Facebook Business Accounts

Recently, a lot of people have asked me about using a Facebook Business Account rather than a Facebook Personal Account to create a Facebook Page for their business. Please note that a Business Account is not the same as a Business Page. People are totally confusing the two and generating a LOT of misinformation about this topic.

Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Facebook Pages and their ad campaigns. They have limited access to information on the site and they cannot be found in search, cannot send or receive friend requests.

Having read this information, I had assumed a business account would enable businesses to create Pages that were disassociated from current employees. Once the Page was created, they could then get employees to become fans, which would make them eligible to be Page administrators. This would be logical as employees come and go and using a business account to be the creator of the Page would provide a way for the Facebook Page to remain associated with the business and not some former employee.

So, although it sounds like a logical alternative for larger businesses and organizations with employees, I don’t think this is the case.

Why would having a Facebook Business Account that did what logic would imply be so important?

• At this time there is no way to transfer or remove the creator of the Facebook Page. Whoever creates the page remains the owner. Kimberly Yow wrote a very complete post on Unlinking A Facebook Fan Page From Your Personal Account, so I won’t go into gory detail here.
• In the Facebook Help discussion forums, there is a thread titled “Transferring a page to new ownership?” that was posted at the beginning of April. Since then, a total of 166 people have requested a solution to this challenge. And so far, no one has an answer.

I do understand the rationale for making the creator a permanent administrator from a security perspective. A business with a disgruntled employee who was a Page admin could delete the originator and other admins and take over the Page. But businesses need a way to create a Page that is autonomous from any employees’ personal profiles.

According to Facebook’s policy, if you already have an indvidual account, you are not allowed to set up a business account. In addition, a business account does have all the features of a personal profile account in Facebook.

From Facebook help:

Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on the site. An individual with a business account can view all the Pages and Social Ads that they have created, however they will not be able to view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer.

You will not be able add any other applications to your business account. Your account will not be visible in search and other users on the site will not be able to find you and add you as a friend.

You may create a business account if you don’t already have a standard Facebook account. To get started, you will need to first create a Facebook Ad or Facebook Page. Once you’ve entered in the required information, you will be taken to the “Facebook Login” page and asked if you have a Facebook account. If you do not currently have a Facebook account, then at this point, please select “I do not have a Facebook account.” You will then need to enter your email address and date of birth.

Please be aware that managing multiple accounts is a serious violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. If we determine that an individual has more than one account, we reserve the right to terminate all of their accounts.

So although logically a Business Account looks to be the proper mechanism for creating a Business Page that is associated with the business and not a personal profile, I can’t find any place that discusses its use in this way.

So, the major question that needs to be answered really soon by Facebook themselves is:

How does a business create a Facebook Business Page so it is NOT associated with someone’s personal profile who may someday leave the company but can be easily administered by current employees?

But until we have the answer to that question, proceed with caution if you do decide to use a Facebook Business Account.

If anyone has actually used a Business Account to create a Facebook Business Page successfully and can share their knowledge, please begin a discussion here in the comments or on the Masterful Marketing Business Page in the discussion tab so we can all benefit from your experiences!