Should I Separate My Personal Facebook Account From Business Account?
When people join Facebook, they are limited to creating one account per email address. It is actually against their terms of use to create more than one personal account.
When people join Facebook,
they are limited to creating one account per email address. It is actually against their terms of use to create more than one personal account. This prompts plenty of people to use their personal account for business purposes. It is best for you to avoid doing this.
This is a very common situation when people start a business after establishing a personal account. However, like in real life, you would not want to mix your real friends with your business associates and customers. You would not want the latter seeing pictures of you drinking and hanging out with your friends would you?
Whenever you run a business, you will want to share periodic news with your customers and prospects. It is best not to send these messages to people who are not interested in them. Your real-life friends likely will not be interested in buying your products and services.
One of the simplest ways to deal with this problem is to create a friend list with your Facebook account. You can separate friends into lists based on how you met them. All of your clients and prospects should be kept on a separate list from your real friends.
If your real name also functions as your brand, then you will want to limit how people can find you on Facebook. You would not want people interested in your business to find your personal account. Facebook gives you the ability to change your search privacy settings so people will not find your personal account when conducting a search.
As mentioned earlier, you are not allowed to have multiple personal accounts. Facebook also prevents you from establishing an account with a business name. You can get around this by setting up a business page and linking it to your personal account.
This functions much like having a separate Facebook account. The main difference is you will not be able to interact with people unless they navigate to your page. You will not be able to read people's news feeds and the like. This is still a better option than trying to create separate accounts. Plenty of people have had their accounts shut down without warning for violating the terms of service.
If you want to use Facebook to promote your business, then it is best that you separate your personal and business lives. At the very least, you will want to keep everyone on separate lists. You should also consider setting up a fan page for your business and linking it to your personal account.
