Will Facebook take your profile down?

A worrying number of organisations in Yorkshire and Humber are using personal profiles for their Facebook presence. Why is this worrying? In short, because profiles are for individual people only and Facebook can (and have) taken down the profile of organisations doing this without any warning at all. For some, this could be a disaster. So what can you do about it?

Why are organisations using personal profiles on Facebook?

1. Lack of understanding.
Most organisations are not run by teenagers who are hardwired to understand the likes of Facebook, and so you set up a personal profile for your organisation in error. 

2. Facebook is all about Friends - isn't it?
The term 'Friends' has become synonymous with Facebook and so you think it is all about collecting Friends - and that is understandable, but limiting.

Either way, you need to understand that you are violating Facebook’s T&C’s. As a result, Facebook can suspend your profile with immediate effect (and with no notice) which means that your organisation loses all your fanbase and the work that you have put into it over months or years. 

Clearly this is a concern, and so it should be. Although there are plenty of organisations out there doing this, Facebook take down these sort of profiles every day. Don't assume that you are safe just because others are making the same mistake. It could be costly.

So what do you do about it, and what are the benefits of having a page anyway?

There’s plenty already written about the many benefits of a Facebook page, including:

1. Facebook advertising – you need a page to do advertising on Facebook, it’s growing in popularity and is a very useful tool to have in the marketing toolbag for most businesses.
2. Insights & analytics – why are you using Facebook (or any other social media site for that matter) if you’re not tracking the success and impact, or otherwise, of what you are doing?
3. Added functionality – you can offer a better user experience by adding plugins/apps to your page such as surveys,
4. Multiple admin function – for many businesses you have a team operating the page.
5. Welcome tab – you can make your page have the same look and feel as your website which offers a seamless online experience & a welcoming effect.

These are just some of the potential uses of a page. The Add a Friend programme goes into detail on how you can use Facebook effectively. 

So how do you convert your profile into a page?

Click here to read more about pages and how to convert your profile to a page.
- your ‘friends’ will become ‘likes’
- your profile picture(s) will be carried over
- your content will be LOST so be sure to download a file of anything important as you’ll have to build the content up by scratch

Don’t risk Facebook closing you down and undoing all your hard work – convert now and reduce the risk to your organisation.

With thanks to Jan Minihane for the original info.