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Facebook Profile or Page? Which One Should I Use for My Business?

There is still a lot of confusion about whether businesses should use a Facebook page or their profile to promote themselves on Facebook.

What’s the difference?

Here’s how Facebook describes the different functions of profiles and pages:

Facebook profiles

for individual, non-commercial use
represents an individual person and must be held under an individual name
can be friended
can be followed to see public updates in news feed

Facebook pages

look similar to profiles, but offer unique tools for connecting people to topics they care about, like a business, brand, organisation or celebrity
managed by admins who have profiles — pages are not separate Facebook accounts and do not have separate login information from a profile
provide insights to help admins understand how people are interacting with the page
can be liked to see updates in news feed

So what are the pros and cons of each?

Optimisation

Profiles are optimised for individual people to connect and interact with friends and followers
Pages are optimised for artists, businesses and brands to showcase their work and interact with fans

Connections

Profiles can have a max of 5000 friends and an unlimited number of followers
Pages can have an unlimited number of fans

Messages

Profiles can send unlimited private messages to “friends”
Pages can send private messages to fans, only after the fan has sent the first message

Limits

Profiles are limited to one per person
Pages are unlimited — you can admin as many pages as you want

Apps

Profiles cannot have biz and marketing apps installed on them
Pages come preinstalled with custom functionality designed for their category — developers also build a huge array of 3rd-party apps for admins to add to their pages

Lead capture

Profiles don’t allow apps for lead capture
Pages allow you to create custom apps to gather email leads for marketing outside of Facebook

Check-in

Profiles can be tagged (by friends) but not checked in to
Pages can be checked in to (if a local business) — alerting friends of the person checking in that they’re at your business

Direct calling

Profiles cannot be called from Facebook mobile app
Pages can be called directly from the Facebook mobile app when a fan visits your page

Post scheduling

Profiles cannot schedule future posts (unless you’re using a 3rd party app)
Pages can schedule future posts

Insights

Profiles do not have access to stats on posts, friends and friend demographics, etc.
Pages can access a huge array of stats on posts, fans and fan demographics, etc.

So all in all, Facebook pages have a lot more commercial functionality than profiles. Which makes sense, since Facebook explicitly states profiles are not to be used “primarily” for commercial purposes.

In that case, is it a mistake to continue using your profile solely for commercial purposes? Yes, because you’re violating Facebook’s Terms of Service — and eventually, sooner or later, you WILL be shut down. And that’s why you may want to convert your profile to a Facebook page.

Why should I convert my profile to a Facebook page?

Here’s Facebook’s answer:

Facebook pages offer different features for organisations, businesses, public figures, brands and organisations. It’s also a violation of our terms to use a personal account to represent something other than yourself (ex: your business).

If you’re a public figure, you can continue posting to your audience from your personal account by allowing followers. When people follow your personal account, they’ll be able to get your updates in their news feed without being friends with you. You should only add someone as a friend when you know them personally.

If you’re not a public figure and you’re using your account to represent something other than yourself, you could risk permanently losing access to your account and all of its content, if you don’t convert it to a page.

Will all my profile’s content be transferred when I convert it to a page?

When you convert your personal account to a page, some things will be automatically transferred for you:

All your confirmed friends and followers will be converted to people who like your new page.
Your current profile picture will become your page’s picture.
Your username will become your page’s username.
You’ll remain the admin of any Facebook pages you manage’
You won’t remain the admin of any groups or apps you managed from your personal account, so be sure to add new admins before converting.
Also, content on your timeline (ex. photo albums, profile information, etc.) won’t be transferred to your page. Make sure you download any important content before you begin converting.

What will happen if I ignore this and just keep doing what I’m doing?

Facebook is making it easier and easier for users to report your profile if you’re using it primarily for commercial purposes. Once a person reports you, that person can’t do it again, but they can only block you.

So if you’re using a profile in the name of a business and as a business then it’s wise to convert your profile to a Facebook page. If you don’t, you could lose your profile and all the connections you’ve worked so hard to make over the years.

Plus, by converting to a Facebook page, you will gain a ton of features that will help take your business to another level on Facebook.