Facebook Page vs Profile: 11+ Features You Never Knew Existed

So, you are at that point in your marketing journey where you are looking at the Facebook page vs profile situation.

Yes, there are a ton of experts out there advising you about which one to choose.

It’s possible that you are brand new to Facebook or you’ve always had a personal profile but rarely used it.

A close friend of yours advised you to set up a Facebook page.

However, you noticed another friend going live for a network marketing business on her Facebook personal profile.

You are now wondering what to do.

How to know for sure what are the rules for each section of Facebook?

Is it possible to gain success for your business on Facebook?

What methods should you use to attract your potential clients?

Will you get banned if you use your personal Facebook profile for business?

If only there was a way to get absolute clarity around these areas?

In this post, you’ll learn all about the best practices when it comes to using Facebook for business, which section to use when.

As well as how to generate leads for your business on Facebook.

photo of two women sitting a desk looking into a laptop

A Brief History of Facebook

Understanding where Facebook came from may help you to better understand its current status.

Facebook began back in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and 4 of his college roommates with the intention of limiting the usage to Harvard students.

This was extended to all colleges in the Boston area then to all colleges and universities in the USA and Canada.

By 2006, anyone with a valid email address had the ability to create an account on the platform.

If you are as old as I am or possibly older you’ll remember what Facebook was like back then.

Actually, I am sitting here wondering when I joined Facebook. 🧐

I just checked and my account was set up in 2007. It’s crazy to think how time flies so fast.

Facebook got to its first 100,000,000 users by August 2008. That’s just under two years after granting access to anyone with an email address 13 and over.

Here’s an interesting Facebook business page fact, there were 100,000 business pages on Facebook in late 2007.

October 2008 saw the decision by Facebook to set up its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.

Why was Facebook created? It was a means for people to have an online profile to display a profile photo of themselves plus other personal information.

Now, here we are many years later and Facebook is more than just your face and basic details about you.

Why Use Facebook for Business?

Well, if you are wondering why you should consider using Facebook to help you generate leads for a business.

Here are a few interesting facts to consider.

Facebook has a very strict policy about people setting up more than one personal profile.

Unlike Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest where you can set up many profiles and brands.

LinkedIn is the only one that would be on par with that specific Facebook rule.

With a total of 2.8 billion monthly active users as well as 1.84 billion daily users, it is a great place to find potential clients.

In terms of business users, there are over 200 million small businesses using the platform regularly.

Here are two interesting statistics that will stop you in your tracks.

65% of Facebook users are under the age of 35 and 98% of users use it via their mobile device.

The final show-stopping statistic I’ll leave with you is that users of Facebook spend 19.5 hours monthly on the FB mobile app.

photo of two women sitting near a sofa chatting

Facebook Apps

Before we look at the Facebook page vs profile comparison let’s spend some time looking at the platform as a whole.

You’ll notice that there are now so many different areas on Facebook that it can be dizzying trying to find your way around.

Here’s a list of those apps.

  • Personal profile
  • Stories
  • Room
  • Business page
  • Groups
  • Community
  • Marketplace
  • Watch
  • Dating
  • Gaming
  • Jobs
  • Avatars
  • Facebook pay
  • Live videos
  • Offers
  • Weather
  • Fundraisers
  • Events
  • Nearby friends
  • Campus
  • Ads manager

After seeing this big list you’re probably thinking that you never realised that Facebook had so many apps.

It’s crazy to think that a simple online photo album has so many facilities available to its users.

It’s important that you are aware that all of these exist before you even create a Facebook page vs profile for your business.

Because it is very easy to get lost on the Facebook platform.

If you ever ran any ad campaigns (on your personal profile) before the business platform was launched then you’ll see the ads manager app.

Facebook Page vs Profile

Now that you know the basics of what Facebook is, where it came from and the services currently on offer.

Let’s spend some time specifically looking at the two main applications which are the Facebook page and personal profile.

Starting with the personal profile first makes more sense because you’ll need a profile in order to create a page.

Personal Profile

As the name suggests a personal profile is just a place where you can set up information about a person.

I know that there are married couples who share the same personal profile which I find very strange.

What’s even stranger is that one profile has two birthdays every year. So, it is quite confusing who’s birthday it is when the day arrives.

A personal profile account will contain the following information.

  • Name
  • Date of birth
  • Hometown
  • Relationship status
  • Current city
  • Past jobs
  • Current jobs
  • Websites
  • List of friends
  • Hobbies
  • Books
  • Music
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Events
  • Sports
  • Timeline

The list of information appears to be endless. Are you wondering why Facebook is asking for so many details?

Well, in order to serve you relevant advertising, Facebook needs to know as much information about you as possible.

For example, if you watch comedy movies, read romantic novels and attend outdoor events, Facebook can include you in an audience with that profiling.

It is against Facebook’s terms of service for you to use your personal profile for business purposes.

However, as you can see in the screenshot below there are clever ways to incorporate business promotions on your profile.

Alvern Bullard Facebook profile

I am able to add an image with links to a landing page which is part of my website right below my profile picture.

There’s something you must know, it is the goal of every social media platform to keep the users on there for as long as possible.

So, if you would like some more Facebook love it would make more sense to link to a Facebook business page or group rather than an external website.

You would normally receive friend requests on your regular profile. Your Facebook friends are able to see the posts that you publish on your personal timeline.

Of course, you can adjust your privacy settings to set parameters around who can see your Facebook posts.

Business Page

The Facebook page is a great way to give your business a social media presence so it is essentially a company page carrying your business name.

Typically, the people who like your page wouldn’t be people on your friends list.

It would make more sense to have people from your target market following your online presence.

Things are about to get very confusing because a business page is managed via the business app.

If you want to create a business page you’ll need to have a profile already set up on Facebook.

Once that is done you’ll go to the apps section on your top right and click on create a page.

facebook menu

A note of caution, the folks at Facebook change the navigation of the platform very often so don’t be surprised that yours look different.

However, to manage an existing business page you’ll need to go to business.facebook.com and assign access to an admin or you.

managing Facebook business page

In the above screenshot, you’ll see the home page of the Facebook Business Suite platform or app.

I currently manage over 20 pages so I have seen this platform evolve over the years and every year I login things are different.

It feels like Facebook never sits still.

A great benefit of using the Facebook business platform is that you can link your business Instagram profile right inside the app.

One key benefit of doing this is that you get to see all your analytics in one place plus you get to schedule feed posts and story posts (including carousels) from this platform.

An amazing way to get around the challenge of having a poor performing business page is to set it up as a public figure or Facebook fan page.

If you serve a local market, you can set up your business page as a local presence to include your address and even your business phone number.

You can even go through a verification process to get your business listed locally on Facebook.

Facebook Business Suite

Other features available on the Facebook Business Suite include the following:

  • Boost posts
  • Ads Manager
  • Commerce
  • Insights
  • Events Manager
  • Audiences
  • Ads Reporter
  • Creator Studio
  • Media Library
  • Services
  • Instant Forms
  • Partner Integrations
  • Appointments
  • Monetization

Let’s spend some time looking at these features one by one so that you can understand what they do and when to use them.

Boost Posts

While you have the ability to use this features on the post of your business page there’s also the opportunity to do this inside Facebook Business Suite (FBS).

This feature is good for when one of your posts is gaining traction like a Facebook live and you want it to get more reach.

Boost Posts button on Facebook

It means that you can actually get more mileage from one piece of content. This works really well when you have an upcoming masterclass or webinar.

Boost Posts option on Facebook

Did you know that you have the ability to boost IG posts as well? Yes, this can also be done using FBS.

Ads Manager

As the name suggests Ads Manager gives you the ability to really get specific in the kind of Ad you want to run.

Whether it be Ads to cold or warm or even lookalike audiences.

The Ads Manager app allows you to select your objective, choose your demographic and audience interest so that you can get higher conversions.

create new campaign form on Facebook

Be sure to get really specific and creative with your interest targeting.

Facebook ads management

There are two schools of thought when it comes to running ads on Facebook. One group firmly believes that you should only use Ads Manager.

While another group will advise you that it is okay to use the “Boost post” features just to get more reach on your posts, while Ads Manager should be for a formal product launch.

Commerce

Inside Facebook Business Suite (FBS) you have the ability to add products from your e-commerce store to the platform.

By adding them to shop on your business page you are also adding them to the Ads Manager catalog as well.

It means that you can promote your products organically as well as running ads to them using Ads Manager.

Many e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify give you the option to ad a pixel to your website or shop.

Insights

This may be obvious but Insights allows you to see the performance of all your organic and paid promotions across Facebook and Instagram.

What’s good about Facebook Insights is that you get a 5,000-foot view of which posts get the most engagement compared to other pieces of content.

There’s even the option to look at your followers across both platforms by age, gender and top cities.

Events Manager

One of the keys to getting visibility of activity across your website and e-commerce shops is to install a Facebook pixel.

You can easily achieve this by going to events manager, grabbing your pixel and installing it on your website to track events.

These events can include actions like views, leads, add to cart, purchase and initiate checkout.

To set up your FB pixel click the plus sign on data sources.

Facebook pixel

Choose your data source as seen below. I’m so excited to see that you can now choose a CRM.

Facebook 'connect a new data source'

Select the type of data source connection, API or Facebook pixel.

Facebook pixel box and conversion API box on Facebook

Once you have the pixel installed you’ll be able to see monthly reports similar to the one in the screenshot below.

Facebook monthly report

The reason why you’ll have both Google Analytics and Facebook tracking installed is that each one will help you with conversion tracking when you run Ads.

In other words, Facebook will be perfect to track leads from their platform while Google Analytics will handle paid search, display ads and video ads.

Audiences

At a very basic level audiences gives you the ability to create a custom audience based on criteria set by you.

180 days after setting up your pixel you may want to create an audience of all the people who visited your website.

The capabilities of Facebook continues to blow me away every single year. You can also create custom audiences for Instagram, shopping, events and even offline activity.

Audience source selection on Facebook

To create an audience simply click on ‘create audience’ choose the most suitable option.

Audience source selection on Facebook

Then select your data source and enter your parameters as seen below. I decided to choose Instagram as my source over the last 365 days.

screenshot of IG audience over 365 days

After creating the audience you’ll be given the option to create a lookalike audience.

screenshot of Option to create a lookalike audience

When you click on create a lookalike audience you’ll see the option to choose your parameters.

These include your source, audience location and size. See the image below.

Create a Lookalike audience form

You’ll have the option to create 6 different versions of that lookalike audience. I chose to create 3 different kinds as seen in the screenshot below.

Create a Lookalike audience form

Ads Reporter

You’re probably thinking what’s the difference between the Ads Manager and the Ads Reporter.

Well, if you have any experience running Facebook Ads you’ll know how difficult it can be to extract reporting on your ads from the Ads Manager.

This is why the Ads Reporter is great to help you to really calculate your return on ad spend (ROAS) more accurately compared to how it was previously.

Creator Studio

One amazing feature that was launched recently in the Facebook Business Suite (FBS) is the ability to auto-post to IG Stories.

Imagine having to schedule all your IG Stories for one week using your phone in under an hour.

The key drawback is that the IG Stories app has a lot more features like captions, DMs, polls and questions that’s not available in FBS.

In case you are wondering you can even schedule carousel posts as well.

I find it easier to access Creator Studio directly by going to; https://business.facebook.com/creatorstudio/home

Compared to trying to find it inside Facebook Business Suite (FBS).

On your smartphone you’ll need to download the app called Facebook Business Suite.

Media Library

If you are planning and scheduling all your content 30-90 days in advance you may find it handy to use your media library.

You have the option to upload all the images and videos that you will be scheduling out in advance.

It means that the process of scheduling content will take a lot less time since you will not need to add them one by one.

What’s brilliant about the media library is that you even have the ability to segment your content into folders and sub folders.

Services

If you are a service-based business you may want to consider using the services app to promote your services on Facebook.

The way this application function is a bit strange because you need to add a time frame into the listing.

Add service form

As you know, if you are offering social media management as a retainer you just charge monthly without assigning a time to that service.

Instant Forms

Do you want to use Facebook as a lead generation machine? Then you need to take a look at Instant Forms.

A fascinating feature of Instant Forms is the ability to connect it directly with your CRM platform of choice.

Instant Forms on Instagram

This feature is especially useful to generate leads from paid ads using Ads Manager.

Partner Integrations

When it comes to choosing tools that work seamlessly with all your business technology.

It really helps to know in advance what tools already integrate natively with Facebook Business Suite.

Nothing is worse than choosing a new application only to realise that it does not integrate with other must-have tools.

Some of these partners include:

  1. Ecwid
  2. Shopify
  3. WooCommerce
  4. Kajabi
  5. WordPress
  6. Squarespace
  7. Segment
  8. Zapier
  9. Hubspot
  10. Appsflyer
  11. Adjust
  12. Google tag manager

Head over to partner integrations here to see the full list of tools already available to integrate with FBS.

Appointments

Depending on the type of business that you have it may make sense to give your Facebook audience direct access to your calendar on the Facebook platform.

To achieve this head over to the appointments app and choose your available time slots.

Availability options on an app

After choosing your available times remember to switch on the feature that allows customers to see your availability and booking calendar.

Online booking options

Monetization

One new feature that has been added over the last few days for business pages is the ability to run paid events as well as Instant articles.

If you have an existing business page, you’ll notice a notification similar to the one below where they talk about monetization.

Recommendation notification of a fb page

When you click on it, you’ll see a list of eligible options available including paid online events and Instant Articles.

monetization tools on facebook

There are 5 other monetization options available. These options include the following:

  1. In-stream ads for On demand
  2. Fan subscriptions
  3. Stars
  4. In-stream ads for Live
  5. Brand collabs manager
Other monetization tools on facebook

You’ll notice that there are a number of criteria that your page will need to meet in order to qualify for these other monetization methods.

Business Page vs Profile: Side by Side comparison

To help you understand the similarities and differences between a personal profile and a business page here’s a side by side comparison.

FeaturePersonal ProfileBusiness Page
Personal detailsYesNo
Website addressYesYes
Run paid adsNoYes
Promote businessNoYes
Promote business personYesYes
Go LiveYesYes
Publish StoriesYesYes
Business vanity URLNoYes
Boost postsNoYes
Ads ManagerNoYes
CommerceNoYes
InsightsNoYes (100 page likes)
Events ManagerNoYes
AudiencesNoYes
Ads ReporterNoYes
Creator StudioNoYes
Media LibraryNoYes
ServicesNoYes
Instant formsNoYes
Partner integrationsNoYes
AppointmentsNoYes
MonetizationNoYes

Knowing what is possible on Facebook for any small business will help you to assign a budget that will get you the results that you need.

Remember that it makes more sense for you to install your Facebook pixels 3-12 months in advance of running paid campaigns via Facebook Business Suite.

Having the data available will put you at a big advantage compared to someone who doesn’t have the statistics.

5 Ways to Generate Leads for Your Small Business on Facebook

Now that you know every possible area where you can generate leads on Facebook let’s look at the best ways to put this into action.

1. Facebook Lives

One of the fastest ways to build the know like and trust factor with potential clients is by publishing video content.

It is by far the best way to make your business page more favourable to the Facebook algorithm.

Remember to boost that live in order to get more eyes on your content.

2. Personal profile posts

When you experience success in your business via awards, testimonials, certifications or just key lessons you can place these on your personal profile.

It is not against the Facebook terms of service because you are only talking about things that are happening in your life.

Your friends and family or friends of your family will see this and those who are potential customers will reach out to you.

3. Personal Profile Stories

You can also share videos of these successes in your personal profile stories. It’s surprising how many of your friends engage with stories.

Be sure to have the first image be a photo or image capture of your face as this will encourage them to engage.

4. Facebook Ads

While running organic campaigns work quite well, to actually take your business to the next level you’ll need to get more reach using paid Ads.

Depending on the offer, you may want to consider driving leads to a webinar or masterclass where potential clients can spend 60-90 minutes with you.

Webinars tend to convert much better than Facebook live events.

5. Self-Liquidating Offer (SLO)

In case you are worried about your ad budgets there is a specific type of offer called a self-liquidating offer that is designed to keep you in profit.

Many small business owners use it as a way to break even on their ad spend.

The beauty of this technique is that you offer a high value low-cost product for roughly around $37 together with a one-time-offer.

Together they will fill your funnel with potential, highly qualified leads and keep the cost of your ads low.

photo of two women sitting near a sofa chatting

Summary

Facebook is a powerful platform for small business owners but everyone complains that it is a pay to play solution.

Although Facebook charges for you to promote your business, you have to admit that they are re-investing those funds to increase their platform capabilities.

After looking at the breakdown of all the Facebook page vs profile features side by side you’ll know why using the business features is better for your business.

There are mainly 3 different types of digital businesses.

These include the following:

  1. Service-based
  2. Coaching + courses
  3. E-commerce

No matter which model you choose Facebook has organic and paid promotion features that will get you conversions.

Yes, I agree with you that using the paid features can be overwhelming especially when you want to ensure that you get a significant return on ad spend (ROAS).

This is why hiring a FB Ads Manager who will make your efforts profitable makes a lot of sense.

Over to you, what has been your experience using Facebook for your small business?

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Running a organic and paid campaign on Facebook means developing a profitable digital marketing stratgey.

Having a good marketing mix of organic and paid creatives always works quite well.

I started this blog in 2017 because I had a burden on my heart to reduce women illiteracy globally.

Because this is a huge undertaking I have decided to help 1,000 women over the next 10 years to become wildly successful in their online business through simplified marketing strategies.

That way we can build a strong business network of women who can donate 1% of their profit and together we can help reduce women illiteracy worldwide.

Would you like to be part of this movement? Shoot me an email using alvern (at) successunscrambled (dot) com.

18 thoughts on “Facebook Page vs Profile: 11+ Features You Never Knew Existed”

  1. Wow there’s so much detailed information about Facebook pages here! I have been wanting to use Facebook for my blog much more than posting my posts and this will be really helpful. The monetization, post boosting sections are all very informative. Going to save this post and use some of the tips mentioned here. Thanks for sharing!

    • Michael, it sounds a lot more complicated than it is. You’ll be surprised how some niches have more organic reach compared to others.

  2. It’s crazy to think about how long Facebook has been around now, and what it’s become! I was lucky enough to be at one of the first universities it was launched at so had access very early, I don’t think any of us imagined then that it would turn into such a useful tool!

    • Bethan, I chuckled at your comment because there are some people who don’t see Facebook as a useful tool at all.

  3. Facebook has grown so much and pages are unrecognizable to what they used to be, they are always changing things! I heard FB groups are better for reach than pages though? thoughts?

    • Di, you are right Facebook groups are better for reach but they take a lot of content and engagement to keep them going.

  4. You are so right about Facebook changing quite so often. It’s really like they can’t sit still, and it can be frustrating at times, but mostly the updates are for the greater good.

    Although, back in the day, it was really so much easier to reach people (whether they’re following you or not), may it be a boosted post or a regular one.

    • Crickette, yes, it was a lot easier to reach people many years ago but now it is a pay to play environment for small businesses.

  5. This is good to know and yes, I agree with you that it is best that we create business pages instead of using our personal accounts. I did not really realize the full range of business suite and will try to explore them if I have time. Thank you for sharing these. 🙂

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