My Facebook: Business Page Public and Personal Profile Private

By on February 6, 2012 in Marketing, Social Media with 20 Comments

This weekend, I turned my Facebook profile into a Business page.

Most of the connections I had on Facebook were from business contacts, most of what I shared was about business. I was most of the way to a business page already.

I had been thinking about making the move for awhile. When Tracy Sestili said Bye-Bye to Facebook, I started making my move by following her lead. (By the way, Tracy is a solid-state, straight-shooting social media strategist – one to follow).

Tracy’s steps and reasons are sound. While Facebook is a closed system in many ways, it remains a confusingly open system in other ways. From a privacy perspective, Facebook has pieces in place – but good luck for the average user to find and use them.

So, I decided to create a “stealth” personal page, following the first six steps Tracy outlines in her exiting post. On the last step, rather than delete the account, I transferred to a business page.

The only real difference in  converting my profile rather than cancelling creating a new business page is those who were either “friends” or subscribed, become “likes” on the business page. My messaging still is part of the stream (and since most of what I posted was business …).

For me, I still want a presence on Facebook for “Mike Sansone”, though the only parts I want public and searchable are business postings. My personal page is for a very small group of people (mostly family).

I know a lot of business owners who want the same. To keep business separate from personal. To be able to maintain focus and balance. Many are just not comfortable with “transparency” on Facebook at this time.

 

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About Mike Sansone: Conversation Conductor & Social Mediatician: Amplify Reach, Relationships, and Revenues for Small, Rural and Independent Business. Blogging & Social Media as Conversation Stations.

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  • Chris Brown

    I think you’re going to find a very big audience for this blog post.  Facebook’s public, friends, friends except acquaintances etc has a very confusing set of privacy and promotion choices.  Good for you for making the switch.

    • http://www.converstations.com MikeSansone

      Thanks Chris:-)  I hesitated a bit, but took the plunge. Less confusing, better focus.

  • Brandieport

    Probably because you don’t have any friends. Because you are a shyster.

    • http://www.converstations.com MikeSansone

      @Brandieport I know many people would disagree with you, though good to see you’re still following every step and word I make – whoever you are. I do have friends a-plenty – and whatever friends made an exit, it was probably because they’ve believed your lies.

      For instance, you don’t say who you are. You’re not specific in your accusation. You seem to contact everyone I communicate with at any given chance. You threaten my wife on our wedding day. You spread gossip and exaggeration. Who’s the shyster?  I don’t even know you.Move on or be specific. Take off your mask. I’m not sharing your IP address (though it comes in the email generated by your replies).

      Please stop. You’re proving my point that anonymity on the web is a waste of all of our time.

      Be specific or be quiet. I leave others to the choice to believe their eyes or believe your lies (whoever you are). Let it (whatever you think “it” is) go. I have (even with every rearing of your ugly intentions)

  • http://jonloomer.com/blog Jon Loomer

    Good stuff, Mike. I honestly had no idea you could convert a profile to a page. Very good to know since I have a client looking to do exactly that so that he can benefit from Facebook ads.

    I’ve split off to a profile and  a business page myself. Even having subscriptions didn’t cut it since those who subscribed to me typically did for a particular type of content. And since I have many different interests, it was just becoming too difficult to cater to them all. And Lists didn’t help since I couldn’t, say, just publish a post to my subscribers without bugging my friends with lame social media stuff.

    Making the split was one of the smartest things I’ve done. Lately.

    • http://www.converstations.com MikeSansone

      Thanks, Jon. I think, for many business types, separating personal and professional is important on Facebook. As you say, varied interests will be noisy to some in your “friend” rolls, signal to others.

      Facebook not only becomes more enjoyable if we can take our “work” hat off, but it does allow us to see things from the “other side of the counter” better.

      And lately … you’ve been offering up lots of smarts. Thanks for that.

      • http://jonloomer.com/blog Jon Loomer

        Oh, stop!

        Question… What social plugin do you use? It’s amazing how hard it is to find one that I’m happy with. I like yours.

        • http://www.converstations.com MikeSansone

          I’m using the Standard Theme and I’ve added a few code tweaks (great support and forums – I pretty much Copy & Paste and change the URL).  A great one is tough to find, many are solid … but not yet great.

          • http://twitter.com/tracysestili Tracy Sestili

            One that slides like the one you use is Sharebar. :-)

  • http://twitter.com/tracysestili Tracy Sestili

    Thanks Mike for the kind words! For the record, I made too many brand mistakes in 2008 that were too much to delete. (I’m glad you didn’t!)  However, I do think that this makes good sense for many people – especially businesses who haven’t made that leap to a fan page.  Good stuff as always! Thanks for posting!

  • http://tiltshiftmarketing.com/ Keith Bloemendaal

    I searched this article out because I have been contemplating it too. Mostly what I post is business, but I also love to post pictures (mostly food and places I visit). Only downside I see is that with a profile I can check in to other businesses, tag people, and interact on other peoples walls. I wouldn’t be able to do that on a page would I?

    I actually already have a page, but never really promoted it and it has less than 100 fans so I could merge it after I converted. 
    Tough decision, and I wrestle with FB and it’s purpose all the time. Do you have any regrets you would add to this now that it’s been a few weeks?

    • http://www.converstations.com MikeSansone

      Hey Keith. It’s been great to deliver (and receive) on expectations since the switch. Since I’ve kept the “new” personal Facebook to close friends and family, I’ve been doing non-business posts there, and all-biz on the “new” page.

      I downloaded previous content before the switch, so I nothing was “lost” per se, though when the switch is made, archives are wiped – start from scratch (so make sure you download your content).

      While I don’t get to see the streams of the business friends I was connected with on FB – I see their streams elsewhere … and I’m sure there’s crossover.

      No real regrets. If I haven’t yet found pure ‘signal’ with FB, at least I’ve muffled some ‘noise’

  • http://www.mydiscproject.com/ Peter Scazzer

    Pretty good strategy!  Converting your personal page to business page is a good idea as long as you have good number of friends on that specific page.  Isn’t it quite tiresome to delete some of your personal photos and transfer them into your private Facebook profile?  

    • http://www.converstations.com MikeSansone

      It wasn’t done as a strategy as much as using the tool in a better way (for my own use). By downloading the content prior to the transfer, I didn’t lose the photos (and I haven’t put them up on the new “personal” FB either) – so I couldn’t answer your last question.

      The “strategy” was to separate signal & noise. As the “old” profile was mostly business, I kept that to business – moving the personal friends (non-business) and conversation to a new page.

  • http://www.iwebxpert.com/business-facebook-page/ Business Facebook Page

    I’m glad to have read this post. I think personal and business profile in facebook must be separated because both aren’t of the same boat. When we say personal mostly it deals about you and you have the right to either display it privately or publicly but when we talk of business it usually deals with people utmost privacy is no longer considered a priority because it is generally centered to the public.

  • http://www.iwebxpert.com/business-facebook-page/ Business Facebook Page

    In my own opinion these 2 must be separated after all they don’t convey the same message to the audience. Personal facebook involves privacy of a person he/she holds the control whether to share it to the public or not, on the other hand business facebook is made solely for the general public so expected that every member of facebook can see what is being posted on the page.

  • Karen

    Hi, I need to keep my personal page private and make my business page public but don’t seem to be able to do that. It seems to make both one or the other. Is there a simple way to do this?

    • http://www.facebook.com/tracey.greenberg.9 Tracey Greenberg

      I’m having the same conundrum. Have you found a solution yet?

    • http://www.facebook.com/tracey.greenberg.9 Tracey Greenberg

      I’m having the same conundrum. Have you found a solution yet?

  • PerfectMakeupbyPatty

    Does anyone know… how do I make my business facebook page public but still keep my personal page private? Please help, thank you.