Facebook marketing is a new animal, and as such, there were many businesses who simply didn’t know how to get started with marketing on this social network of choice. As a result, many of you created a personal Facebook Profile for your business, instead of a Page.

This is incredibly common, and now many businesses who want to use the superior Facebook Page have gone through the frustrating process of suggesting that your friends on the personal Profile “like” your Page. The conversion rate for this process is generally quite low – you’re never going to get even half of your friends to like your Page. Using a personal profile as a brand is actually a violation of Facebook’s terms of service (TOS), and by doing so, you run the risk of Facebook pulling out the big stick and revoking your access. So what do you do?

Now, you can take the business profile and use the Profile Migration tool to set up an official Brand page. Brand pages are better suited for local marketing because they allow anyone to “like” you (no approving friends), all of your current friends will be switched over to fans, there’s no maximum on how popular you can get, and they offer small businesses more robust media and promotion offerings. The fact is, Brand pages are simply the better option. By not using them and sticking to a personal profile, you limit your brand’s ability to really reach out and engage customers.

However, there are some unexpected results that inhibit the functionality of this application.

• It will create a new Page from your personal profile. You do NOT get the option to move your friends over to a pre-existing Fan page.
• The name of your profile will likely be the name of the new Fan page. Changing the name of your profile is also problematic, because Facebook doesn’t allow you to use anything but a “real person” name. And since you can only change the name of a Fan page with less than 100 friends, that’s going to be a major issue for many.

The process is relatively new and some minor hiccups are being worked out, but you can be assured we are staying on top off the progress and will be ready and available for you to make a smooth transition and have all the offerings and benefits the brand page has to offer.

Using a personal profile as a brand is actually a violation of Facebook’s terms of service (TOS), and by doing so, you run the risk of Facebook pulling out the big stick and revoking your access. Wow, sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it? I mean, really, you’re just trying to make a buck…

Not to worry, there’s a better way to expand your exposure and reach on the big boy of social networks without fear of the big stick coming out.

As a small business owner you want to get yourself set up with an official Brand page. Brand pages are better suited for local marketing because they allow anyone to “like” you (no approving friends), there’s no maximum on how popular you can get, and they offer SMBs more robust media and promotion offerings. The fact is, Brand pages are simply the better option. By not using them and sticking to a personal profile, you limit your brand’s ability to really reach out and engage customers.

With the recently introduced Profile Migration tool, Facebook is making it even easier to have much more functionality and better promote your business to customers. Here is an easy to follow Youtube video that takes you through the process: Profile Migration Tool

Personal Profiles with your Business name are not the Facebook way to go anymore, so make the switch today!

Big News in the Social Media world!! As we’ve talked about often, Facebook is rapidly becoming THE go-to tool for Social Media Marketing. Businesses are jumping on the bandwagon and bringing entirely new facets to the art of client interaction.

Facebook, has finally provided something that businesses have been requesting for some time: a migration tool to convert a personal Profile into a Facebook Page.

Why would you want to do that? Profiles are for meant individual people, they aren’t suited to meet your business needs. Pages offer more robust features for organizations, businesses, brands, and public figures with better communication, more opportunities for expression, and improved relevancy.

Gone are the days of using a personal profile that was setup with a business name and “friending” as many people as possible. The most prevalent issue with this strategy (aside from violating Facebook’s Terms of Service), is that a personal profile has a 5,000 friend limit.

The migration tool allows you to convert that personal profile into a Page, and carry all of your friends over there with you. This is far superior to creating a new Page for your business and “Suggesting to Friends” using Facebook’s admin tool, which typically has a very low conversion rate.

Be aware though, not all content will make the transition. From Facebook Developer Blog “Be aware that when you convert your profile to a Page, your profile pictures will be transferred, and all of your friends will be automatically added as people who like your Page. No other content will be carried over to your new Page, so be sure to save any important content before beginning your migration.”

It’s a smart move to utilize this exciting feature and bring the full power behind the Facebook network to your business. We can help you make the transition and get the most out of your online marketing.

During a recent presentation at Emerge Memphis on 3/10/11, Managing Project Director James Hutto covered some fantastic tips and tricks to help business users become more proficient and secure when using Facebook for professional purposes.

One of the questions we are most often asked has to do with the best way to use the same Facebook profile for both business and personal.  Since Facebook’s terms and conditions stipulate that you are not supposed to create 2 profiles, this is often confusing for a great many people.

James covered the power of Friend Lists and how they can be used to really fine-tune the security settings in Facebook and only show specific pieces of your profile to certain groups.  At the most basic level, James urged all attendees to create a list for Personal and a list for Professional, and to set what those 2 different groups can see through security settings.

There was also an overview of Facebook’s security settings, and some instruction on the best ways to optimize for privacy and professional networking.

This seminar had some great Q&A and a great deal of ground was covered with specific answers to attendee questions. Some participants even decided to test out what they learned by leaving some comments on our Fan Page!

Here is a copy of the presentation: