Personal Branding: Facebook Profile or Page…. or Both?


October 12, 2015



Deciding to market yourself on Facebook is a pretty big commitment. It will require page upkeep, regular posting and in some cases, the ability to navigate Facebook advertising. Thankfully, the advantages of using Facebook to market yourself are just as high. But once you’ve decided that Facebook is right for you, you need to determine whether to move forward using a Facebook Profile, which most people on Facebook operate under, or a Facebook Page.


This article isn’t whether to have one or the other (as Facebook requires you to have a Profile), but instead whether or not it is beneficial to have BOTH.

What’s the Difference Between a Facebook Profile and Page?

Simply, a Facebook Profile is a personal account on Facebook. Using your Profile, you can add friends and family members, communicate on a personal level, and share photos, videos, and life updates. Everyone who joins Facebook gets a Profile, and you can only ever have one under your name.

A Facebook Page is an account that represents your business, brand or product on Facebook. A Facebook Page allows businesses to promote specials and contests to followers who have engaged with their page by “liking” it. There is no limit to the number of Pages you can manage.

Personal Profiles

Facebook Profile 

Below are the pros and cons for using ONLY a Facebook Profile for your personal branding.

The Pros

  • Ability to Join Groups
    Using your personal profile, you are able to join Groups on Facebook and talk to like-minded people.
  • More Visibility from Friends
    Posts are sometimes more likely to come up in your friends newsfeeds than your fans because of Facebook algorithm changes.

The Cons 

  • Non-Commercial Use
    Personal profiles are for non-commercial use and represent individual people. This is important to keep in mind when deciding to move forward with a Page or Profile. If you use your profile to share content for profit or not using an individual’s name, Facebook can delete it.

  • No Analytics
    If you’d like to see analytical data about who is coming to or interacting with your Facebook, a Profile isn’t for you.
     
  • Advertising
    With a Profile, you don’t have the option to advertise using Facebook. And with the Facebook limit of only having 5,000 friends, you could eventually hit a wall in your audience scope.

  • Privacy
    Another concern is that if you use your Profile as your outward persona, you’ll no longer be able to use your Profile as Facebook intended, for personal use. You’ll need to more carefully monitor what posts you get tagged in by others and sharing family gathering photos may not fit in with your business persona.

Pages  

Dave Page 

The Pros

  • Less Commitment
    Profiles force you to send a friend request before you can make connection, which can be problematic as people are hesitant to hit ‘accept’ if they don’t already know you. Pages, on the other hand, only require a “like” to start that relationship with a fan, prospect or client.

  • Advertise and Measure
    Facebook Insights allow you to track the positive impact and results of your social media efforts. To improve those results, a Page also allows you to take advantage of Facebook Ads, to launch contests and more.
Facebook Insights
 
  • Scheduling and Other Tools
    With pages, you are able to schedule posts up to six months in advance. This makes creating a content schedule easier and maintaining a Page more streamlined. You have the ability to use apps (such as WooBox) to help host contests and send traffic to your website. 

Cons

  • Low Organic Reach
    Only a small portion of fans will see what you post unless you advertise or if it goes viral. This can make it difficult to grow fans organically.

Overall, Profiles and Pages look pretty similar, and with recent changes, Pages are now able to communicate through direct messages with people just like a Profile (although they’ll need to message you first). Since Facebook allows the option to have a Profile and a Page, having both isn’t a bad idea. You can use your Profile to join groups and communicate with people on a more person level, then direct them to your Page, where you can keep them updated on your business. 

For more Facebook best practices, see our article: 3 Common Facebook for Business Mistakes.


Need help managing your business or personal brand on social media? Contact Sales & Marketing Technologies today to evaluate your current social media strategy and see what could work for you. 

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