I see it all the time. Artists, entrepreneurs, coaches, home-based businesses, lawyers, realtors, and others advertise their new businesses by promoting to friends and family via Personal Facebook Profiles. Or, they create a new page similar to their personal page, but with their business name. It seems effective at first- your Profile is a place where people know you and trust you. This is your network. Unfortunately, posting your business on a personal profile can get you in loads of trouble with Facebook, and you are missing out on the terrific (free) marketing resources offered via a Business Page.
The most important reason to convert your profile to a Business Page is this: “It’s against the Facebook Terms to use your profile to represent something other than yourself (example: your business), and you could permanently lose access to your account if you don’t convert it to a Page.” Ouch. 
But fear not! Converting doesn’t mean you have to give up your friend list- you can add the Business Page, copy your friends into ‘followers’ and have the best of both digital resources. A couple important notes: Before you convert, don’t forget to download all your personal Facebook information here! Also, it’s important to know you can only convert your personal to a Business Page ONE time, and the name of the profile/page will be the same.
Yes, there are some downsides to a Business Page vs. a Personal Profile. For one, you cannot ‘friend’ people the way you used too. And you’ll have to be careful how to comment on other people’s posts (i.e. choose to comment as yourself, or switch to your business). However, these downsides are worth it. Facebook is cracking down on Personal Profiles, and if yours goes dark you will be starting from scratch. Instead, follow the directions below and all of your friends will become your new business followers, and you’ll have a great head start! Below is a quick guide on how to add (or convert) your Personal Profile into a Business Page.
First thing you need to do is identify which type of page you have. How can you tell the difference? Let me show you. Here are my two pages, Personal Profile on the left, and Business Page on the right. Although they look similar (I choose to use the same photo for both profiles so people will recognize me as the owner of the marketing service), there are important differences.
You see how much more is going on within a business page? For example,
Most importantly, you can view your insights. Insights tell you the data for when people are online (so you know when to post), and how people engage with what you post (sometimes we think a post will go off better than it does. Data doesn’t lie.) Another important difference is the Call to Action. If someone you don’t know sends you a message on your Personal Profile, their message will end up in your Facebook spam file. Not so with a Business Page. Consider this the new front door to your store!
Instructions to convert your profile to a Facebook Page:
When you have completed this, your profile’s followers, friends and friend requests will get notified that you’ve created a new Page, and the profile followers you choose will automatically follow the new Page.
Now that you are done with this process, make your REAL personal profile (the one that is not at all business related) an admin on the Business Page, and delete the Personal Profile that is selling things. You don’t want two Facebook pages floating around as that will create confusion.
I hope this guide is helpful! If this process feels overwhelming, feel free to give me a call. I love showing small businesses how to ROCK it in the digital world! ,
If you feel others might benefit from this guide, feel free to share!
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