Facebook Pages vs. Profiles: Are Your Assets In Jeopardy?

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ANSWER: Against Facebook's Terms of Service.

QUESTION: What is using a personal profile instead of an Official Page for your business or nonprofit organization?

I am a community manager for multiple Facebook pages - For small businesses and non-profits. I've been active on Facebook since 2008, and I have developed a sense of awareness on both a personal and business level.

Personally, I have more than 1200 Facebook Friends. On a business level, the number of Facebook Fans I come in contact with is much, much more.

Social Assets

Whether you consider Facebook Friends or Facebook Fans, your audience is your asset. They are your friends, they are your customers, and they are your contact list. Your audience, or your list, is worth something to your small business or nonprofit organization. You have chosen Facebook Marketing - for yourself or an entity - for a reason. You should protect this social asset.

Facebook Fabric

Located in Wilmington, Ohio, I am in a good location to offer Facebook Marketing services to small businesses and nonprofits near Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus, Ohio. So I monitor activity for those areas. I "listen."

Lately, I have been noticing a large handful of small business and nonprofit organizations operating on Facebook from a personal profile. There are a few possible reasons for this:

They are naive to the Facebook social network.
They have not made themselves familiar with Facebook's Terms of Service.
They think they are special, and believe the warnings they've received do not apply to them.

Regardless of the reason, it is worth covering why it is important to operate from the correct social platform for your organization. If for no other reason than to reap the benefits of investing in Facebook Marketing!

It's All About The Numbers

Those of social influence keep telling us that, "in the end, the ones with the largest number of friends and fans will win." And they are correct (we'll cover the reasons why in another post).

Here, lets touch on the numbers relative to Facebook Marketing success and why Facebook Pages are a better option...

Pages allow for an unlimited number of connections. Profiles limits you to 5000 friends.
Pages allow you to email messages to your fans. Profiles do not offer this option.
Pages allow you to connect an Event right to your Page. Profiles do not.
Pages can utilize customized tabs to increase visitor to fan conversion. Profiles limit tabbing ability.

Big Brother Is Watching

If the list above is not incentive enough to operate from a Facebook Page instead of a Facebook Profile, then here's one more source of motivation: Facebook reserves the right to revoke access to any individual or entity that does not follow their guidelines.

That's right folks - Facebook can disengage your social asset (your following) at any time if they feel you have violated their policies!

Here's an example of someone that Facebook saw as violating their policies, and without notice they banned access: Personal Facebook Profile.

Now, this guy was actually innocent and was not conducting business from his profile. He is actually just very friendly and an elected official. But Facebook did not make it easy for him to re-gain the use of his profile, and it was certainly difficult while they had control of his social asset.

Steep Regulations

As Facebook develops their advertising and marketing options, they are encouraging the use of Facebook Pages and they are cracking down on policy violators. In my circle of social media and community managers, we have been hearing more and more of this!

Who will control your Facebook Social Asset?

Do you know anyone that has had their Facebook profile revoked? What are your thoughts on the advantages of Facebook Pages? Did I miss anything on my list above?

Give me your feedback below!