Wanting to get your business onto Facebook is seldom a mistake ... however, how you set yourself up on Facebook can be a big mistake and could lead to a real future issue for you.

Very few people understand enough about the different types of formats available within Facebook and what the difference is between them.  Understanding what works best for your business and how or even why eludes many more.  Below is a brief description of what you should be looking out for

Personal Pages - the Facebook Terms and Conditions explicity describe these pages as being for individuals, but we could name you hundreds ... if not thousands of personal pages which have been set up by businesses.  Mainly this has been done in error or in ignorance.  Currently Facebook is not enforcing the T&C's on this but as increasing numbers of businesses legitimately set up complain about the inequality the risk is large that Facebook may find that they have to take action.  The risk then is that businesses who have set up personal pages for their business could lose their page and all their 'likes'!  Is that a risk you are willing to take?  Another important factor is that personal pages are not permitted more than 5000 likes and may not advertise on Facebook ... for some businesses this is a problem.

Businesses Pages - these can be set up in different sectors with identifying categories, placing your business in the correct category can make a difference in how you are seen or perceived.  Business Pages obviously do not have the same restrictions of Personal Pages in terms of number of likes and they may promote themselves and advertise on Facebook.  However, Business Pages do have the disadvantage that they cannot like other pages (you can add a page as one of your favourites) and cannot ask people to be their friend relying on promotion and personal recommendations.

Groups - these pages have improved significantly and are very useful for various forms of business but not ideal for all of them and tend to be more community pages rather than being suitable for businesses.

There are a number of additional factors to take into consideration when setting up a Facebook Page dependent on your business and audience.

If all of this sounds too confusing, don't let it stop you putting your business onto Facebook, it can account for up to 30% of your web traffic when correctly integrated, that's a number too large to ignore.  See our Facebook Startup offer designed to take care of all of the above and deliver a solution to you all from €50.

Not sure you should be on Facebook? Read our article about why you should consider it. 

 Testimonial : Leaping Ahead´s suggestion that I use Facebook to advertise my fledgling business has proved to be very good advice. Dot opened an account and set up the business page (something I would have really struggled to do) and in just over 2 months I was getting 1,500 average daily views, and now, a few months on, have over 300 who like the page.
These are people who have chosen to receive my updates and actually read what is put up (unlike email where it would be junked).  So, in terms of efficiently reaching my target market, getting on Facebook is definitely something I recommend to businesses. - January 2011 - Portuguese Language Lessons.