Facebook Pages 101

{N.B. - As Facebook is an ever-changing entity, as of April 2010, some of the information in this blog post may be out-of-date. I'm working on updates. ~H}

What is a Facebook Page and why do I need one?

Facebook (FB) can be a great tool for communicating with your customers – if you use it the right way!  Maybe you already use FB to communicate with your family and friends.  Did you know you can also create a business profile (called “Pages”) that is dedicated to your business, band, social group or even a political or public figure?  It will look similar to your personal profile, but Pages allow you to network with others and market your business without sharing your personal profile or information. 

Before we get to the very simple steps of creating a FB Page, I’d like to address some common questions from people who are new using Pages.

 

Can I create a Facebook account for my business?

When you create your Page, you will be asked to register for FB first (if you do not already have an account).  You will register using your real name.  You may only have one FB account, and this account must be owned by an actual person.  Simply put, you may not create a FB business account and log in using your business name.  Technically, you can use any name you wish during the registration process, but if FB were to find out you have multiple accounts, or that an account is registered to a business name rather than a real person, they will delete the account.  This would be a shame if you had built up quite a following, only to have the account suspended or removed without any warning to your customers.

Once you have a personal FB account,  you will use that account to create and administrate FB Pages.  The Page itself is not a separate account.  You cannot “log in” as your Page identity.  You cannot “friend” a person or “fan”  another Page using your own Page’s identity. (Although you can make other Pages one of your own Pages’ Favorites – more about that later.) 

You can create more than one Page, which is great if you have more than one business.   You can add other administrators to your Pages as well.  This will NOT give them access to your personal profile, but they will have all the same control over the Business Page that you do.

How my Page appears to me while I’m logged into my personal account.

Why does my real name show up at the top of the screen? Why can’t I log in to Facebook as my Page’s name/identity?

Pages are not considered separate accounts, and therefore you cannot “log in” to them.  They are, however, a separate identity from your personal profile/account.  The two are not linked in any way, except that you are considered the administrator of any Pages you create.  When you log in to FB, you will be taken to the Home page of your personal profile, not your business Page because the actual FB account is under your real name.  As long as you are logged into FB, your name will be shown in the upper right-hand corner of the screen (next to the search box).  You are the only one who can see this information; It’s just there to let you know you are logged in. (You can see in the screenshot above that I ‘spray painted’ over my real name)

If you have become a fan of a Page that you also administrate, the updates from the Page will show up in your news feed on your Home page. 

 

Can my fans see my personal profile?

No. Your fans can’t see any personal information about you unless you also have it posted on your Business Page, or you have your personal profile’s privacy settings set to “visible by all”, or you have approved that Fan to be on your Friend list. See this article for more info about privacy on FB.

If you are a current FB user, the people on your Friend list will not be spammed by your new Page. Only the people that chose to become your Fans will see the updates from your Page.  People do not need to be on your Friend list to become your Fan, and there is a tool you can use to let your current Friends know that you now have a Page (more about that later).

Okay, I hope that clears up a few things!  I realized this post has gotten quite long, so I will be breaking up this topic into several posts.  Next up:  Creating Your Page.