To use or not to use your personal Facebook profile for business?
Recently someone asked in a business group I participate in this question as it relates to Facebook’s policy that discourages the use of personal profiles as a business tool.
Here was my response and a couple of additional tips.
𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝑰𝑴𝑴𝑬𝑫𝑰𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑹𝑨𝑷𝑷𝑶𝑹𝑻 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞.
In other words, I’m very picky.
And yet, I did not design it to be outright, blatant, pushy, slick-salesman, promo-oriented in marketing.
Consider it a form of 𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 rather than outbound-oriented.
So, the answer is yes. I do use my Facebook personal profile page for business.
However, my use of this personal profile for marketing is not in the way Facebook defines marketing. If you do it the way Facebook defines marketing, which is promotional and noisy in nature, then 𝐲𝐨𝐮❜𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 if people report you.
Unlike my business website, which I designed with a very specific marketing business purpose in mind, my personal profile in Facebook is less business-like, yet still effective at securing precisely the type of audience that I wish to relate with for business and pleasure.
What A Professional Facebook Personal Profile Looks Like
If you visit to my Facebook personal profile and it appeals to you, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 this is what I do next to make it work for me and the person who wants to connect with me:
1) I wait for an invitation from the individual who wants to connect as “friend” (I don’t like this term Facebook uses but oh well. I prefer LinkedIn’s term which is simply 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍)
2) The ‘friend request’ notification alerts me to visit that person’s own profile. And if I see that we have much in common to get along and particularly to discuss the topic that I have on my 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, then I may accept that invitation.
3) Next, I send a thank-you note via Messenger simply to acknowledge receipt of the invitation and why I accepted it. (Sometimes, when I’m unsure, I may reach out via Messenger 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 accepting the invitation just to understand better what prompted the offer to connect.)
4) I then inquire what made the connection of value to the person who found me.
5) I hold a conversation (or several) with this person about…𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. Just get to know people first, people, before talking about 𝐚𝐧𝐲 kind of business. Business is about people and relationships and 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 FIRST to achieve win-win situations.
And if you do the above well, there should be no reason why Facebook 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 should sanction you for misusing your personal profile for business-oriented activity, simply because you are getting to know people 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐨𝐮𝐭, and their interests and needs as 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, rather than their pocketbooks.
And as I said, if you’re thinking most about serving 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 rather than anyone with a pulse, then you will attract precisely what you want. You’ll do so to achieve with and for them what you 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 end up agreeing is best for the two of you to achieve together.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭❜𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝟐 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬❜ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤❜𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬𝐞.
Besides, Facebook has already been rolling out its Professional Business Profile feature that 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆❜𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔, did you know that?
𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞❜𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭:
1) Go to your Facebook profile.
2) Below your profile header, click or tap the menu button (…) on the right side.
3) Click or tap 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞.
4) To confirm, click or tap Turn on and complete the flow.
If you cannot find this feature yet on your end, it’s because Facebook is still rolling it out to a select group of users. But eventually it will get to you.
Remain patient and you’ll soon be able to go professional mode in your Facebook personal profile page. But follow my example and you’ll be able to become effective at doing so.