Setting up a facebook page is really a very simple process and nearly everyone on the planet seems to have a Facebook account, but some people get a little confused when it comes to setting up a Facebook for business page. I hope to shed a little light on how to set up a business page but also what type of page you should be setting up, whether a fan page or a business page profile.

Should I choose Fan page or Business page profile – whats the difference? 

I get this question quite a lot and to be honest it is a fairly easy one to answer as you will see further along this post… generally speaking if you have a profile page then that should be for personal use and not for business, although if you are self employed and your business is public speaking for instance then it may be ok to use your profile as a business page….below is what Facebook itself determines a profile and fan page to be…

Personal profiles are for non-commercial use and represent individual people. You can follow profiles to see public updates from people you’re interested in but aren’t friends with. Pages look similar to personal profiles, but they offer unique tools for businesses, brands and organizations. Pages are managed by people who have personal profiles. You can like a Page to see updates in News Feed.

Keep in mind that each person who signs up for Facebook has one account with login information. Each account can have one personal profile and manage multiple Pages.

In fact it is actually against Facebooks terms and conditions to have a profile page as a business page so if I were you I would stick with a fan page for your business page.

The differences in short are..(and I’m sure there are many more but for me these stand out)

1: on a profile you have friends and on a page you have fans

2: When you have a profile page you are able to send messages to your friends directly to their inbox but with a fan page you can only post updates. This means that only certain people may see them and not everyone.

3: With a fan page you have the ability to boost posts using Facebooks advertising system which means you can reach more people. On a profile page you do not have this option.

4: Profile pages are for personal use and fan pages are for business or communities.

5: With a fan page you can get your fans(customers) to share your posts and get others to like your page.

Choose a fan page…

If i am honest I would say that the best way to go for a business page on Facebook is with a fan page and so this is the one I will be showing you how to do….it is really very simple.

Setting up your page on Facebook.

Once inside your personal profile (I’m assuming you have one as everyone and their dog has at the moment) The first thing you are going to want to do is click on the little arrow that is located top right hand side of your screen:

Then you should see this screen and you should see create page. Just click on that.

You will then be taken to this screen and all you need to do is select the page category most associated with your business..you then just simply select a category and a name for your page..hit the get started tab and you are off.. You are pretty much done apart from adding a picture, description etc but facebook makes it very clear what each step is along this process..just follow the onscreen instructions

This link here can also get you started. it is a link to a Facebook help page ran by Facebook itself.

I hope that gives you an idea as to what you should do to set up your Facebook page for business and if you havn’t already done so please feel free to check out my how to build a website post for FREE.

Drop me a comment to let me know your thoughts on pages vs profiles and thanks for taking the time to read..i hope it has been of use.

Pete.