One of the biggest infractions of Facebook Users seems to be the use of a Personal Profile vs the use of Pages. But this infraction is not only against Facebook Terms of Use but also self-defeating.
Even Facebook themselves say that use of personal profiles are for non-commercial use only. https://www.facebook.com/help/217671661585622
It’s tempting to advertise your business, commercial plans and ideas on your personal profile. It is where all of your friends and family are amassed. But using your personal profile for anything other than personal updates on things you like, family pics, vacation ideas or basic Facebook chit-chat could get your account suspended or even deleted by Facebook administrators.
It can be a fine-line to distinguish between what is commercial and non-commercial. For example, if you’re a small business owner like myself then you use Facebook almost exclusively for commercial purposes because chances are you don’t have time for idle chit-chat and common social media gossip. Every iteration of a Facebook login has a business imperative. My real goal is to get straight to my Helios Page. The only way to get there is to have and login in using my personal profile credentials. There is no way around it. You must have a personal profile to have or even get to a business page and this is where I think Facebook lacks differentiation. Some people understand the difference but there simply isn’t enough incentive to build and maintain another Page when all your friends are amassed in one place already. More to the point, it’s far easier to login to your personal page (always required), and make your posts there regardless of the commercial or non-commercial stipulation.
This is where Facebook fails. It would be far easier to be able to login directly to our business Page(s directly, for those of us that have them. Furthermore, everyone shares directly from Pages on the things that interests us to our Personal Profiles so our friends and family can see and share our interests and participate. That is essentially the Facebook use structure.
So why even have a Page? Remember the aforementioned reason. It’s against Facebook Policy to use a Page for anything other than commercial use. Yet, you’re able to share business links, posts and updates from Pages to your Personal Profile and that insofar as I can tell is the completely legitimate workaround.
Understandably, people still can’t see the benefit of a Page. It’s true that they’re a handful to keep up with. Nowadays, a social media presence is as prevalent and important as having a storefront sign to let people know where you are and what you do. The most common Page Administrator oversight is the thought process that essentially suggests that ‘if you post it, they will come.’ Unfortunately, like any business it takes dedication, perseverance and consistent diligence for a successful social media Page. You monitor it, nourish it, adjust it like you would anything in your business. Here is where Facebook Pages excel. The information available to a Facebook Page administrator is extraordinary; charts and graphs at your fingertips which show you exactly how your Page is doing. Facebook breaks down your market categories of age, gender, place of origin, etc. Facebook tells you how each and every posts is performing. It gives you all this information for Free; free on the surface at least. The goal is for you to take this information and use it to purchase ads thru Facebook.
As a paying ad user, I can honestly say the information you have access to from the ad development Facebook application gives you extraordinary details to drill down your target market even more. You have access to age, gender, place of origin but also, what people like, where they shop, what state, city or province they live in, where they like to go on vacation, what their favorite color is, what animals they like, even the brands they shop and hobbies and so much more. Once you’ve entered your ad criteria, Facebook even gives you a projection of how many people you can reach. That is powerful information you can use to streamline your ad message with even a forecast of how many people you can reach. Furthermore, you can run an unlimited amount of ads simultaneously and schedule them to take advantage of peak social media times, dates and days of the week to maximize your message.
Even if you don’t use ads; even if you personally choose to ignore the Terms of Use (not suggested) of a Personal Page - for anyone with a brand or business intent - on Facebook, Pages are really the only game in town. I’ve found it puzzling to see individuals create secondary personal profiles for branding in a feeble attempt to… quite frankly I’m not sure what they’re trying to do. They don’t have access to all the promotional tools that are available nor are they encouraging participation. Why would you alienate millions of people by asking them to be your “Friend” when what you really want is to improve your visibility and Branding that eventually leads to meaningful action or participation? That’s the job of a Page. Asking someone to accept or not accept a “Friend Request” is far more intimidating and unnerving than allowing them to “Like” on their own. Think of how many hundreds, thousands or even millions of people you’re alienating by trying to get them to send you a “Friend Request.” Will they accept me or will they not goes thru everyone’s mind that crosses you les’ they see the thousands of friends you have and realize that you don’t truly engage any of them on any meaningful level aside from bragging rights to show how many followers you have. For someone that’s trying to build a brand or a business having a profile rather than a Page is like having a huge retail store but with a sign up that reads STORE CLOSE! BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. Not smart is it? Why not open the doors and let people in during normal business hours and take advantage of all the promotional tools available to you?
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