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.
๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฐ๐จ๐ป๐ฌ ๐น๐จ๐ท๐ท๐ถ๐น๐ป ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐.
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 ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ 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 ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก 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, ๐๐๐๐ 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 ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐)
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 ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ซ, 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 ๐๐๐๐๐๐ 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…๐๐๐๐. Just get to know people first, people, before talking about ๐๐ง๐ฒ kind of business. Business is about people and relationships and ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ FIRST to achieve win-win situations.
And if you do the above well, there should be no reason why Facebook ๐๐๐๐ should sanction you for misusing your personal profile for business-oriented activity, simply because you are getting to know people ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ, and their interests and needs as ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, rather than their pocketbooks.
And as I said, if you’re thinking most about serving ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง 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 ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก end up agreeing is best for the two of you to achieve together.
๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌโ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐จ๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐จ๐คโ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐.
Besides, Facebook has already been rolling out its Professional Business Profile feature that ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, did you know that?
๐๐๐ซ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ข๐ญ:
1) Go to your Facebook profile.
2) Below your profile header, click or tap the menu button (โฆ) on the right side.
3) Click or tap ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง ๐จ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐.
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.
