To those that use Facebook on a regular basis it might seem like a no-brainer but to others that are just starting to market their business online it is an important question:

What is best for my business; a Facebook Profile, a Facebook Page or a Facebook Group?

There are different answers to this question depending on your online and business strategy.

For some the right answer might even be to use a combination of two or all of the options.

Let me explain what I call

The Three Faces Of Facebook

Facebook Profiles are reserved for your private conversations. You can set the privacy of your posts to “public” but in general only those people you have connected with via a “friend request” can see and interact with you on your profile. Because these pages are designed for private conversations, search engines do not index the content.

Actually Facebook’s Terms Of Service specify that profiles are not to be used to promote your business or cause. For various reasons marketers have ignored this and a number of them have had their profiles suspended. This does not mean that there are not some that get away with it but losing the contacts and community you built up over a long time can be devastating to a business. I continue to discourage most business owners from using a Facebook Profile. I find it totally ok to share some of your outstanding posts from your page to your profile for your friends but that should not be your primary focus.

Facebook Groups have developed into an important tool to nurture an existing following or even use them in place of private forums. I have published several posts about groups on my blog

Groups can be public, by invitation or even secret. As with profiles, groups are used only for communication with registered members.
Choose groups for exclusive content and to nurture your brand ambassadors. Facebook Groups are also great places to create dedicated focus groups where you can ask questions or test a new program.
Because of the private nature of groups the content is not indexed by search engines.

The first choice for promoting your business is always the Facebook Page, also called “Fan Page”or “Brand Page” or “Like Page”because you subscribe to a page by “liking it”.

Facebook Pages are great for promoting your business or cause:

1. The content is public and searchable with Google or other search engines
2. All internet users can find and access your content even from outside of Facebook
3. You can (and should) make you content more visible by paying Facebook to show it to a broader audience you can define
4. Facebook specifically allows you to use your Facebook Page to promote your business or cause

Do you use Facebook for Business? Please share your experience in the comments. (1 link only please)

Featured image licensed at Depositphotos