Understanding The Four Faces of Facebook

There is no doubt that Facebook is the powertool that we need in today’s marketing toolbelt. With well over 400 million users, you have the equivalent of an entire country, which just happens to be the 3^rd LARGEST in the world (Ranking by population: China, India, FACEBOOK, United States), at your fingertips.

What started as a college connection tool has evolved into a Quad-Faced, personal networking and professional business behemoth. Along with this evolution has come great confusion. How to separate personal from professional use? What is the difference between profiles, pages and groups? Here is an overview of the four faces and how to use each.

The Personal PROFILE. The mainstay of Facebook is the personal profile, and it can be used for both personal connections with family members and close friends or as a professional networking tool. The terms of agreement at Facebook state that you will have only one account. If used correctly, you do not need separate accounts for business and personal use. Using the “LIST” feature you can create a list for colleagues and lists for family members or friends and then set privacy settings for these lists that will help you keep your information and photos nicely separated.
The Business PAGE. The former FAN PAGE has matured into the Business Tool extraordinaire. PAGES can do just about anything a website can do including house videos, blogs, testimonials, and more. You can have as many PAGES as you’d like and they are created off of your personal PROFILE. When you log into your personal PROFILE you will find a link on the left column that reads, “Ads and Pages.” From this link you will choose “Create a PAGE” not an AD.

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PAGES have no limit on the number of fans you may have (profiles cap at 5,000) and each post from a PAGE is fully indexed by Google and other search engines (profile posts depend upon your privacy settings). People who join your PAGE cannot see anything on your PROFILE (unless you are connected there) and your friends are not automatic fans of your PAGE. Facebook PAGES also offer wonderful analytic tools to help you track click through rates, fan demographics and more.

One word of caution when naming your page: You may want to put your business name or other benefit-revealing name on your page instead of your personal name. Your friends will know the value or type of information YOU will provide but if your goal is to grow your fan base beyond your friends, your page should give an idea of WHY I SHOULD allow your PAGE information to be added to my information stream. (see post: Unless You’re a Rock Start, Your Facebook Page Shouldn’t Have Your Name)
The Community PAGE. This is the newest and most random face on Facebook. Again, in their efforts to separate business application on Facebook from personal use, the Community PAGE was born. These are PAGES that do not represent one particular product or service. You might be a fan of “I LOVE SLEEPING PAST NOON,” or “I ALWAYS DUNK MY COOKIES IN MILK.” There is not one person who “owns” these PAGES, so after someone creates them and they grow to a certain number, Facebook turns them over to be managed by the community. Posts are made equally by all and the group will self-manage the content.

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Facebook GROUPS. GROUPS are meant to foster discussion around a particular topic area and are great tools to use after a class or conference to keep the conversations flowing. Facebook GROUPS are similar to LinkedIn Groups. They do not have the same functionality as PAGES but have the benefit of being made private (members must be approved to join) or even secret (not even showing up in group searches). This makes them a great post-event tool that you are able to monitor.
To create your own GROUP, you simply log into your Facebook PROFILE and like creating a PAGE, you look for the GROUP link on the left column and select “Create a GROUP.” After naming your GROUP and filling out some basic information you will be taken to the second page that allows you to make the group public, private or secret.

So whether you choose to take advantage of one or all four of Facebook’s Faces, it all starts with YOUR face. Create that profile and let’s connect!

I would love to know which face on Facebook do you spend the most time with or find the most helpful to your business?

@GinaSchreck Connect with me on Facebook – Gina Schreck or my Gettin’ Geeky Page

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May 2, 2010 | Filed Under Facebook, Social Media

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One Response to “Understanding The Four Faces of Facebook”

etting up a Facebook Business Page (fan page) WITHOUT a Personal Profile? | Synapse3Di
on August 9th, 2010 4:10 pm

[...] To understand the 4 faces of Facebook (Profiles-Pages- Groups- Community Pages) check out my earlier post but let’s look at some important facts that will help you make these decisions as set up a [...]

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