The short version
- Your business should have its own Page. Your personal profile is for you, not for customers.
- A Page belongs to the business, can have several people manage it, and doesn't need customers to be your friends.
- You still use your personal account to log in and manage the Page.
- Keep family photos on your profile and business posts on your Page.
A lot of owners start by posting about their business on their own Facebook profile. It works for a while. Then a customer sends a friend request, a vendor sees your birthday photos, and you wonder if you're doing it right.
Short answer: your business should have a Page. Here's why, and how the 2 fit together.
Facebook Page vs personal profile: the short answer
A personal profile is for a person. A Page is for a business, a brand or a public figure. Customers follow a Page. They don't have to be your friend to see your posts.
How a Page and a personal profile compare
| Facebook Page | Personal profile | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | A business, brand or public figure | You, as a person |
| Who sees posts | Anyone who finds or follows it | Friends, or who you choose |
| How people connect | They follow or like the Page | You accept friend requests |
| Who can run it | You and anyone you give access to | Only you |
| Business details | Hours, address, phone, services and buttons | None built for business |
| Fits a business that changes hands | Yes, access can change | No, it's tied to a person |
That last row matters. If your profile is the business and an employee leaves or you sell, the account goes with the person.
Why a business needs a Page
- Customers can follow you without sending friend requests.
- You can put your hours, address, phone number and a way to message you in one place.
- More than one person can help manage it, so it isn't stuck with the owner or the nephew.
- You keep your family photos and your business posts apart.
- Scheduling tools, including Meta's own, work with Pages.
It also looks more professional. A real business has a Page. Customers check it before they call, as covered in Google Business Profile vs Facebook Page. A website adds to that, as covered in whether you need a website if you have a Facebook Page.
How your profile and your Page work together
Think of your personal profile as the key and the Page as the shop. You sign in with your own account, then manage the Page. Customers see the Page. They don't see your private profile unless your privacy settings let them.
Create the Page
Use your own account and follow Meta's steps. Our guide to setting up a Facebook business Page walks through it.
Add a second person
Give a trusted employee or partner access so the Page doesn't depend on your login.
Share the Page from your profile
Post the Page link to your friends once and ask them to follow.
Post business news on the Page first
Then share it to your profile if you want. Not the other way around.
Keeping your private life private
The biggest relief for most owners is the line between work and home. On a Page, customers follow your business. They never see your cousin's wedding photos or your fantasy football trash talk. Set the right cover photo and profile picture sizes so the Page looks sharp.
- Send customers to your Page when they ask to be friends. A polite line works: "Follow our Page for jobs, specials and tips."
- Check your profile's privacy settings once, so old posts aren't open to everyone.
- Use a business email and phone on the Page, not your personal ones.
- Reply to customers as the Page, not as yourself.
You can still show up as a person. Posts about your crew and your story do well on a Page too. They just live in the right place.
If your business is on a personal profile now
Don't delete anything yet. Make the Page first, post there for a few weeks, and invite your customers to follow it. Meta also has help pages for what to do with a profile that's being used as a business. Wondering about Instagram too? Read Facebook vs Instagram for a local business.
Do
- Create the Page and fill in every business detail.
- Invite your friends and customers to follow it.
- Post to the Page from now on.
- Keep a second admin on the Page.
Don't
- Accept every customer friend request on your profile.
- Mix family photos and business posts.
- Make the Page with an account you might lose.
- Delete your old profile before the Page has followers.
Once the Page is live, here's what to post on your business Facebook Page and how to get more local followers. For the About box, see Facebook business page description examples.
Sources
Outside numbers in this article come from these pages.