Facebook is the “King” of all social media, and if you’re an entrepreneur, you DEFINITELY want a presence on the site.  And yet, when you’re an entrepreneur, there are often blurred lines between your personal identity and your business identity.

Facebook wants you to keep the two separate, so they have “Profiles” and “Pages.”  Let’s start by defining the two:

Facebook Profiles

Facebook Profiles are used for your personal identity.  It needs to have your name on it…NOT a business reference.

ie:  “Jane Doe” is correct.  “Jane Doe-Realtor” is NOT.

People can add your profile as a “Friend.”

Facebook Pages

Facebook pages are used for your business identity.  It can include your name, profession, company name, and or a tagline.

i.e.:  “Jane Doe,” “Jane Doe-Realtor,” “Jane Doe’s Hard Core Fitness,” and “A Dog’s Life Pet Sitting” would all be correct.

People can follow your business by “Liking” the your business page.

The Thing is…MOST entrepreneurs are doing this WRONG on Facebook.

Why Should You Care?

At this point, you may be thinking “…but I see everybody else using their Profile for business…”  (Yeah, yeah…I know…I hear that all the time…)

Well, that may be true…it’s because Facebook hasn’t caught them yet, and/or one of their “Friends” hasn’t turned them in.

When Facebook sees that you’re conducting business on your Personal Profile…they can and will put you in “Facebook Jail.”  I know several former “inmates” at this popular jail…where punishments include everything from temporarily disabling your account until corrections are made to disabling your account permanently…and you certainly don’t want that!

What Can You Do?

So here’s how you can not only stay out of Facebook Jail, but also maximize your Facebook Page at the same time:

Post things to your Facebook Page FIRST…then “Share” the post from your Facebook Page to your Facebook Profile and to Facebook Groups.

For example:

  • Jane Doe, a Realtor, has a new listing she’s excited about.  She posts the listing to her Facebook Page, “Jane Doe – Realtor.”
  • Jane Doe then shares the post to her Facebook Profile, “Jane Doe.”
  • Jane Doe then shares the post to any relevant Facebook Groups she’s a member of…either as her personal or business identity (whichever one is a member of the group.)

3 Big Reasons to Post to Your Facebook Page FIRST:

  1. It makes Facebook happy that you’re keeping your personal and business identities separate.
  2. It increases visibility for your Facebook Page, and may get you more “Likes” as a result.
  3. When you share from your Facebook Page, it shows Facebook that the content on your Facebook Page is valuable, and the more “Shares,” “Likes,” and “Comments” your content has…the more likely it is that Facebook will share your Facebook Page posts to the people who like your page.