How to Create a Business-friendly Facebook Profile
Many folks tend to use their Facebook accounts either for personal or business use, not both. However, those of us in a one-person business can find it effective to combine the two, with a little help from Facebook’s privacy features.
To draw the line between personal and business use, I assign a Limited Profile setting to business contacts to control what they can see in my profile, and bear in mind Nancy’s advice about using social media: “What you get from me online is 100 percent me…but you don’t get 100 percent of me.” When I do anything in Facebook, I remember that a prospect or client might see it, even if they shouldn’t have access to it. You just never know what spills over.
Let’s get to work on creating an effective profile for business and personal use.
- Use your full name. Mine says “Meryl Kaplan Evans” because some people knew me before I married and I used that name in my earlier writing gigs. If you’ve used other names, try to fit them in somewhere logical, such as your “Info” tab.
- Fill out your profile as completely as possible. The profile has four sections: “Basic,” “Personal,” “Contact” and “Education and Work.” Fill out the information as completely as you can, but think about a potential client reading the details. Do you want the client to know that about you?
- Choose the right profile photo. If you have a professional photo, use that. If not, pick a photo that captures you wearing the clothes that fit your style or what you would wear for a typical business meeting. Don’t try to be too dressy or too casual. You can post other photos of yourself under the “Photos” tab and assign privacy settings on a per-album basis.
- Link to your blog. Facebook has several Applications that can import your blog entries into Facebook. I use Networked Blogs. It’s a great way to find readers of your blog’s content. My local friends never read my blog until I connected it to Facebook.
- Think twice about linking to Twitter. Originally, I had all my Twitter tweets feeding into Facebook status updates. But then I took it out and now only send relevant tweets to Facebook using Selective Tweets. All I need to do is add the hashtag “#fb” to a tweet and Facebook posts it on my wall. People who don’t use any other social media application (like Mom and long-time friends) will feel confused and overwhelmed by your tweets especially if you use Twitter on a daily basis.
- Put your most important business information on your profile home page. This is the paragraph that appears below your profile photo. What is the most important thing you want potential clients to know about you? What do they get out of working with you? Mention your industry, client type or other information to give people a hint. (See #6 in Profile Info screenshot, above)
Privacy Settings for Profile
- Use appropriate privacy settings for your profile information. Some people have their profile settings so high that when someone searches for them, they only see a name. Well, you might not be the only one with that name in the world, which makes it harder for people to tell if they have the right person. I open my profile photos and “Education and Work” to everyone. This helps searchers know if they have the right person while letting them know what I do.
- Take advantage of privacy settings to limit access on a per-user basis. If I don’t know someone very well or only on a professional level, I give them a “Limited Profile” assignment. Those with this assignment can only see the parts of my profile that I open to them. You can also control who can view each photo album. For more personal photo albums, I customized the privacy settings to “My friends except for those on the Limited Profile list.” (See Privacy Settings screenshot.)
Profile Info
Still not sold on Facebook for business? We list 32 ways to use Facebook for business. You can also check out our tips for making a Facebook page for your business.
What tips do you have for a business Facebook profile?
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So where does one set up the limited access for certain “friends”? I can’t find that in the new privacy settings.
Well i totally agree with your point. If a business man create a business profile on facebook so it should be like you describes above. Thanks for Sharing Nice info :)
Good post. A good summary of the best approach to mixing business with pleasure on Facebook.
Great post, Meryl!
“my Twitter tweets feeding into Facebook status updates” – I am so glad you decided against this. I find it better to be selective about what you put into Facebook.
“You just never know what spills over” – yes, too true!
I decided to use the Fan page to my blog as my business side of Facebook. Facebook is a lot more complex than Twitter because of all the varied settings and the ways one can manipulate a page (ex. with FBML). Thanks for some clarification on ways to use it for business.
Kevin, when you “add a friend,” there’s a drop down next to “Add to List.” Here’s the screen shot to help you:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n292/merylke/FB_add_friend.gif
Thank you, Sherrilynne and Leora. Leora — yes, FB is more varied than Twitter and even LinkedIn. But it’s a good thing because people who don’t use social media tend to be on Facebook, so it’s a good way to reach potential business clients. Hence, I think more and more of us will use it for both and the complex settings makes it possible … once you figure it out.
Thanks so much for the information – a very simple and lucid language. Unfortunately FB settings do not work to the best effect. If for instance you use an application and you would not want a certain list to see this – they still get the posts. This is really sad part.Add to this there is no email id provided of FB where you can register / bring to their notice the feedback /complain
Great ideas! I’d add that depending on the view you want to show off, you may want to consider creating a Facebook fan page (if you’re an artist, politician, or other brand) in addition to the profile. For instance, there are some people I’d like to engage with as a businessman but who I don’t want to be profile friends with; in this case, I point them to fan me at http://facebook.com/ahassociates.
Excellent point, Ari. Not all of us have Pages, but this works great for those who do.
nice write up, especially the idea of maximizing what FB already has in store for you…keep it professional and the people will come.
Ok I can’t get “limited profile” to work either. When I click on “add to list” next to a friend it says “you have no lists”. Am I not seeing it becuase I am testing it on current friends vs a new friend request?
Just an update… after reading a bit on facebooks FAQ I think the reason I don’t have a “limited profile” option is becuase I didn’t have anyone set to limited profile before the whole privacy settings migration. It says if you had any users in “limited profile” before the new privacy settings, they would be migrated to a friends list titled “limited profile”. It appears that on the flipside if you had no one assigned to limited profile, then you just get an empty friends lists section.
I guess now I can just create a friend list named whatever I want and use the security settings to make it a limited profile. Does anyone know if people in one of these friends lists you create can see all your friends who have not been assigned to lists? It sounds like after their whole security fiasco there will be no way to hide that.