Newsletter Article

04.21.09

Social Media 101: Migrating Your Business’s Facebook Profile to a Page

Heather Wall

Talk about Social Media has been getting lots of attention, and as a result, we've been getting many questions about correcting social media mishaps.  So, here is a little tutorial to help you get your social media program on the right track.

Facebook is the largest social media network.  Many companies have been trying to get into the social media channel, but are unfortunately starting off on the wrong foot.  I have seen time and time again, businesses inadvertently creating profiles instead of pages on Facebook. Profiles are intended to be reserved for individual use, where pages are intended to be used by artists, businesses and/or brands to promote themselves.  So, the dilemma lies with how to transition your profile to your new page.

Facebook used to offer a handy tool which gave you the ability to convert your profile into a page, but that tool has gone away.  Now, it is up to the business to make this transition, which probably leaves most people scratching their heads.  First things first, you need to create your page and you have to have a profile in order to create a page.  So, you can use the profile you already have to create your page.   You can be creative in the design of your page. Check out MoreVisibility's Facebook Page for some ideas on design.

The next step is to inform your profile "friends" that you are making this transition.   We definitely recommend that you email them personally. Also, you can update your status to indicate to your friends that you are transitioning and need them to accept your invitation when it is sent out.  Once you've informed them of the impending change, you can then log in under your profile and navigate to your new page.  Once your new page is displayed, you'll notice underneath your logo on the left side, there is an option to 'suggest to friends.' You can select all of your friends from your profile and Facebook will send them an invitation to your page.  Some terminology that is important to point out here is that a Facebook profile has friends, whereas Facebook pages have fans, so the invitation you are sending your friends is an invitation to "fan" your page.

This transition is a completely opt-in program, since there is no way to just move your friends over to your page.  So, your friends will have to accept your invitation.  This is where having a well planned and executed strategy is important.  You can offer incentives for accepted fan invitations.  You can even create a video and post it on your profile to let your friends know about the move, and you can send a reminder email as well.  Not every friend will accept the invitation on the first attempt.

It's a pretty easy process to get through!  I hope this helps you along.