Many companies mistakenly use a personal profile on Facebook instead of a page to engage with their followers, customers, and potential sales. However, this is not a good idea! Facebook accounts have a limited set of features compared to pages.
So if you’re considering making this transition, you need to know what will happen when you do so. What additional features will you get? What will happen to your friends list, photos, and data? In this article, we will highlight the important changes that will be implemented by following this process.
Why is a Facebook profile bad for businesses?
As today evolves, many people – especially freelancers, small business owners, and those working for themselves – have begun promoting their businesses through their personal profile on Facebook because the company did not provide business pages from the beginning. However, business owners were eager to take advantage of the growing social networks.
However, using a profile instead of a page today is fraught with potential problems even before considering the additional features that pages offer. For example, what happens if you accidentally share a personal photo with your business followers? Or if you forget to adjust the visibility and privacy settings properly for that new promotion you just put up?
At best, it can be embarrassing, and at worst, that mistake could harm your business activity. If you are using a personal profile exclusively for business gains, you are violating the site’s terms of service and risking having your profile permanently removed from the network.
Read also: How to delete messages in bulk from “Facebook Messenger”
Account vs. Page (Additional Benefits)
What additional features can you benefit from if you decide to use a Facebook page instead of a regular account? Let’s take a somewhat detailed look at some key transition points:
Insights: For companies, the most powerful new tool available after converting an account to a page is access to the Page Insights panel, which allows you to know the number of actions taken on your page, the Page views, new Likes during a specific period, post reach, story reach, post shares, video shares, and more.
Friends Limit: An account is limited to 5000 friends maximum. If you reach this limit, you will need to start deleting friends before you can add more. For personal users, the limit is more than enough, but for companies, it makes sense that they may want to exceed this restriction.
Likes: Facebook pages can be liked by other pages. Pages cannot like descriptions. Allowing other companies to like your page is a great way to increase the credibility, reputation, and impact of your establishment. If you post meaningful content and it’s liked by another organization, that’s highly beneficial.
Publishing Tools: If you convert your account to a page, you will also have many other publishing tools that you can use. For example, you can add branded content, manage expected customers, create store lists, manage your videos, and have more control over the audio group and more.
Multiple Pages: If you are a freelancer (or working for yourself) and thus wear many different hats in your professional life, pages are more convenient. Remember, according to the site’s terms, you can only assign one account associated with real-life identity, while there are no restrictions on the number of pages you can create and link to your profile.
Page Management: Only one person can manage a Facebook account, and if you don’t want to violate the terms, that person must be the rightful owner of the profile. For small to medium-sized businesses, this setup does not work, so multiple managers are allowed to manage page activities under various titles like editor, advertiser, moderator, etc.
What will happen to your account on the platform?
Now that you are well aware of the necessity to convert an account to a page and we have provided you with some leading benefits, the last thing we need to talk about is what happens to all the data associated with your old profile when you make the conversion. Here are the essential details you need to know: after the conversion, you will have a new account and page. Your profile picture, cover photo, and name will transfer to the new page.
You can design a new cover photo if you wish. You can also automatically transfer your friends, followers, and pending friend requests to followers of your new page (if you choose to do so). Friends will remain connected to your profile. You can move photos and videos, but not all metrics will continue as they were. If you have a verified account, the badge will be removed from your profile, and it will not transfer to the new page.
Which is better, converting an account or creating a new page?
Assuming that you agree it’s time to start using a Facebook page for your business needs, there is one final question to address: should you convert a profile or start fresh with a new page? There is no one correct answer; it depends on the amount of business activity you have accumulated on your profile.
For example, if you’ve been using your profile as a business tool for years, it makes sense to lean towards converting. If you’ve just started a new business venture, there’s no point in going through the conversion process, and it’s logical to start fresh with a new page that can grow and evolve over time based on your interest and the content you provide.
More: How to read deleted messages on Messenger?
In conclusion, how to convert an account to a page
To start the conversion process, you only need to use Facebook’s dedicated tool, which is available at (this link). You cannot access it through your personal account. The conversion process is simple, just follow the sequential steps to complete the process or browse our previous topic on how to do it, which may help you although it’s somewhat outdated.
