APCUG Reports
April-June 2011

Why Have a Facebook Page?

• A personal PROFILE page is where YOU post about different things or put photos of your pets, family, house, etc. Facebook rules and regulations state that only individuals can have a Profile page.
• If a business or organization wants to be on Facebook to promote their organization, they create a public FAN page. It used to be that someone became a FAN of a page. In 2010, Facebook decided that we should LIKE a page as opposed to being a fan.
• Public officials, causes and celebrities can also participate in Facebook via a Fan page.

You may be saying “but my organization already has a website and isn’t this social media stuff just a flash in the pan?” If you use it right, a Facebook Fan page can bring:

• New people to your website and organization
• People who can help grow your organization and keep it going
• People that you are probably not reaching now

As far as a flash in the pan, while you could have had that argument as recently as January 2010, today, people will look at you as if you have two heads if you try to make that argument. If you really want to still make that argument, well, pull out your manual typewriter and start writing.

A Facebook Page is different from your personal Profile page in several ways.

1. With a personal Profile page, you have to approve each person who wants to be your friend. On a Fan page, anyone can Like your page or become a fan of it. You don’t have to approve each one.
2. People can post and comment on your Fan Page and the posts and comments won’t appear on your Profile page.
3. You can put photos related to your organization on a Fan Page and keep them separate from your Profile page.
4. Where you are the only one managing your Profile page, you are known as an Administrator of a Fan Page, or in Facebook lingo as an Admin. You can and should have multiple Admins to help spread the work around.
5. You can have a Discussion Board on a Fan page, but you can’t do that on a Profile page.
6. Where 5,000 friends is the limit you can have on a Profile page, there is no limit to how many people can Like your Page.

How to Get Started

Facebook has a template that you can fill in and use to create your Fan page. Once you are on Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to get started. Click on the Company, Organization or Institution box. You need to say what type of organization you are (you can change the type later if you need to). Next, name the organization.

You will need to agree to Facebook’s terms of service before you can create the Fan page. You may not agree with everything in the terms, but you have to, sorry. Once you agree, you are taken to your new Fan page. Facebook will want you to start using it right away, but let’s hold off and do some housekeeping first. It will pay off down the road.

Go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/man age/ to see the Fan page you are an Admin for. Click Edit Page for the page you just created. Now you are at a “Control Panel” for your Page where you can add / change / control various parts of your Page. Using the PowerPoint mentioned at the beginning of this article, we are going to walk through and explain the various parts so your Page can be as great as it can be. The PowerPoint will also have tips and tricks on how to create events to promote your organization.

A Facebook Fan Page can be a great benefit for your organization. Remember that Facebook is only one part of what is considered Social Media. There’s also Twitter and LinkedIn; we’ll have an article about those in the next issue of Reports.