Facebook for Business - Profiles, Pages and Groups, Oh My!

Facebook is "all the rage" at the time of this writing (March, 2011). That is mostly because most personal Facebook accounts are places where friends and acquaintances can interact and more-or-less gossip.

But that is not what a Facebook business account is about. Facebook for business is different from Facebook personal accounts. For one thing, business accounts cannot send and receive "friend" requests. Instead, people can "like" your Facebook business page, which doesn't require approval from you, so it is easier to get "likes" than get "friended." (It requires less commitment on the "likers" part.)

Facebook business accounts are harder to set up (since the advent of a new kind of coding for them began in March, 2011). They should not be treated like personal profiles. Many business people don't understand the difference, and shoot themselves in the foot by creating their own personal profile for business use.

For a little clarity, Facebook generally refers to personal accounts as just that- "personal accounts," or "profiles." On the other hand, a "Page" generally refers to a business account. This can be confusing, because most people call their personal account their "Facebook page," as in, "Do you have a Facebook page?" (Which should technically be, "Do you have a Facebook profile?" To make it even more confusing, "Pages" used to be called "Fan Pages" (which made more sense to most people, including me.) I don't know why they changed it to simply "Pages."

There is also something called a "group" page,which is not the same as a "group" on your personal page, and is not the same as a business page.Group pages are mostly used for short-term campaigns, like getting people involved in cause such as relief efforts.

Facebook Profiles, Pages and Groups are free (at the time of this writing, although who knows...)

To make things even more complex, there are Facebook Ads. This is a way to advertise on Facebook using "Pay Per Click" (PPC) or "Pay Per Impression." To advertise on Facebook, you don't need any kind of the above accounts (although they can help). Facebook advertising is not free, unlike Pages, Groups or Profiles.

Is this getting confusing? If you do not thoroughly understand the difference, you shouldn't be doing your own Facebook marketing until you do. Or you should hire a professional.

For Facebook's own take on the issue, visit https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=12850

Brian S. Foley writes about local business and around the Upstate NY area. He is based near Oneonta, NY, and owns http://www.upstatebusinesswebsites.com.

If you want to get more customers to your local business with an effective, stress-free and and reasonably priced website, or SEO consultation, you can reach him at Upstate Business Websites.

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