Profiles and Pages on Facebook: The Difference
Following several recent online marketing and networking seminars and workshops, I have been struck by the number of newcomers to social media, who are still very confused by the difference between Profiles and Pages. And, I have to admit, that since Facebook made them more alike, it’s not surprising.
Profiles
What is a Profile? Profiles are online spaces for people to share, converse, as individuals.
Where do I set up a Profile?
- Click here to create a Profile.
- Fill out the Sign Up form, and follow the prompts.
- You now have a Facebook Profile from which to invite people to connect, and respond to Friend Requests.
- You can also Like Pages and Groups from your Profile.
Pages
What is a Page? Pages are online Facebook spaces for organisations (including businesses) to share as organisations.
Where do I set up a Page?
- Click here to create a Page.
- Select “Local Business”, enter a Page Name (an organisation name is normal), check “I’m the official representative..” and click Create Official Page.
- You now have a Facebook Page, which you can direct people to, to encourage them to keep up to date with your organisation.
How to Make Your Page Public
Another useful point to note, kindly pointed out by Ivan, is that public Facebook Pages are indexed by the search engines, another good reason to set up a Page for your organisation. People searching for your product or service have another place to find you online. Go to Account>Manage Pages
- Click Go To Page next to the appropriate Page
- From the top of the Page, select Edit Page
- Under Settings, select Edit
- From the Published dropdown list, select Published
Other useful links, listed by content, all geared toward beginners:
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Hi Dawn
Something to consider re SEO is that Fan pages are indexed by the search engines whereas private pages are not.
I’ve created a few fan pages recently and was surprised how fast Google and Bing indexed them.
Ivan
Of course, should have mentioned this (done now). Yes, Facebook ranks pretty high. A nice way for new SMEs to get noticed before their website gets established.
Dawn,
One other benefit of pages for business/organisations is the use of additional tabs which can be customised with Facebook’s own markup language (FBML) to create very useful landing/welcome pages, news, special offers etc which look almost like mini websites – see Denon100 on Facebook created I believe by our own Kaizen Print. Good wee tutorial here for more info http://bit.ly/98C3r7
Andrea
Great point Andrea, FBML makes things so much more flexible. I wonder sometimes though if it makes it too easy for our Facebook Pages to look almost as good as websites, then what sets Facebook apart? What are your thoughts?
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