We are starting to work on our FB strategies at our company and I’m considering a new profile for my “professional life” versus my personal profile. I know that FB is changing things so you can segment who you want to see your posts but to eliminate any chance of mistakes, is a second profile a good idea?

(Note: Because you are marketers, I know you’ll ask, so “yes” I do have a strategy on how I’d use my “professional profile” and the things I’d post about. I just don’t want to post that I geeked out and saw the new Breaking Dawn movie or I found a great deal on scrapbooking supplies (or shoes) to my network of business professionals)

Your thoughts?

Hi Samantha,

Thank you for your comments. Good to know I’m not alone in my thoughts. You and I are taking the same approach. 

Now that we are managing our new Facebook Fan Page by committee, it looks bad that the Director of Marketing (Me) is completely private and not searchable.

Great question @christytapia!  I love the new easy segmenting that Facebook has so you can post to certain lists.  I opened up the subscribe feature and so now I have a lot of public posts but also am able to share pictures of my kids with just friends or certain lists.  

But I do know several people who have public and personal profiles to make the separation more distinct.  But I think it’s harder to maintain in the long run.

From the very beginning I managed 2 accounts and my #1 reason was this: I NEVER EVER want to post something onto an account/page I manage that is personal.  I use a lot of content management apps an mobile devices when I am “in the field” and I’m updating statuses.  I want to have to purposely sign into my professional account.

That said, managing two accounts can be irksome at times.  Keeping content on both isn’t so super easy, but I don’t feel obligated to post on either account daily, only when there’s truly something worth sharing.  The worst part is linking your other social networks, you have to select one facebook account to link to your twitter, tumblr, linked in and so on…

Plus unless facebook has changed the rules, you’re only allowed to have ONE facebook account…. but I won’t tell if you don’t.

Hey Folks,

I have a personal profile on FB and a Business Page, and while I have lots of business connections want to “friend” me on my personal profile, I encourage people to use my fan page for that. I’m not going to worry overmuch about it, though, until I reach the 5,000 friends limitation.  My updates for the personal are more, well, personal–but I don’t lock it down (except for really personal info), because I want to be accessible.

In answering @albuquerquesbdc question, yes, Kristin, it is against FB policy to have a business page as a personal profile, so you run the risk that if they catch you, they might shut you down. You really should read the FB rules on that and stay within them. It would be a pain to lose all your friend connections and have to start over. Here’s a Facebook link that explains the difference.

I sympathize with the effort it takes to keep up with changes–especially when it seems FB changes every Tuesday!

If the SBDC doesn’t have a LinkedIn profile, it should. You can now set up LinkedIn Company Pages, and I would definitely have a personal LI profile as well. You’ll find the business community (especially C-Level and business owners) will use it even more than FB in many cases, especially with the fear of FB privacy issues.

Hope that helps.

Good morning everyone!

I keep two pages on Facebook. One for personal use and one for my company. I share completely different issues on each page. On my professional page, I post things that others may find interesting on the business arena or I am sharing my views or I make announcements important regarding my company.

My personal page is about my friends, my family, funny videos, etc. Ofcourse there are people in common between my personal and professional page.

To answer Christy’s question, I feel that in your case you should have just one Facebook profile. I feel that there is no reason to maintain two pages, because in your situation would be just time consuming.

This is one of the reasons I’m attracted to Google+, since you can choose who sees what. I don’t publish my FB info on my site (though I do publish my Twitter account: @cansail). And I only accept friends who I actually know, but that’s definitely restricting who I interact with.

There’s no way I would want to manage more than a personal account and a business page on facebook.. and for me.. if who I am personally bothers people professionally.. then there’s a good chance we aren’t going to be very compatible doing business together.
I’m always careful about “personally private” things.. I don’t air my “dirty laundry” in the open.. and I’m usually careful in response or posts not to create an embarrassing situation.. and again.. for me that’s all I really worry about.
I’m not afraid to say it like I see it anywhere online.. and if that causes a conflict with people who might want to deal with me otherwise.. well.. it’s business I’d rather do without.
But then.. I’m very careful in what I say all the time!It’s just a matter of common sense for me not to say something that might reflect badly on my business.
I won’t post personal things on my business page tho. That’s just a nono.. 
But if people ever want to look me up.. there I am

I run two profiles (one personal and one professional) on facebook. I am responsible for the Facebook Pages for all of our programs so I did not want to have such pages linked to my personal account. I have high security settings on both accounts but I agree that there are just certain things that I don’t want linked to my personal profile.

That is correct, @snouraini – again, it’s one of those things that I think Facebook will never catch up with because of the sheer volume of people.  But it’s best to keep to their terms.  

I also have two accounts for Facebook.  When I created the profile for work, I didn’t realize at the time about Facebook’s policy.  Am now looking into changing the pages I created for work to my personal account, so I can keep track without logging in/logging out in the different accounts! 

Would like to learn more information about Facebook’s list and how to post certain content to specific people. 

@lesliecoty I like how you refer professional associates to your LinkedIn account.  Will have to copy that model.

My theory is that social media is removing the distinction between personal and career interests.  I find the transparency refreshing.

Having said that, I do use Facebook lists to segregate family posts from professional topics. 

Great question.  Thanks for getting us talking.

@christytapia – Someone may have already mentioned this above, but I think it’s a mistake I see repeatedly so I thought I’d share a comment. “Profiles/Accounts” are different from “Pages” and if I understand your inital question you were talking about creating two “Profiles/Accounts” – one to use for business and one to use for personal. The problem with that idea is it violates Facebook’s Terms -

[Sec. #4, Registration and Account Security, (2) You will not create more than one personal profile.]

Multiple Profiles for one person are not allowed for any reason – including for business. I can see why Facebook wouldn’t want people creating multiple accounts, but I can see your hesitation too.

One solution may be to create a Facebook Page to brand you as a ”professional” and to use that for your business marketing needs and to keep your personal Profile/Account activities on Facebook separate by tightening your privacy settings.

I’ve seen duplicate Profiles/Accounts deleted without notice and therefore access to the Facebook Page lost when those Profiles were used to admin a Facebook Page.

- Hope this helps! Kristina

Here are answers to related FAQs in case you find these helpful too:

• Can multiple people use the same account to administer a Page?

• What is the difference between a business account and a personal account?

Being a web developer and having set up social media for numerous clients, including FB pages, I’ve found that most people still don’t understand the difference between FB personal profiles and public pages.  So, if you want people to see your business content/message, then keep it simple and minimize barriers.

The biggest reason for keeping them separate and using only FB pages for your business is that people do not have to “friend” you to see your content.  Pages are public to anyone simply by clicking on a link that you put on your website.  That is huge. 

Oh, and by the way, I, too, love the new way you can decide who sees your personal profile posts, but I draw the line in friending business clients.

Originally I did have 2 separate profiles, but now I have a single profile, plus 3 separate business Pages. It seems to work for me.

With the new Subscribe feature Facebook is trying to address this. Look for a Post to Subscribers only feature soon as TechCrunch has done some good stuff on why this matters a lot.

The fact you can now embed this button on your site the way before you only could for Liking a Page is a game changer.

My other tip would be forget Pages for a moment and start a Group! The notifications and interactions compared to the size are CRUSHING Pages right now. 

@timsouthernwood good response, Tim @christytapia I have a personal page and a place page for my business. Thing is I am spending so much time everywhere (including here on SME) that my business one is neglected. I, too, don’t say anything in private that I wouldn’t say in public. I’m just me.

I have a personal profile and professional page on FB and I find it easy to maintain both. I post a few things on my page that connects me to my clients and fans as a person and not a company; however, for the most part I keep my personal information and posts private because I prefer it that way.

I have thought about this often as well. I started my Facebook account back in 2005 when it was college emails only. I’ve always only used it for catching up with friends, who can be very unprofessional at times. So it’s not so much that I’m worried about what I post, I’m worried about what they post on my wall.

I have tried Facebook’s “lists” but it’s so hard to remember to change the privacy settings every time you post. That’s why I LOVE Google Plus, but it’s so hard to find people to connect with on there. 

I would use LinkedIn as a professional profile, but in my opinion LinkedIn isn’t social enough. Too many people promoting their services, not enough connecting on a personal level. That’s why Facebook is so great – you can really find a balance between professional and social. 

Hmm.