With over 3 billion users, Facebook can be an excellent place for businesses to market their products or services. While individuals start on Facebook by creating a profile, businesses and organizations should create a page. For businesses getting started on Facebook, it can be confusing to hear that they need to open a Facebook page and not a profile.

In this article, we will guide you on everything you need to know about having a Facebook profile, page, and group, including how to make a page look like a profile.

Differences Between a Facebook Page and a Profile

To create a Facebook page using your account, you should go to profiles and choose Use Facebook as a Page. Even though pages and profiles may look similar, they have some key differences. These include:

• A Facebook page allows you to add more than one administrator. To do that, go to your page. On the left navigation menu, click on Edit Page> Manage Admin. When you add new admins, they will be able to log in using their profiles instead of yours.
• You can choose to show a particular photo from your wall photo strip. However, you cannot select the photo to appear here. Facebook randomly chooses one.
• People can add you as a friend in a profile, but they can only like your page.
• Your page can be like other pages, but you cannot add individuals' profiles. Those who like your page are considered fans.
• You can decide which page you want to appear on the homepage.
• You can go to Insights to view the statistics of your fans or posts.
• You can send a message to the people who like your page. To do that, visit the marketing page and Send An Update.
• After getting 25 people to like your page, you are assigned a personalized URL.

Differences Between a Facebook Page and a Group

There are two categories of accounts that often confuse people: pages and groups. Many are unsure if they should open a Facebook group or a page, especially when they want to monetize their Facebook account.

Facebook Page

A Facebook page is an excellent option to share personal information. However, a Facebook group can be a good option for creating a place for people to connect. That said, here are a few differences between the two:

A Facebook page is designed to enable businesses to share stories with customers and connect with people. The goal of a page is usually to build a following and to communicate with people interested in what you are doing. This enables you to share your business news and updates with your followers.

For example, in a personal profile, your fans can comment, like, and even share your posts. Once your fans like your page, they will see your posts on their feed. A Facebook page can be a good option for:

• Businesses or organizations that need to use Facebook to post updates.
• Companies or individuals who want to produce their content.
• Creating an official social media presence.
• Creating Facebook ads. You can read our guide on setting up Facebook ads.

Public figures often use Facebook pages to share their updates. These may range from politicians to musicians, youtubers, comedians, and more. 

How to Create a Facebook Page

Here are the steps you need to follow when creating a Facebook page:

1. Go to Facebok.com/create/Page. If you are creating a page for your business, it is advisable to stick to the official business name so potential customers can easily find your products or services. If you are creating a page as an artist, content creator, or politician, go with your name.
2. Choose the kind of business you want to create a page for.
3. Enter the business page and category. You don't have to overthink the category that best fits your business. Facebook has many categories, so you can type a keyword to find one that easily matches your business. After that, click on Get Started.
4. Add a cover photo and a profile picture representing your business. The profile picture can be your logo or any other image that can help users quickly identify your business. You can be more creative with your cover photo. For instance, you can use texts, events, or promotions.
5. Fill out the About Page of your business and click on Save Info. Add your business address, telephone number, and email address. You can also include a web page where your fans can visit if they want to find out more or shop.
6. Publish your group, or it will not be visible even when people search for it.
7. Send an invitation to your friends to follow your page. Without people liking your page, nobody will be able to view it.
8. Start creating updates for your page. Create different types of content, such as posts, videos, and business updates.
9. Use ads to reach your potential customers. You can read our Facebook advertising guide in 2024.
10. Monitor insight data to track the performance of your business.
11. Ensure that your page remains engaging and updated to attract more customers.

Facebook Group

A Facebook group is designed to help people with a common interest to connect. They create a place for people to connect, ask questions, discuss issues, and share ideas and information. There are different categories of groups, such as closed or open. Unlike a page where only the admin can post, all members of the Facebook group can post as long as the admin approves their posts.

A Facebook group can have more than one admin. The admin's role is to moderate members' posts and ensure all rules are followed as needed. A Facebook group is a good option when:

• You have a community with knowledge that you want them to share.
• Plan to be the facilitator of the discussion between community members.
• Create an online space for your community with you as the host.

How to Create a Facebook Group

Here are the steps to follow when creating a Facebook page. These are:

• Go to Facebook.com/groups and click on Create Group.
• Add a business name and description, and adjust the privacy settings.
• Add a profile picture and a cover photo for your group.
• Invite friends to join your group.
• Start posting in your group.
• Advertise your group to reach potential community members.
• Track the performance of your group by looking at the community insights.
• Ensure that the group remains active to bring in new members

Should You Use a Facebook Page or Group to Reach New Members?

Running ads on Facebook pages and groups are different. Here are some of the key differences:

• Reach. A Facebook page can reach a bigger audience than a group. 
• Budget. Advertising a Facebook page is more expensive than advertising a group.
• Targeting. You can get more targeting options with a Facebook page than a Facebook group.
• Engagement rate. Facebook groups often have a higher engagement than a Facebook page.
• Conversion rate. The conversion rate of a Facebook page is usually lower than that of a group. That means even though you will reach a bigger audience with a Facebook page, the conversion rate will be lower.

Tips for Keeping Your Personal Profile and Business Page Straight

To avoid breaking the Facebook policy, follow these guidelines when creating a Facebook page using your profile:

1. Do not use a personal profile or create a new one for commercial purposes. This is against Facebook policies and may cause the banning of your account. 
2. Ensure that your Facebook page is linked to a profile. However, all the activities, posts, photos, and video updates should be separate. Any information on your profile will not be shared on your page and vice versa. That's unless you share it yourself. The people who like your page cannot see the profile linked to other pages.
3. While it's possible to adjust the settings to determine who sees your personal Facebook account, a Facebook page is usually public; therefore, everyone can visit it. However, you can control the visibility of Facebook page posts using methods such as age, gender, and location. You can also control the type of comments visitors to your page leave to prevent profanity.
4. While you can only have one Facebook profile tied to your name, multiple persons can contribute to a business page.
5. It's essential to be keen on what account you use every time so you don’t confuse your followers and leave eggs in your face. For instance, if you want to share a post from your page on your profile, be sure you are doing it from your account and not while logged into the page. You can see the name you are logged into on the right side of the search bar. 
6. When accessing your personal profile or business page from a mobile device, you should consider downloading the Meta Business Suite to make it easier to manage your pages.

Can You Convert a Facebook Profile Into a Page?

There was a time when Facebook allowed users to convert their profiles into pages. All they needed to do was generate a page from the information they were using in their profile. By doing that, they automatically converted their friends into fans on their pages. However, Facebook discontinued this option. Therefore, the only option today is to create a new Facebook page.

How to Get People to Like Your Page

Starting a business page from scratch can be intimidating. However, you don’t have to worry; there are some tips you can use to get your business page in front of your fans. These are:

Invite friends to like your page

As noted earlier, the first place to start growing your following is through your friends. Facebook allows you to invite your friends to like your page. All your friends will be notified that you have invited them, and they will accept or ignore the invite.

Make your page easy to find

You should ensure that your Facebook page is well-optimized so people can find it easily. Here are a few tips you can use to improve the visibility of your Facebook page: 

• Add all necessary information such as the website URL.
• Use the right image for your cover photo and profile picture. These should represent your brand.
• Ensure that the page is published.

Cross-promote on other platforms

No marketing method exists in a vacuum, so you must create a comprehensive Facebook marketing strategy. You can cross-promote your page across social media channels like TikTok and Instagram. This can help drive traffic from other platforms to your Facebook page, especially if you already have a dedicated following. You can go through our guide on how to link Facebook with Instagram.

Create helpful content

While the goal of your Facebook page is probably to promote your products and services, you don’t have to bombard your followers with promotional posts. You will bore them, and they will easily unfollow your page. Instead, a good idea would be to create helpful or exciting content. For instance, if you sell makeup products, you can share tips on applying makeup with them. That way, they will turn into real fans.

Interact with your followers

Another great way to grow your page is by ensuring you interact with your followers. Again, join the relevant Facebook groups in your niche and share helpful information.

Can You Convert a Facebook Page Into a Profile?

Unfortunately, converting your Facebook page into a profile is impossible. If you have already created a following on your page and would like to turn it into a profile, the only option available would be to start a new page. You can then manually transfer the page's content or recreate the posts. 

Here are the steps you need to follow when converting a page into a profile: 

• Create a personal profile. If you don’t have one, sign up on the Facebook homepage using your name and phone number.
• Download your page content. You can easily download all the content on your page, including page info, videos, posts, and photos. To do that, click on settings at the top right corner and then navigate to General. You can then search for the Download Page Option.
• Transfer content manually. There isn't an automated way of transferring content from the page to the personal profile; you will need to rebuild your profile afresh. For the videos and photos, you should upload them manually.
• Inform followers. You will need to inform your followers that your page has moved. You can do that by posting on your old page. You can then request that they add you as a friend.
• Update business information. Add your business information to the new page if it is a business page. You can include your work information in the new page.
• You can now delete your Facebook page.

Remember that it's against Facebook's policy to use a personal profile as a business page.

Can You Make Your Facebook Page Look Like a Profile?

Unfortunately, there is no way to make your Facebook page look like a profile. As noted earlier, Facebook profiles are meant for individuals, while pages are meant for organizations, businesses, and public figures. Therefore, the only option available is to create a new Facebook page.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the difference between a Facebook profile, page, and group can help you avoid getting penalized by Google. Besides, you can use each of them to grow your brand. You can successfully market your products or services by reading our detailed guide on each of them.