Why a Facebook Business Page over Using my Personal Page?

I wrote this to a client today because she asked why she would even want to have a separate Facebook page.  She already was using Facebook personally and then had me create the page, but then she was not sure after it was done.  She obviously would be starting with “no followers” and felt like it was extra work then simply using her personal Facebook account.  So, I wrote her an answer and thought it might be helpful for others to understand too.

Note:  I’ve taken out her name/business name – just fill in your own name and business there…

Hey, CLIENT NAME!

If you want to talk about this in person, we can setup a phone meeting. I’m here to help you. But, I’ll try to address it in an email and then we can discuss further as you see fit… So, here goes…

This is a philosophical issue which I’m pretty sure we discussed on our last phone meeting before you had me work on the Facebook Page for you. The question is: Do you want to market “YOUR NAME” or “YOUR BUSINESS NAME”…? It’s really a matter of how you want to look at your business. Your focus now and in the future. If you are being “YOU” and that’s how you plan to approach it in the future, then doing everything through your personal account works fine. If, on the other hand, you want to be “YOUR BUSINESS” then you would want to separate it into a business page – which is what we did.

The reality is that your personal Facebook page should be about personal stuff – family photos and interaction, friends socializing, … This doesn’t mean that you can’t have your clients be “friends” with you or that we can’t have your postings go there too. Hopefully, you do become friends with these people and all of your friends and family will want to know about what you are doing. It’s part of the point and the relationships you hope to build. So, think of your personal Facebook page as that – your personal relationships.

On the flip side, the Facebook page is all about marketing your business. It will take time to build up a “following”… You will want to “invite” your personal friends and family to join you on it. And then, you will want to encourage all of the people that get involved with “YOUR BUSINESS NAME” to follow it (by telling people about it on your website, in your newsletters, at your events/place of business, on your business cards,…). Over time, the numbers will grow and grow – and be strictly about the business marketing elements. So, this will take some marketing effort, but it will represent the “entity” that you are creating… And, Facebook has some elements in the business page that you can’t do as a person… These are all things I can help you with over time and will benefit your business focus long into the future.

So, that’s the way to look at it. I’m fine if you prefer one way over the other… I will feel a little dumb for having created and billed you for something that you might not use if you choose to dump the business page. But, you won’t insult me or anything. I recommend separating them, but that’s the way I look at it. I’m trying to help you lay the foundations for your business that will help you grow over time. But, this decision is all about how you feel your focus needs to be. So, just tell me.

Smiles,

Joe