Facebook Profiles and Business Pages...So, What's the Difference?

Personal Profile Information Page

Facebook Profile Page

A profile page is for a person and includes unique information such as a relationship status, birthday, work history, hometown, and more. You can use your profile page create a business page for the community and hold or grant administrative access to the business page in order to edit and maintain the information on the business page.

Facebook Business Account

Create a Business Page

However, you do not need to have a Facebook profile page to create a business page. If you want a business page, but do not want a personal account, you can create the page without having a profile. Once the page is created, Facebook will then ask you if you have a profile. At this point you can simply enter your email address and birth date to create what is known as a Business Account. Business accounts are used only to administer pages and ad campaigns. They do not show up in search results or cannot receive friend requests, so if you do not want to have a personal presence on Facebook, but still want to use it for work, this is the way to go!

Business Information Page

Facebook Business Page
A Facebook business page is a page specifically for a business, your community. A business page will increase your community’s SEO, reach to potential residents, and maintain a conversation with current residents. A business page contains unique information such as contact information, office hours, description about your community, website, and if merged with your Facebook Places can offer deals, a map of your location, and information on who is ‘checking in’ to your community, how often people are visiting your community, and how many people ‘like’ your community. You can even link your Facebook Business Page and your community’s Twitter account. Check out our recent post about the new Facebook Business Page updates.

Moving from a Profile Page to Business Page

It is actually against Facebook Terms to run a profile page as a business page, and if your profile account is discovered by Facebook, there's a good chance they'll delete it without warning. We’ve seen it happen many times. Switching to a business page will minimize the impact of a deleted account.

Here is how to get your business profile “friends” to move with you to your new official business page:

1. Send a message to any "friends" of the profile page suggesting that they become a fan of your official business page. Let them know that's the place where you'll be posting updates from now on.
2. Post a link to your business page on the wall of your old profile page. Drive all that traffic to your business page.
3. When you get a friend request on the profile account, send them a quick note to say thanks and direct them to the business page for the latest updates.
4. Focus all your efforts moving forward on cultivating your audience on your business page.

Facebook Business Pages are a great way to reach your residents where they are and share information, pictures, and of course, video! Check out our Facebook Page to keep in touch with us!

UPDATE: 
Facebook has recently added the ability to convert Facbook Profiles into Facebook Pages. You keep your name and all your "friends" turn into "likes." But beware, you may lose a lot of your info and media in the transfer, so be sure to copy and save it to your computer first! Also, once you convert to the business page, there is no going back!