Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. On Facebook, users can connect with friends and family, join groups, follow brands and public figures, share photos and videos, and more. There are two main ways that people use Facebook – through a personal Facebook account or through a Facebook page.
Facebook Account
A Facebook account is a personal profile intended for an individual user. With a Facebook account, you can:
- Connect with friends and family – Send friend requests, see updates from your connections, share photos, message individuals privately.
- Share personal updates – Post status updates, photos, videos, and more that will show up in your connections’ News Feeds.
- Join groups – Search for and join interest-based groups to connect with people who share your hobbies, causes, profession, etc.
- Follow pages – Like and follow public figure profiles, businesses, brands, organizations, etc. to see their public updates.
- Use Facebook services – Take advantage of features like Facebook Watch, Facebook Dating, Facebook Marketplace, and more using your personal profile.
Key features of a personal Facebook account:
- Real name identity – Facebook requires users to sign up with their real first and last name.
- Personal profile – Account is centered around info about you as an individual user.
- Friend connections – Ability to send/accept friend requests to connect with other individual users.
- News Feed – See updates from friends, groups, and pages you follow in a personalized feed.
- Privacy settings – Control who can see your info/posts and who can contact you.
Facebook Page
A Facebook page is a public profile that enables businesses, brands, organizations, public figures, artists, and other entities to establish an official presence on Facebook. With a Facebook page, you can:
- Share public updates – Post public updates that all of your page followers can see in their News Feeds.
- Run ads – Create and manage Facebook ads to promote your business or brand.
- Gain followers – Instead of “friends,” pages gain “fans” or “followers” who like or follow the page to get updates.
- Share multimedia – Post photos, videos, Stories, live videos, and more to engage your audience.
- Sell products – Set up a Facebook Shop on your page to allow buying directly on Facebook.
Key features of a Facebook page:
- Represents a business/brand/org – Pages are meant for entities, not individual users.
- Public figure or brand profile – Info represents an organization, not a person.
- Followers, not friends – Users “like” or “follow” a page to get updates in their feed.
- Analytics and promotion – Track page growth and run advertising campaigns.
- Public access – Anyone on Facebook can view and interact with a page’s content.
Comparing Key Features
While both Facebook accounts and pages enable you to post multimedia, connect with others, and share updates, there are some notable differences between how each one functions.
| Feature | Facebook Account | Facebook Page |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Personal profile for an individual user to connect with friends/family. | Public presence for businesses, brands, organizations, public figures, artists, etc. |
| Identity | Uses your real first and last name. | Represents a company, organization, brand, etc. Can be the official name. |
| Privacy | Private profile and posts – controls who can see content. | Public page open to all Facebook users to view, like, and follow. |
| Connections | “Friends” who you allow to connect with you. | “Followers” who like your page to see public updates. |
| Content | Personal updates, photos, etc. about your individual life. | Updates, multimedia, products/services related to your business/brand. |
| Profiles | Main news feed profile shows content from friends. | Separately managed page profile shows only your page’s posts. |
| Features | Standard Facebook account features like events, games, stories, etc. | Additional page-only features like analytics, promotions, shop integration, etc. |
Reasons to Create a Facebook Page
Here are some of the main reasons that an individual, business, or organization would want to create a dedicated Facebook page:
- Establish brand presence – Creating a page allows you to claim your brand name on Facebook and post content that introduces and represents your brand to Facebook users.
- Increase visibility – Pages appear in Facebook search results, allowing new users who are looking for your business to discover and follow your page.
- Generate leads – The calls-to-action and lead generation tools available on Facebook pages make it easy to collect leads and build an audience.
- Drive sales – You can promote products, run ads, and even set up a shop on your page to drive direct Facebook sales.
- Share multimedia content – Pages support all types of engaging Facebook content – videos, Stories, live videos, carousels – that capture attention.
- Connect with your audience – Share updates, respond to messages and comments, and interact with your followers to build relationships.
- Manage reputation – Maintain control over your brand’s reputation by publishing your own content and monitoring/responding to comments.
Benefits for Personal Public Figures
Even individual public figures like artists, authors, content creators, influencers, and more can benefit from having a separate Facebook page just for their “brand” presence. Benefits include:
- Keeping personal and professional content separate
- Connecting directly with fans instead of just friends/family
- Building a subscriber list and audience
- Driving traffic to your website or online profiles
- Promoting your work, events, announcements, offers, etc.
- Measuring your page growth and engagement
Reasons to Maintain a Personal Account
Despite the advantages of creating a page, here are some reasons that individuals may want to keep using a personal account instead of or in addition to a page:
- Separate personal and professional presences – Keep personal connections and updates private while publicly representing your brand.
- Maintain friend connections – A personal profile makes it easy to stay in touch and share memories with close friends.
- Join groups and networks – Individual users can join groups based on personal interests and connect through mutual friends.
- Use Facebook services – Take advantage of Facebook’s social apps, games, dating service, and marketplace as an individual.
- Control privacy – Share life updates more selectively rather than publicly posting about your personal life.
Drawbacks of Using Only a Page
Relying entirely on a Facebook page instead of also having a personal account has some potential drawbacks:
- Missing personal updates and events from close connections
- Losing access to groups and networks
- Restricted use of Facebook services designed for individual accounts
- Less privacy and control over sharing personal vs. professional life
- Potential isolation from personal connections and interactions
Best Practices
When using both a personal Facebook account and a page, keep these best practices in mind:
- Separate profiles – Maintain separate profiles for your individual account and brand page to avoid blending personal and professional content.
- Consistent branding – Make sure your page username, profile image, cover photo, and bio align with your overall brand identity.
- Engage audiences – Actively post content on your page and engage with any comments and questions from followers.
- Cross-promote – Share your page link with your personal connections and invite them to like your page.
- Link accounts – You can add your Facebook page as a “managed account” on your personal profile for easy switching.
- Monitor notifications – Check notifications for both accounts regularly so you don’t miss comments and messages.
What to Post on Each Account
When in doubt about what types of content to share on your personal profile versus your public page, here are some best practices:
Personal account:
- Personal updates, thoughts, opinions
- Photos with friends and family
- Life milestones and announcements
- Personal interests, hobbies, humor
- Interactions with friends
Facebook page:
- Industry news, company updates, launches
- Professional accomplishments
- Promotions, sales, special offers
- Upcoming events and registrations
- Content and multimedia related to your brand
Conclusion
Facebook accounts and Facebook pages can serve complementary purposes. A personal account enables you to connect with close friends and networks, while a public page allows you to grow your professional or business presence and connect with a wider audience of followers.
The best approach is often to maintain both a personalized profile for private sharing as well as a public page for promoting your brand, products, services, events, and reputation. However, always keeping the two accounts separate by posting different types of content on each one.
With over 2.5 billion users, Facebook is too popular of a platform not to take advantage of. Having both a personal account and a page makes it possible for any individual, public figure, or organization to maximize their reach, engagement, and results on social media’s most ubiquitous network.