS.
Find the Video you want to download and select the DROPDOWN ARROW next to the EDIT link.
Select Download MP4.
I hope this helps you save some of your hair from being pulled out! It can be frustrating and most of the time we are just mad at ourselves for creating so many accounts in the first place. So as you begin to tackle this, take a deep breath and remember, it’s SOCIAL MEDIA…it has to be easier than cleaning up space junk!
Let us know if we can be of assistance in any way. We have a team of experts in just about every area of marketing here at SocialKNX, waiting to help you make sense of your digital and content marketing efforts. You can call us, tweet us and even send telepathic messages–on a good day it can be quite fast–> Try it here!
Gina is the President at SocialKNX, a digital and content marketing firm with offices in Denver, Chicago, and San Antonio. She is an author and international keynote speaker on using today’s tools to reach your digitally savvy consumers. Connect with Gina on Twitter, or just about any social media site known to mankind!
She runs our DIY.social coaching program as well–learn more here: https://DIY.social
Even though we are everywhere you want to be, we want you to know where our awesome team members reside!
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